You know, when a believer that
we know passes from this life, especially if it's sudden, it
comes as a shock. We know that we're all going
to die. We know that God's appointed
an hour. It's going to happen to all of us. But when it comes
home and it hits close to home, It really does help you to realize
that our priority in this life is Christ. And it's sad for family. It's
sad for the family that remains. So sad for the family. But for
that believer that departs, it's nothing but joy. This is what
we're looking forward to. We say with Paul, we're confident
and willing to be absent from the body and to be present with
the Lord. We're confident of that because
of Christ. Now, if we have confidence in
anything else, we won't have that confidence. We don't really
have confidence if we put trust in something else. If you have
trust in Christ, we have confidence. And we're willing to depart from
this body, to be absent from this body, because immediately the Spirit will go and we'll
be with our Father. We'll be with our Lord immediately. I was just thinking of leaving
this world. Think about awaking in the presence
of the Lord. Do you ever think about that? You know, we've been preaching
about it for years and we've been believing it and singing
about it. But imagine really leaving this
world and coming into God's presence. Those whose only hope is Christ,
they don't have to fear death and they don't fear the judgment. You know why? When you're in
Christ, He's all your hope, all your salvation is Christ. The
scripture says, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death
of his saints. It's precious to the Lord. I'm
going to go home Monday night and I'm going to see my dad.
You think he's going to be sad that I'm coming home? That's
going to be precious to him. It's precious to God our Father
to see His saint coming home. We know that when He shall appear,
we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is.
Can you imagine waking up like Christ? Perfectly conformed to
His image. Seeing Him and being perfectly
conformed to His image. It makes me smile when I think
about a believer that's passed from this life. That makes me
happy. Look over at Revelation 21. He's talking about the new heavens
and new earth. He's talking about being with
Christ. This is what a saint that God sanctified and redeemed
and called home, this is what he's going to experience. Watch
this. In verse 3, he says, The tabernacle of God shall be with
men, and he'll dwell with them, And they shall be His people,
and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away." Look at verse 7. He that overcometh,
shall inherit all things. He'll inherit all things. And I'll be His God, and He shall
be My Son. Look at verse 27. And there shall in no wise enter
into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book
of life. Wouldn't it be nice to be somewhere where nothing
will mess it up? Nothing will ruin it. Look over
at Revelation 22, look at verse 3. And there shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
His servants shall serve Him. We've never really served Him. