Man, this evening I'm preaching on the subject of financial greed and usury, financial greed
and usury.
And in this chapter, Nehemiah chapter 5, just to give you kind of the historical context,
if you remember the nation of Judah had gone into captivity in Babylon and now God has
brought them back from the Babylonian captivity.
They're re-establishing their nation, rebuilding Jerusalem, rebuilding the temple, rebuilding
the wall around the city and just, you know, they're getting back and getting established.
But unfortunately, there are people that are just kind of taking advantage of the situation
and instead of trying to help God's people succeed and thrive and be a successful nation,
instead they want to just try to just be greedy and get as much money out of people
as they can and just be lending money to people on interest, predatory lending, etc.
And what you have to understand is that when the Bible used the term usury, it really just
means charging interest no matter what the interest rate is, okay?
Because in our modern vernacular, when we use the word usury in 2026 or laws that have
to do with usury, they prohibit people from charging really high interest rates.
Like usually it will cap it at like 30 percent, you know, just these insane interest rates.
So you'll see credit cards that are charging like 29.99 percent APR compounded, you know,
every split second and literally that's not a joke.
You know, it's just continuously compounding interest.
And you know, the point is that God actually is telling his people not to charge usury period
and he just means don't charge interest.
But now we have this changing of the definition of well, just don't charge 30 percent.
But what you're going to see in this passage, the usury that Nehemiah is upset about is
literally 1 percent interest and Nehemiah is rebuking it.
And so this is not a legitimate way to make money.
And look, all throughout the Bible, what is God teaching us?
Work hard, go out and give it your best at your job, whether you're working for yourself
or whether you're working for somebody else.
Whatsoever thy hand find it to do, do with thy might, work hard, make an honest living
and have enough money to take care of yourself, take care of your family.
And hopefully to be able to help out other people that are in need,
the opposite of that is getting greedy and just wanting more and more money and never having enough.
What does the Bible say?
The love of money is the root of all evil.
Now, here's the thing.
I'm not, I'm going to try not to get super political in the sermon.
That's not really the point.
And I don't want to get super duper economical either because I want to preach through the chapter.
But obviously there are different schools of thought when it comes to government
and when it comes to finances.
And so, you know, we'll typically just in a very vague way talk about like liberals and conservatives, right?
And in our modern day, typically when we think of quote unquote liberals,
we're talking about basically people who want to tax us all
and then give the money away and kind of spread the wealth around,
tax the rich to give money to the poor.
And obviously there are tons of abuses of this where you have all kinds of people
that are just lazy and not working and they're just on welfare and they're just getting free money
and whatever.
And typically the liberals want to have like lots of government spending
and social programs and just have the government provide education for every single person,
health care for every single person.
You know, just even how about just giving everybody money?
Like a lot of people just want a standard basic income just for everyone.
Just pay everyone money to do nothing and whatever.
Okay. Now, obviously unfortunately the conservative side is pretty much into big spending too.
They just like to spend on different things and whatever.
Then there's a more like libertarian mindset
or like kind of like a Ron Paul Republican type mindset
that is basically saying, hey, we need to cut spending, limit government spending.
People need to work and do things for themselves.
The government can't provide everything for everyone.
We can't just pay for everybody's health care,
pay for everybody's education, pay for everybody's housing.
You know, people have to go and work and earn it themselves.
You know, so on the one hand you have kind of this big government socialist view.
And then on the other hand you have this more like libertarian free market economics kind of a view.
Obviously the libertarian free market side is the correct side here, okay?
But here's what's funny is that some people will kind of go too far on that side.
And I remember when I was a teenager in high school in an economics class
and you know the spirit of what we were being taught about like free market economics
and capitalism and everything like that, was true.
But then they showed us a video about how greed was good.
And how like actually it was just outright just saying greed is good.
And this was like kind of an opposite extreme from these kind of left-wing socialists
saying, oh no, no, no, capitalism and free market.
And also it's good to be greedy.
And these greedy billionaires are actually helping society and it's great, whatever.
And that was kind of like a weird over-correction or like another opposite extreme.
So what I want to do is kind of go to the word of God and see what the Bible says.
Because here's the thing, the word liberal comes from the same root as like liberty.
And the whole point of being liberal means you're being generous, okay?
So in my personal life I want to be a liberal, right?
Because I want to be generous.
I want to be very free with my money and not be like a tightwad, stingy guy.
I want to be liberal.
I want to help other people.
You know, I want to help people out and give and be generous.
That's what it should mean to be liberal.
The problem with modern so-called liberalism though is that basically
they want to be liberal with other people's money.
So they want to tax us all and then be liberal with the money and just give it away freely.
And the problem is that they have sticky fingers along the way.
So a lot of it gets just wasted in government waste and government corruption.
And that's why we're $40 trillion in debt and whatever.
So anyway, I'm just kind of talking about this.
Just kind of give a basic foundation for what we're talking about here
when we look at Nehemiah chapter five, okay?
There are a lot of things that are wrong with our society.
Greed is not the answer.
Socialism is also not the answer.
The right answer is that people should have the freedom and the ability
to make as much money as they want and to become millionaires and billionaires
if they can and just, you know, make money and have businesses and work hard.
But that we should, out of our own good conscience and our good heart toward God,
we should want to be generous and giving and not be greedy.
And if you're going to get rich, it should only be through real legitimate work,
not unjust gain and predatory lending and ripping people off, okay?
Now remember, the Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil.
And the Bible says, but they that will be rich will means want to be.
They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown man in destruction and perdition.
So the Bible is warning you, if you're this person who's just like,
my goal in life is to be rich, that's a bad goal.
And you're probably going to go down a very dark path
because the love of money is the root of all evil.
However, if you're just working hard, building a business,
and you happen to be successful, you happen to make a tons of money,
you happen to make millions of dollars or something, great.
But what do you do at that point?
You're supposed to be generous and liberal with your money,
not that the government is going to steal your money
and give it to someone else,
but rather that you would have your own volition be generous with your money.
