Luke's Gospel and chapter 12. And we're going to read from verse 13. Luke's Gospel, chapter 12 and verse 13. And this is what is called the parable of the rich fool. I'm sure it will be familiar to a number of us, but we'll read these verses with interest.

Luke 12 verse 13, And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he may divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease. eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

Amen. May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word.

The Lord said, a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth. This is a truth from the lips of the Lord Jesus that very likely clashes more with our materialistic consumer driven world right now than at any other time in human history. World economics is founded on mass production, consumerism and the accumulation of wealth. The basic essentials of providing food, clothing and shelter for our bodies and our families has given way to amassing more and more stuff that fills our time, complicates our lives and absorbs our concentration. Advertisers try to convince us of all the things we need and consequently, many people find that their life becomes simply a cycle of working to afford the next big purchase.

The occasion of these words of wisdom from the Lord was a man seeking help from the Lord Jesus. And I just want to pause there for a moment. That might seem an admirable endeavour, coming to the Lord for help. Some might say, whatever you need, take it to the Lord. Well, he did. And he received short shrift from the Lord for his trouble. Why was that? Well, for this reason, because he did not come with a need for his soul or even a bodily sickness as many did who pressed the Lord for help. This fellow was looking for an arbiter. He came to Christ for a worldly reason. He was looking for a referee, someone who would pass judgment on a domestic matter of family inheritance. Perhaps he thought that there was some benefit in asking this question in front of an audience and then he would have witnesses to the Lord's decision. Perhaps his brother, whoever that might have been, had some admiration for the Lord. And therefore, if the Lord spoke in favour of this man, his brother would feel obliged. Whatever the reason, he was coming for a worldly reason. And he seems to have interrupted the Lord's ministry to bring this matter to the Lord's attention. from which we might well deduce that he was more concerned for his earthly inheritance than for any heavenly inheritance, that he was more concerned for his earthly worth than for hearing the gospel that was worthy of all acceptation, preached indeed at the very lips of the Saviour Jesus Christ,

And as I was thinking about this, I thought that there may well be a lesson here for us, just in general terms. It might help give us a perspective of what goes on in the name of religion today. It might be appropriate to say that there are many people who approach the Lord Jesus for wrong reasons. This man certainly did and we cannot assume that everyone who comes to the Lord Jesus, whatever they understand by coming to him, we cannot assume they come with the right motives or for the right reason.

Let me try to enlarge upon that a little bit, if I may. The Lord said in Matthew 11, verse 28, And again in John 7, he says, Even in the Lord's own ministry, there were many, many people. You know, they're actually called, in John's gospel, disciples. They were not the 12, but they were people who came with the appearance of wanting to learn the Lord's teaching. There were many who came. who followed the Lord in his lifetime, who later abandoned him when they truly understood his doctrine. And perhaps we find the most explicit example of that in John's Gospel, chapter six.

The Lord turns to this large number of people who are with him, who have been called his disciples, and this is what he says. There are some of you that believe not. Then we're told, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him. And he said, therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my father. And then we read, from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Those are solemn words.

And looking on, we would conclude these disciples had come to the Lord Jesus. they were with him, they were listening to him, they were eager to hear the things that he said. We might even say that that is to be likened to people going to church and listening to sermons, people taking a religious veneer into their life. Looking on, we would conclude that these disciples had indeed come to the Lord, and in some ways they had. but they went back. And that means that they were never truly with the Lord in the sense of regeneration, in the sense of salvation and commitment. Like this man, they had come, but they had come for the wrong reasons.

Like those that the Lord elsewhere talks about that came not for the bread of life, but for the bread that filled their bellies. They've come for the spectacle, they've come for the pleasure, they've come for the fellowship, they've come for the enthusiasm, they've come for the novelty. It is only those who come heavy laden, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, knowing their need of a saviour, knowing their sin and their need of forgiveness. It is only those that come according to the Father's calling. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

It isn't naming the name of Jesus or even identifying with a church that matters in these situations. It's the regeneration, it's the seeking Christ's forgiveness and finding all our righteousness, all our acceptance, all our spiritual life and peace in Christ. That is what it is to come. It is coming by faith that is the gift of God. And the Lord sent this man away as he sent others away who came for wrong reasons. but he used the occasion to highlight the difference between worldly wealth and spiritual wealth.

This farmer in the parable was richly blessed with fertile fields and good growing climate. These were gifts from God. He hadn't made the ground fertile. He didn't make the climate amenable to good bountiful harvests. This was God's work. And yet this man's attitude betrayed great ingratitude towards God and indeed great pride in his own self-worth and abilities.

He looked at his fields, full of crops, and instead of thinking, God has been good to me, instead of thinking, God has blessed me, how can I bless others? He chose rather to pull down his barns and build bigger, so as he had plenty of room to store his excess. Then he reasoned that he would speak to his own soul and say, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. After all, these were all my fruits. These were my goods.

His selfishness would no doubt make a good lesson for us and I'm sure that we could draw some good moral and spiritual lessons just from the fact of his selfishness. He could have shared his plenty, plenitude, this abundance that he had. He could have shared with the poor.

Do you remember what we were saying on Sunday? when we were talking from James about blessedness and trials. Even the Lord's blessings are trials. It isn't enough to say the Lord has blessed me. It isn't enough even to acknowledge that the Lord has blessed us and give him gratitude. The very blessing is a test of our faith.

This man could have sought opportunity to contribute to the cause of God and truth. One of the commentators says, instead of storing it in new barns, he could have stored his excess corn in the stomachs of the poor and done some good by it. but he chose to store it in bigger barns.

Remember what the Lord taught in his Sermon on the Mount. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

That's very profound. You could dwell and meditate upon those final words of that verse for a long time, and it would not be wasted time. But I think there's another lesson here too, and perhaps it's the greater lesson that we should be reminded of. That is, the soul of man will be required at the hand of God. Your soul and mine, everyone is answerable to God.

In verse 20, we read that the Lord said, This night thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? And what a poignant message that is. What a stark reality. The fool in this parable did not take the Lord into his calculation. He assumed life was his to live and he pleased himself as to what he would do. He could do as he wished. In this he proved himself to be foolish.

It is a fool that denies his accountability before the Lord, his Creator, and soon each of us will be required to give account before God. How blessed we are to have one in the Lord Jesus to whom we can turn. How happy is the man who is not a fool in the flesh, but is wise unto salvation in his spirit. When we look around us today, it seems that so many are living without a care for their soul. And the devil's great lie in this age of materialism and consumerism is that when you die there is nothing beyond. And so many have swallowed that lie. They live for the moment, they dwell on earthly matters. And they have not learned that a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

And what then does it consist? Well, for a believer, it consists in faith. We believe what God has said and trust in the promises that he has made. We believe that the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was sufficient for our sins. We believe that his precious blood has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. We believe that by his death we shall live. We believe that whosoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

And what does a man's life consist? Well, it consists in faith, and it consists in hope. We rely upon the scriptures as our guide in this world, believing that whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. We have hope for today and hope for tomorrow. Hope that Christ will not leave us comfortless, but that he will come unto us. We have the good hope of everlasting life with Christ. As Paul says, eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. That blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

And our life consists in love. To know God in Christ is to love Him. We love Him for who He is. We love Him for what He has done. We love Him in whose hands our souls are precious, safe and secure. We love him because he first loved us. Brethren, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Amen.