Let's see what the Bible says about this,
now that we've kind of thrown around some terms a little bit.
Look at Nehemiah chapter 5, verse 1, it says,
There was a great cry of the people and of their wives
against their brethren, the Jews.
For there were that said,
We are 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 have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses
that we might buy corn because of the dirt.
So they're in a bad situation here
because the Jews are trying to get reestablished in Jerusalem
and there's a famine, there's a dirt.
The economy is not doing well,
it would be the modern analog of this.
And so therefore they're having trouble just feeding their families.
They're having trouble putting food on the table.
And so they're saying we're having to go into debt,
we're having to mortgage our lands, vineyards, and houses
so that we can just buy corn to eat.
I mean this would be like if you're taking a second mortgage on your house
just so you can buy groceries,
you know, just so that you can actually
put gas on the tank and keep going.
So this means you're deficit spending
and it's because of a dearth or a famine.
And the thing is it says in verse number one
that there's a cry of the people and of their wives
against their brother and the Jews.
So this is Jews oppressing Jews.
So this isn't some foreign government that's taxing them
and oppressing them.
This is Jews oppressing each other, right?
And this is obviously wicked.
It's not right.
It's ungodly to treat people this way.
You've got the Jews that are more wealthy
and they're abusing and taking advantage of the poorer Jews
by lending to them on interest,
making them mortgage things and so forth and ripping them off.
So they're complaining about it.
And it says in verse number four,
there were also that said we've borrowed money
for the king's tribute and that upon our land's invaders.
So, you know, they're having to pay their taxes
on a credit card, right?
And so, you know, they're being taxed
and they're being charged a bunch of bank fees
and interest.
And so instead of just working
and putting food on the table,
they're getting gouged by these financial predators,
government taxing them to death, banks ripping them off,
charging them a bunch of interest and fees and so forth.
Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brother in verse five,
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 is it in our power to redeem them
for other men have our lands and vineyards.
They're saying, look, we literally are selling
our children into bondage,
selling our children into literal slavery
just because we can't afford to feed them.
We can't afford to take care of them
and we need the money just to pay our bills
and to pay the taxes and pay the mortgage, etc.
And so this is a horrible financial situation that they're in.
So it says right here, inverse number,
I lost my page here.
It says in verse number six,
and I was very angry when I heard their cry
and these words.
And so, you know, this makes Nehemiah mad.
And a lot of people, I feel like,
are frustrated when they see, you know,
a situation where banks and governments
are stealing money from people
and then ordinary people are struggling to get by,
struggling to pay their bills.
Everybody's in debt up to their eyeballs
and just trying to make ends meet and get by.
And so Nehemiah is upset when he hears about this
and he's especially upset to hear that Jews
are doing this to other Jews.
Like instead of them sticking together as God's people
and saying, hey, I want all of us to prosper.
We want to succeed as a nation.
It's like, no, let me just personally succeed
at the expense of others.
So he says he was very angry when he heard these words
and then look at verse seven.
Then I consulted with myself
and I rebuked the nobles and the rulers
and said unto them,
ye exact usury, every one of his brother
and I set a great assembly against them
and I said to them, we after our ability
have redeemed our brethren, the Jews,
which were sold unto the heathen.
Because remember, they've gone into captivity in Babylon.
They've been slaves in Babylon and other countries.
They've been buying people's freedom
and trying to bring them back to the promised land,
getting people out of Babylon and these other places,
only to get there and be enslaved
by other Jews when they get there.
And they're going back into bondage.
Their children are going back into bondage.
The whole point is we're coming out of the Babylonian captivity
and then you're bringing us back into bondage.
And so it says, will you even sell your brethren?
Verse eight, halfway through,
or shall they be sold unto us?
Then held their peace and found nothing to answer.
So they're ashamed.
Nehemiah is rebuking them
and they're embarrassed and ashamed
that they're putting their own greed
over the benefit and well-being of the people around them.
And so it says in verse nine,
also I said, it's not good that ye do,
ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God
because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies.
I likewise, and my brethren and my servants,
might exact of them money and corn.
He's saying, I can do the same thing.
I'm wealthy.
I could loan them money at interest
and rip them off and steal from them.
He says, I pray you, let us leave off this usury.
We got to stop this.
Verse 11, restore, I pray you to them,
even this day their lands, their vineyards,
their olive yards and their houses,
also the hundredth part of the money.
That's the 1% interest rate that I was talking about.
And of the corn, the wine and the oil that ye exact of them,
then said they, we will restore them
and we will require nothing of them.
So what we do is thou sayest,
then I called the priests and took an oath of them
that they should do according to this promise.
Also, I shook my lap and said,
so God shake out every man from his house
and from his labor that performeth not this promise,
even thus be he shaken out and emptied.
And all the congregation said, amen and praise the Lord,
the people did according to this promise.
So Nehemiah is saying, look, you got to stop this.
You're ripping people off.
You're hurting people.
You're being greedy.
You're oppressing the poor.
You're taxing the poor.
You're charging interest to the poor and ripping them off.
And so the problem here is greed.
The people that are oppressing their brethren
are already wealthy people.
They're already doing well.
They have money.
The problem is it's not enough for them.
And the problem is that the Bible says,
he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.
You know, nobody's ever going to have enough money
where they're like, okay, now I'm satisfied.
I've arrived.
I'm happy now.
Money doesn't make you happy.
And so living a life chasing money
is a bad way to live your life.
And it's going to lead you down a dark path
because you're just going to keep wanting more and more
and you'll do anything to get it
and you'll become a greedy person.
Now, I think that this is a big part of human nature
in general is greed and not just about money.
But you know, people are greedy of money.
People are greedy of food, right?
They eat too much and get super overweight
because they're just greedy.
It's like, well, this food's good.
So I'm just going to keep eating it.
This is so good.
And they overindulge, right?
People overindulge.
Now, obviously, I don't believe that we should drink alcohol
at all whatsoever.
But yet, even people who do think, hey,
it's okay to drink a little bit, you know what?
They tend to overindulge.
And then you have people binge drinking
and getting drunk and, you know,
becoming alcoholics and everything.
Just showing the greedy nature of man
that he's probably not just going to drink
a little bit of alcohol, right?
They're going to drink another one and another one and another one.
And then it's got to be every day
and then whatever road they go down is an alcoholic.
Drug addicts, same thing, you know?
Gambling addiction, you know?
People are just greedy, right?
I mean, what does God prescribe for us as men?
A wife, right?
We're supposed to be married
and we are supposed to be the two of us,
one flesh, husband and wife.
But then throughout the Bible,
what do we see?
Men who are being greedy and just multiplying wives,
you know?
We see a guy like King Rehoboam
who has dozens and dozens of wives
and then it just says he just wants more wives.
He just desired many wives.
It's like, bro, you already have many wives.
How are you desiring many wives?
You already have scores of wives,
but he just wants more, more, more, more, more.
This is human nature.
And we need to make sure that as Christians,
we don't fall into this trap of being greedy
of anything, you know?
We need to understand, hey, the money that I make at my job,
making an honest living, working hard,
being productive, producing value,
that's got to be enough for me.
It's like John the Baptist preached to the soldiers,
be content with your wages.
Don't go steal and take things that don't belong to you.
He told the publicans, don't exact more
than you're supposed to be exacting
because they're ripping people off.
Instead of just being content with their paycheck,
they have to be stealing as well
because they're being greedy.
We need to be content with the money
that we make at our legitimate job
and not be trying to do something greedy
or unjust on the side.
See, there are legitimate ways
to make money in this world
and there are illegitimate ways to make money, right?
I mean, if you go to your job and work, that's great.
But you know what?
Here are bad ways to make money, selling drugs, right?
This is an illegitimate way to make money.
You're hurting people.
You're destroying people's lives
so that you can make money, okay?
You're also risking obviously going to prison
and having all those consequences
of breaking the law and selling illicit drugs.
But you know what?
People get into this all the time
and they get into things like selling drugs.
They get into just pyramid schemes
and just get rich quick schemes
and they get into just ripping people off
and unjust gain because of greed, okay?
We need to just understand,
hey, let's enjoy the amount of food that we should,
let's enjoy the amount of money that God has given us,
let's enjoy the one wife that God has given us
and not be greedy like,
oh, I have to have a second wife,
third wife, fourth wife,
or I have to have the side piece,
the concubine or whatever,
or go out and cheat on my spouse or whatever.
Hey, be content with what you got.
The opposite of contentment is greed.
And so human nature is greedy.
So these people,
they're already the wealthy stratum of society
here in Nehemiah 5,
but what are they doing?
They're looking at poor people
who are barely struggling to even get by
and they're saying,
let's charge them interest.
Let's make them pay us rent.
Let's get them to mortgage their houses to us
and get them paying rent to us every month
on property that's already theirs
that they already owned and so forth.
And you know, it's just evil.
You know, and so again,
like I'm not trying to be super political
or anything when I talk about this,
but at the end of the day,
there are people out there who are greedy people
who want to take money away from hardworking people
so that they can lie in their own pockets with it.
They pretend that they're giving it to the poor,
like Judas Iscariot,
but really most of it is sticking to their fingers
and a little bit of it makes it to the poor,
but most of it is being used up in the process.
And by the way,
also what we call sometimes poor people
are just lazy people refusing to work.
Now look, I understand there are some people
who are legitimately the poor,
but there's a difference between being poor
and you want to work,
you're doing the best work you can,
you're doing what you can,
and you're a working poor.
And then there's people who are just career
welfare recipients,
career derelicts milking the system.
And so, you know,
I do believe that the Bible is teaching us here
that generosity is good.
Being liberal with your own goods is good.
That's what we're going to see Nehemiah do in just a moment.
And I do think that it is wrong
to go through life just being greedy
and getting as much as you can from other people.
People who've been blessed with money,
if you're well off,
you should be generous.
Nobody should necessarily be forcing you
at the barrel of a gun to give your money to the poor,
but you should want to out of the goodness of your heart
and because of your Christian character
want to help out others and those in need.
So let's see what the Bible says about greed.
Go, if you would, to Proverbs chapter one.
We're going to look at like almost every mention of greed.
We're going to look at every relevant mention of greed
in the Bible and see what the Bible has to say
about being greedy because
I think that's the problem in Nehemiah 5
is just rich people being greedy
and they're just trying to just squeeze
every penny that they can out of poor people.
Instead of being generous and saying,
hey, let's help out the poor.
And Nehemiah is not saying,
give all your money to poor people.
That's not what Nehemiah is even saying.
Nehemiah is literally just saying,
just stop ripping them off.
Stop stealing their money.
Stop charging them interest and charging them rent
and charging them fees.
Just let them keep their own produce of their own labor.
That's all he's saying.
And then the next step though
would be that out of the goodness of their heart
they should want to be helping out their brethren
and actually giving and being generous and so forth.
But look what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 1 verse 19.
It says, so are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain
which take away the life of the owners thereof.
So, you know, the Bible is talking about people here
being greedy of gain to the point
where they're willing to kill people
in order to get what belongs to them.
Kill people to get the inheritance.
Kill people to steal their money or whatever.
Look at chapter 15 of Proverbs.
Chapter 15, while you're turning there,
I'm going to read for you from Isaiah chapter 56.
The Bible says in Isaiah 56-10 is,
Watchmen are blind, they're all ignorant,
they're all dumb dogs, they cannot bark,
sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Yay, there are greedy dogs.
Listen to this, there are greedy dogs
which can never have enough
and they are shepherds that cannot understand
they all look to their own way,
everyone for his gain from his quarter.
So, the Bible is saying these greedy dogs,
they just only are just thinking about themselves
and how they can just amass more and more for themselves
and they're wicked, they're dogs, etc.
Look at Proverbs 15, 27.
It says, he that is greedy of gain
troubleth his own house,
but he that hated gifts shall live.
Now, when the Bible talks about hating gifts here,
this isn't saying that your name is Ebenezer Scrooge
or something and you just don't want to get
a Christmas present
and you don't want people to give you a birthday present.
That's not what this means.
When the Bible talks about taking a gift
in Proverbs or receiving the gift,
usually what it's talking about is bribery.
So, the idea here is you're a judge
or a public official or an authority figure of some time
and someone is giving you gifts
bribing you to do evil.
Now, here's the problem with our government
is that many people in government are being bribed to do evil.
They love gifts
and the way that this is referred to in Washington DC
it's not called gifts, it's called lobbying.
And these lobbyists will take these politicians out
and whine them and dine them and give them gifts
and then these guys will,
instead of doing what's right for the American people,
they're going to pass legislation that's going to help
these certain wealthy businessmen
or whatever the special interest
that is paying them through gifts and whining and dining.
Another way that they will bribe public officials
is they can give them insider information
and they can do insider stock trading
and make money at the expense of other people,
hurting other people, you know,
because for everybody who's a winner in the stock market
there's going to be losers
and so these people are cheating,
getting inside information
and making money at the expense
of other people's retirement accounts or whatever.
And then not only that,
but they will give them these speaking engagements
where basically they won't bribe a public official outright,
they'll just say,
hey, I want you to give a speech over here for five minutes,
here's $250,000, right?
So we're going to pay you just this insane speaking fee
and that's why you'll see a lot of presidents
and congressmen,
when they finish their term,
they'll go on these speaking tours
and they're speaking
and they're getting paid these insane amounts of money
because it's already been agreed earlier
that like, hey, you do X, Y, and Z for us
and then when your term ends,
we're going to pay you millions of dollars
to come make speeches for us.
And so there are a lot of ways
that these gifts are given
and what does the Bible say?
He that is greedy of gain trouble at his own house
but he that hate it, gifts shall live.
The Bible's saying, you know,
you should be the kind of person that says,
you know what, I'm going to do what's right
and I'm not going to be bribed,
nobody's going to pay me
to do something that's immoral
or unethical or not right.
I'd rather just live off my paycheck,
live off my wages
than to take money for doing wrong.
And interesting as a preacher,
how this manifests is the Bible says
that false prophets will teach things
that they ought not
for filthy Luke or sake.
So just as the politician
will pass legislation
that is not right
because he's being bribed
and getting gifts
and people are lobbying
and whining and dining him
and paying him for speaking engagements,
giving him insider tips
for stock trading or whatever.
Well, you know what,
the same way as a pastor,
I don't want to get up
and teach a false doctrine
because I know, hey,
this is what people want to hear
and then people are going to donate
money or give me gifts or whatever.
You know, we can't let that
cloud our judgment
as leaders.
So that's what the Bible says,
he that hated gifts shall live.
The guy who is actually
you know, going to do what's right
and he hates the idea of being bribed.
He hates the idea of getting up
and preaching
because there's a paycheck
involved to preach something wrong.
There's nothing wrong with getting paid
as a politician
or getting paid as a preacher,
but you got to be content with your wages
and not say, oh, well,
I want to make the big bucks.
So I'm just going to teach
what's going to make me super popular.
Get me on the New York bestseller list
or what, New York Times bestseller list.
You know, because I'm going to write a book
about how God's not mad at you
and no matter who you are
and no matter what you've done,
God is not mad at you.
Hey, that's a lie,
but she made millions of money off that.
And I'm talking about the female Joker
if you're not sure what I'm talking about.
But look at Proverbs chapter 21 verse 25.
Proverbs chapter 21 verse 25 says this,
the desire of the slothful killeth him.
Slothful means lazy, right?
The sluggered, the slovenly slothful man.
The desire of the slothful killeth him
for his hands refused to labor.
He coveteth greedily all the day long,
but the righteous giveeth and spareeth not.
So notice that greed and covetousness
go hand in hand.
Covening is desiring something
that is not legitimately yours.
And so he covets greedily all the day long.
He's too lazy to work legitimately
but he still just covets greedily all the day long.
Whereas the righteous gives and spares not.
Here's another way of saying that,
the righteous is liberal.
You know, the righteous gives and spares not.
He's free with his possessions, free with his money.
He's not just like greedily coveting other people.
So he wants to help other people
and give and be generous to his people.
Go through it to Psalm 17, Psalm 17.
And we're looking at, like I said,
we're looking at virtually every mention of greed
in the Bible is what we're doing.
You know, because like I said,
I was shown a video in high school
and the guy who showed it to us
was a born again Christian actually.
My economics teacher in high school
was a born again Christian.
He was conservative.
He had a lot of great views on economics
and politics and everything like that.
But the thing is like Bro just went a little too far
when he's showing us a video
about how greed is actually good.
Like that's when you've gone a little too overboard
on that viewpoint.
Okay.
So look at Psalm 17, verse 8.
It says,
Keep me as the apple of the eye.
Hide me under the shadow of thy wings
from the wicked that oppressed me
from my deadly enemies who compass me about.
They're enclosed in their own fat.
With their mouth they speak proudly.
They have now compassed us in our steps.
They've set their eyes bowing down to the earth
like as a lion that is greedy of his prey
as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
Arise, O Lord.
Disappoint him.
Cast him down.
Deliver my soul from the wicked which is thy sword.
From men which are thy hand, O Lord,
from men of the world which watch this
have their portion in this life
and whose belly thou fillest with thy head treasure.
They're full of children
and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness.
I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.
So again, he's graphically describing these people
who are enclosed in their own fat
and yet they just can't have enough.
They're just greedy.
They just want more
and they're willing to hurt other people to get it.
And so I hope you're seeing a pattern.
Go through it to Ezekiel chapter 22.
I hope you're seeing a pattern
that as we look up these mentions of greed,
it's always very negative.
This is never a good thing, right?
Greed is people wanting more than is legitimately theirs.
They're never satisfied.
And you know, the Psalmist is saying,
as for me, I will be satisfied
when I awake with thy likeness.
It's like I'm just satisfied to be saved,
to be a new creature in Christ.
I'm just gonna be satisfied to just go to heaven one day
and to be like Christ
and we shall be like him
for we shall see him as he is.
I'll be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.
Whereas these people that are enclosed in their own fat
and greedy like lions,
you know, they're never satisfied.
Their greed is endless.
You know, it talks about this in Habakkuk chapter 2
when it talks about Nebuchadnezzar,
the king of Babylon,
how his desire is enlarged as hell
and is as death and cannot be satisfied
but gathered under them all nations
and heapeth unto them all people
just no matter how much he conquers,
it's never gonna be enough.
It's never gonna be enough wealth and power.
That's the greed of the human condition, unfortunately.
Look at Ezekiel 22 verse 12.
In thee they have taken gifts to shed blood.
This goes back to what we said earlier
about how the gift is talking about bribery.
And here when it says they've taken gifts to shed blood,
the idea here is you could look at it as obviously just,
you know, paying someone to kill someone,
like be, you know, just basically, you know,
paying to have someone murdered.
But also this could be also an illegal setting
where you're bribing judges or bribing people
to condemn the innocent and put someone to death
who's just in your way,
somebody that you want to get out of the way,
a business rival or you want to get the inheritance
or whatever, you know,
and you bribe someone to get that person put to death
wrongfully through false witness.
Like remember the story of Naboth's vineyard, right?
Ahab just really wants his little garden of herbs or whatever.
I mean, he's king of Israel.
He's got a palace.
He's got all kinds of property,
but he has to have this one little special garden of herbs.
And so what do they end up doing?
They end up bribing false witnesses
to testify against Naboth
and put him to death wrongfully
so that they can seize his property, right?
Taking away the life of the owners thereof.
So all of these scriptures that we're seeing,
Bible stories illustrate these principles
that we're reading in Proverbs and in the Prophets.
We see Bible stories that illustrate these principles.
And so it says in Ezekiel 22, 12,
in thee have they taken gifts to shed blood, right?
That's like the people who testified against Naboth,
for example.
There obviously could be a lot of other things.
Thou hast taken usury and increase
and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors
by extortion and as forgotten me sayeth the Lord God.
What is extortion is forcing people to pay you, right?
And saying, hey, you know,
this is the neighborhood safety association
and everybody's got to be a member
because we'd hate for something to happen
to your business, you know?
And so it's like, you got to pay us money
and we'll leave you alone basically.
Pay us money for safety.
It's really just organized criminals stealing your money, okay?
And that's what extortion is.
He says in verse 13,
behold, therefore I've smitten my hand
at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made
and at thy blood which have been in the midst of thee.
He's saying, look, don't get dishonest gain
through extortion, charging interest,
predatory lending, charging a bunch of fees
and ripping people off and stealing from people is wrong.
How about Ephesians chapter four?
You don't have to turn their turn to first Timothy six,
if you would.
Ephesians chapter four says,
who being past feeling have given themselves over
unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness.
So, so far all the scriptures we looked at about greed
were about money, greedy of money.
But in the New Testament in Ephesians,
that's talking about the kind of greed I mentioned earlier
of not being satisfied with your wife
and you know, you're going out and committing fornication,
lasciviousness, uncleanness with greediness, right?
Just being unsatisfied with what God has provided for you
and you want to just go out and be a whoremonger
instead of being satisfied with the God given remedy
which is your wife and you know,
having that physical relationship with her.
So, look if you would at, and then also the last mention
that I found is Jude where he says,
woe unto them, they've gone in the way of Cain
and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward.
And again, Balaam's a false prophet,
taking money to do wrong, teaching things
was they ought not for filthy Luke or sake.
So, actually keep your finger in first Timothy six
and let's go finish up in Nehemiah five
and then we're going to come back to first Timothy six.
So, keep a finger in first Timothy six
and let's finish up in Nehemiah chapter five here.
Because first of all, the first part of the chapter
is Nehemiah is rebuking them for being greedy
and for rich people ripping off poor people
and just trying to take as much from them
and just squeeze them for as much money as they can.
And that's obviously wrong.
We as Christians, and by the way,
if you're a Christian business owner,
you should not have a goal to just see
how little you can pay people.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, obviously you got to make money
and you got to have a business that makes sense
and everything, but you know what?
You should try to be generous and pay people
an honest wage for an honest day's work
and not be like, well, how little can I pay this guy?
How can I just squeeze this guy
and get as much work for as little money as well?
I mean, is that really the right Christian attitude?
And then on the other side of that,
if you're the worker, you shouldn't be like,
well, how little work can I do for this paycheck, right?
The way that the world should function
is that the boss is being generous with the employees
and not trying to pay them as little as possible.
And then the employees are trying to work as hard as they can
and not work as little as possible.
They're trying to go above and beyond
and do extra and work hard.
You know what?
That's a beautiful thing.
That's the way it should be.
But instead, this world is filled with workers
phoning it in, patting their hours,
lying on their timesheet, doing as little as possible,
and bosses just trying to pay people as little
as they can get away with
and just the cheapest possible person that they can hire
and paying them as little as they possibly can.
Neither of those are godly situations.
And they're both driven by greed, in a sense.
And so greed is the enemy.
So now let's look at the other side of the coin
because the first part of Nehemiah 5,
he's rebuking the Jews
who are oppressing other Jews.
Now he's going to bring up the fact
that he actually is a very wealthy man, himself.
He's extremely wealthy
and he's actually being generous.
Instead of trying to rip the people off,
he's trying to give and be generous with what he has.
Look if you would have verse 14.
Moreover, from the time that I was appointed
to be their governor in the land of Judah,
from the 20th year, even under the 2 and 30th year
of Artaxerxes the king,
that is 12 years,
I and my brethren have not eaten the bread
of the governor.
What's he saying?
He's saying, look,
I am not even taking some of the pay
and some of the compensation that's due to me
as the governor,
I'm returning that stuff
because I don't want to oppress
people that are already struggling financially.
I don't want to have to tax people.
So I'm not even taking what's coming.
This would be like a politician,
not using his old budget
or not taking his full paycheck or whatever.
And like, for example,
Congressman Ron Paul famously would return part of his budget
every year
and he was the only congressman
who didn't just spend all the money
that he was allowed to spend or whatever.
And so Nehemiah is basically saying,
hey, I have not eaten the bread of the governor
but the former governors that had been before me
were chargeable under the people
and had taken of them bread and wine.
So here's the thing,
it's like the people are struggling,
the people are poor
and these rich fat cat governors
are taking bread, wine,
beside the 40 shekels of silver.
Yay, even their servants bear rule over the people
but so did not I because of the fear of God.
He said, look, former governors have done this.
Now, do you think that there's anything new under the sun?
In 2026, unfortunately,
a lot of leaders will live a really high life
and take people's money
and just abuse the privilege of being a governor
or in government in some way.
He's saying, you know,
the reason I didn't do that is because I feared God.
You know, he's saying,
I didn't do it because it was the right thing to do
to not oppress people that are already poor
and so because I feared God,
I didn't oppress the poor by taking money from them.
And then he says in verse 16,
yea, also I continued in the work of this wall,
neither bought we any land
and all my servants were gathered under the work.
He's like, look, I came here to try to rebuild Jerusalem,
build the wall and help things out.
I didn't come here for like some real estate investment.
So I'm not buying up all the property
so that I can charge people rent to live on the property
and drive up the real estate and have some scam
where I can get rich in some big real estate scheme
or whatever.
He's like, no man, I'm here to work to help everybody.
He says in verse number 17,
Moreover, there were at my table
150 of the Jews and rulers,
besides those that came unto us
from among the heathen that are about us.
Now, that which was prepared for me daily
was one ox and six-choice sheep.
Also, fowls were prepared for me
and once in 10 days store of all sorts of wine,
yet for all this required not either bread of the governor
because the bondage was heavy upon this people.
He said, look, the bondage is heavy upon the people.
I don't want them to pay more taxes
than they're already paying.
I don't want to charge them.
And he's like, I already have money.
Now, this is a pretty impressive amount of food
that is being cooked for him every single day.
Now, you can understand why he has 150 people
over eating of his food
because obviously this is not what one person eats.
Okay, daily one ox.
So this is an entire cow every single day.
Now, I don't know about you,
but like my family, we've bought entire cows,
but actually I think we've never bought more than half a cow.
So we would do these things
where we would actually buy like locally raised Arizona beef.
You know, because you know the rancher,
you know where it's coming from,
you know it's all truly free range,
organic, good stuff.
You're helping out your local rancher business.
It's a benefit for everybody.
So who's ever been to my house
and like got a piece of a cow that I bought?
All right, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
Yeah, so it's not 150, but no, I'm just kidding.
But yeah, so there's like 10 people here
who've been to my house
and when we did these big like beef buys
and we'd buy like a full cow or a couple full cows
and then we'd all split it up
and that would last us for like months.
Right?
This guy's killing a whole cow every single day.
So that's crazy because if we killed a whole cow,
we're gonna, our whole family's gonna eat that
for like months and months and months, okay?
But that's just the one ox, okay?
And then after that, it says six-choice sheep.
So one ox, six sheep, also fowls.
So you know, just on the side,
they got the, you know, the birds
and the chicken and the Cornish game hens
and the geese or whatever they've got
that they're eating on the side.
So one ox, six-choice sheep and fowl.
And then once every 10 days, all, you know,
that's where they get out the fruit punch
and the fruit juices and, you know,
and indulge in that stuff
because that stuff was extremely expensive back
before you had machines
that would actually make the juice and so forth.
And so it had to be made by human labor.
So the bottom line is that he has this massive amount
of food being prepared every day.
So he's sharing with like 150 of the local Jews,
but then also a bunch of foreigners are coming.
So it's more than 150 people
that he's offering just this giant buffet to.
And then he says in verse 19,
think upon me, my God,
for good according to all that I've done for this people.
So he's praying to God and he's saying,
God, look, I'm being generous.
I'm helping people out.
Bless me for doing that, God.
And you know what?
God is going to bless you
when you are generous and not greedy.
If you are generous and helping other people,
caring about other people,
God's going to bless you.
And if you're greedy,
God is not going to bless that.
God's going to curse that if you're greedy
because what did he say in Proverbs 28,
he said,
he that by usury and unjust gain
increases his substance,
he shall gather it for him
that will pity the poor.
So the Bible is saying,
God will take it away from you
and give it to somebody
who is actually a good, generous person.
Now I do want to say this.
Nobody's asking Nehemiah
to live like everybody else
because here's the thing.
If you work hard,
you're entitled to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
So if you go out and work 16-hour days
and build a business,
and look, building your own business
is a lot of work.
It's stressful.
It's strenuous.
It takes a ton of work
and there's risk involved.
So look, if you go out
and actually start a business
and put in all that work
and effort and blood, sweat, tears
and take that chance,
you deserve more
than just some guy
who's just clocking in and out
at McDonald's, right?
So this weird,
commie idea
that everyone should be equal
is foolish
because then people
aren't going to be motivated
to go out and do all this work
and push themselves
so that they can just
be like everybody else.
It's like, well, no.
Obviously, people who work hard
and excel and do more,
they're entitled to have more, right?
And so what we want in our world
is we don't want equality of outcome.
We want equality of opportunity, right?
We don't want to say,
hey, we're going to give white people
more of an opportunity
than black people or vice versa.
We just want everybody
to have the opportunity,
but at the end of the day,
you're going to get rewarded
according to what you do.
And I mean, even Jesus Christ
when he returns one day,
he says, behold, I come quickly
and my reward is with me
to give every man
according as his work shall be.
Notice when Jesus returns,
he's not giving to everyone equally.
When we get to heaven,
sorry, we're not all
going to be the same in heaven.
Some people are going to have
a higher rank and a higher status
and a higher level of reward
than others.
And God is going to reward
everyone according to their works.
We're not saved by works,
but once we're saved,
if we do works,
we get rewarded for our works.
And so when we get to heaven,
it's not going to be
this egalitarian utopia
where everybody's the same.
There are going to be people
who did more for Christ
that are going to be ruling
and reigning and at a higher level.
And then there's going to be
the people who just barely got in,
yet so is by fire, right?
The first Corinthians three types,
like the thief on the cross or something,
he's not going to be in the same position
as the apostle Paul in heaven.
So at the end of the day,
we want to have equality
in the sense of we want to have
equality of opportunity.
Everybody should have the same
opportunities and the same chances
to go out and work hard and make money.
But saying that we all end up
in the same size house,
driving the same vehicle,
eating the same food,
getting the same level of services,
that's stupid and doesn't make sense.
And by the way,
everywhere it's been tried,
it has failed.
All of the socialist systems
of the 20th century have failed.
All of the little socialist utopias
that they promised,
they didn't pan out.
And who have been the most
prosperous countries in the world
over the last 150 years
have been the freest countries.
The countries that have
the freest economies,
free market economics works
everywhere it's tried.
Socialism fails every time it's tried.
It's just that simple.
Okay.
So economically it works out that way.
So I'm not up here saying
that everybody should live the same.
Because let's face it,
Nehemiah is living pretty good.
I mean if it's your table
and you got an ox
and six sheep
and various fowl
being prepared for you,
not to mention all the veggies
and side dishes
that he doesn't even bring up.
You're doing pretty stinking good.
Okay.
But here's the thing.
Is that nobody's saying
that you can't work hard,
build a business,
make money,
and enjoy the fruit of your labor
and have nice things.
But you know what you should also
be doing is being generous
with other people.
And that's what we see Nehemiah.
Yeah, we see him enjoying
the fruit of his labor.
But then we also see him
being super generous
and helping other people out as well.
So go to 1 Timothy chapter 6
and we'll close there.
1 Timothy chapter 6.
So I hope that the sermon
makes sense to you.
I'm not trying to get all
into some political
or economical thing.
I more want to deal
with the text here
that you know,
God is against making money
by lending to people.
Okay.
This is not a legitimate way
to make money.
Okay.
Lending people money,
charging interest,
foreclosing on their stuff.
You know, that's not
a good godly way
to make money.
He wants us to work hard
and produce things
and to be able to help
other people.
You know, that's the ideal situation.
And if you work for your boss,
you should give 100%.
And if you have employees,
you should be generous with them
and love them
and care about them
and pay them a decent wage.
That's what I've always believed
when I was an employee.
That's what I believe
when I was a business owner,
you know,
because it's just
either side of that coin
that you're on,
you know,
you want to do right
by the Lord
and fear God
in everything that you do.
Because the Bible says,
you know, that servants
should obey their masters,
but then it says,
you masters do the same
things unto them
for bearing, threatening,
knowing that your master
also is in heaven,
neither is there
respect of persons with them.
So God's up in heaven.
He's, even if you're
the top dog in your business,
you got to master up in heaven
and he doesn't respect your person.
He sees you the same
as the poorest person
because the rich and poor
meet together
in the Lord's sight, right?
The Lord lightened
both their eyes.
And so in 1 Timothy,
chapter number six,
it says this,
verse 17,
charge them that are rich
in this world
that they be not high-minded.
He's saying, you know,
if you are wealthy,
if you have a lot of money,
don't get prideful,
don't get arrogant,
don't think that
you're better
than other people
because it's the Lord
that gives you the power
to get wealth.
And so you really
ultimately owe everything
to him anyway.
Charge them that are rich
in this world
that they be not high-minded,
nor trust in uncertain riches.
So he's saying,
don't get arrogant
and don't think
that you're untouchable
just because you have
so much money.
Just say, oh, I don't need God.
I can do everything on my own.
I'm untouchable
because you know what?
God can take it away from you.
Riches are uncertain.
There have been people
who thought
that they could never lose
their money
and they did.
Don't trust in uncertain riches
but trust in the living God
who giveth us richly
all things to enjoy.
He says in verse 18
that they do good.
This is what
you should tell rich people
that they should do good
and that they should be rich
in good works.
Don't just be rich in money.
Be rich in work for God.
Be rich in good works.
Ready to distribute.
Willing to communicate
and the communicate here
if you look up that word
it's talking about
donating
and giving money
that's what that actually means.
So you want to be ready
to distribute.
Willing to communicate
meaning that you're willing
to send money
to other people
and distribute
and share the wealth.
So the Bible is saying
that rich people
should be generous.
They should be giving.
They shouldn't be just
greedily hanging on
to everything for themselves.
They should do good.
They should be rich
in good works
and they should be
ready to distribute
and willing to communicate.
Laying up in store
for themselves
is a good foundation
against the time to come
that they may lay
hold on eternal life.
He's saying look
they should be
laying up treasure
in heaven
not on this earth.
And what does the Bible say?
Lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon this earth
where moth and rust
with corrupt
and where thieves
break through and steal
but lay up for yourselves
treasures in heaven
where neither moth
nor rust with corrupt
and where thieves
do not break through
nor steal
for where your treasure is
there will your heart
be also.
And so God doesn't want us
to just be greedy
and just storing up
a bunch of money
on this earth
because then our heart
is going to be on this earth.
Whereas if we're giving
and generous
and helping others
and investing in people
and working for the Lord
then now we're laying
up treasures in heaven
and our heart's going to be
in heaven.
Set your affection
on things above
not on things on the earth
is what the Bible says
as well.
And so rich people
are commanded
to be generous
with their money
and to think about
other people
and to care about
other people
but the problem
that we have in our society
today
is an idea that says
well let's just have
the government
take their money
at the barrel of a gun
and force that.
Is that what the Bible
is really teaching?
No, the Bible is teaching
that this is something
that they should do
as a Christian
that we should do
as Christians.
It's not saying
hey the answer
is that the government
steals from the rich
and gives to the poor.
The problem with
stealing from the rich
and giving to the poor
again
is that the government
ends up keeping
a lot of the money
along the way
and it's also
just not right to steal.
That should not steal.
You know and so
it isn't right
to rob the rich
sorry rob and hood
but it's not right
to rob the rich
to give to the poor
and I know that
the story of rob and hood
is a little more complex
than that.
Okay
but I guess I just
saw the Disney cartoon
okay so
you know
I'll leave it
that's not true
I've read
several rob and hood books
I've read Ivan Ho
okay
but the point is
that we as God's people
you know
even if you don't care
about economics
even if you don't care
about politics
you know you need
to have a right
relationship with money
and you'd have a right
view toward money
and so
if you're
if you're on the poor
end of the spectrum
and you don't have a lot of money
don't sit around
fantasizing and wishing
that you were rich
be content with what you have
work hard
and try to do the best you can
improve your situation
financially
you know
that's all you can do
right
work hard
pray
live for God
let God bless you
and try to improve
your situation financially
and if you are
well healed
and if you have been
blessed with riches
and abundance
you know what
you shouldn't get all arrogant
cocky
and think you're great
you should be humble
and say you know what
God has given me
God has blessed me with this
I'm going to bless other people
I'm going to help people out
I'm going to be generous
I'm going to be giving
I'm going to be
thinking about heaven
and laying up treasures in heaven
and I'm not just going to sit here
and pay my employees
as little as I absolutely can
and just increase my bottom line
and it's not just paying
your employees too little
it's lowering quality
for the customer too
how about that
it's
I mean
look how many companies
get greedy man
it's horrible
like restaurants
will start out really good
and they're making a great meal
and you're paying
and you're happy
to pay
and get that meal
and then it's like
somewhere along the line
some greedy CEO
gets in there
and just wants to
sell you
all the
lower quality meat
and lower quality veggies
and everything
and just ruin the menu
and then these restaurants
you know
in the words of our
young people
they tend to fall off
you know
and they're just not as good
as they used to be
you know
nothing makes me matter
than to buy a drill bit
at Home Depot
and the thing just melts
into nothingness
it just
it just disintegrates
on the first use
you know
I bought a shovel
one time at Home Depot
and I returned it
like an hour later
and the lady said
why are you returning
the shovel
and I said
this is why
and I reached up
with my bare hands
and I'm not Samson
up here okay
I reached up
with my bare hands
and just bent the shovel
and just went
I said
this is why I'm returning it
because I shouldn't be able
to bend the shovel head
with my bare hands
but why
why is it like
why can I bend the shovel head
with my bare hands
it's a worthless tool
why
because they have used
some super cheap metal
because they're just
being greedy
I mean
you know that
they're making tons of money
it's probably some company
and the CEO
is making millions
and the company is making millions
and then they just have to
sell you crap
that's going to just ruin your day
and ruin your life
and waste your time
because look
I know that
maybe some don't understand this
but when you're a tradesman
having crappy tools
is like the worst thing ever
and having the right tool
just makes everything so wonderful
you know I remember one time
I was out in the coal
I was at this
I was working on this gas station
out in the Midwest
and it was like
snowing outside
and I was freezing
and like my drill bits
were all garbage
and I was just cursing these drill bits
and then
the angel of the Lord
appeared unto me
I think this might have been
an angel unawares
I'm out here struggling
and fighting to do this job
and I didn't have the right equipment
to do what I needed to do
and I was so upset
and this man walks up to me
the angel of the Lord
he walks up to me
and he just walked up to me
and it was so dramatic
he just looks at me
and he just goes like this
don't you just want to get the hell out of here
and he just opens his hand
and he just had four of like
the exact parts that I needed
and I was out of there in like
five minutes
and I would have been there for an hour
and I was freezing
and cold and wet
and whatever
you know
and that but you know
God sent his angel
I was so happy
I was so thankful
this guy just had the exact
like self tapping
bolts that I needed
and he just held out his hand
and he's just like
this is exactly what you need
I was just like
wow
and then you know
he went up in a fire
no I'm just kidding
that part didn't happen
but the rest of the story is true
and I ended up
you know
using those four bolts
that he gave me
and it was just like
the perfect tool
perfect thing that I needed
it was great
you know what
but why are these companies
torturing us
with cheap drill bits
why are they torturing us
with shovels
made out of these weak alloys
and selling you tools
that break all that
you know what I'm talking about
you buy those cheap tools
and they break
what kind of a person
manufactures that stuff
how do you live with yourself
how do you even go to bed
at night
when you're selling
bad tools
you just hate everyone
the spawn of satan
I'm just
I'm serious
you know
what is it
it's greed
so you know what
if you were on a business
don't cut the quality either
and look
obviously you got to charge
you got to charge
money to where
you're making money
you don't want to be
one of these people
that charges too little
and then they go out of
business because
they're not charging enough
obviously yeah
you can pay your employees
too much
you can charge the customer
too little
whatever
but you know what
you should
you do quality work
and charge a decent price
make money
but don't get greedy
work hard
make money
and you know what
I'm not against you
making huge amounts of money
and making money
hand over fist
but you know what
when you do
don't get greedy
don't get arrogant
and be generous
and share the wealth
that's what the bible says
that you should do
you should be generous
toward the lord
you should be generous
toward your fellow man
that's what the bible says
let's borrow it's not
father thank you so much
for this chapter lord
thank you for the example
of Nehemiah
who was a wealthy man
but he shared with others
and he rebuked
and preached hard
against those
who were greedy
and taking advantage
of the poor lord
help us to love one another
help us to love
employees
help us to love customers
help us to love
our fellow man
and to do right
by everyone
and monday tuesday
wednesday thursday
when we go to work lord
help us to have integrity
in business
and to do right
and in jesus name
we pray amen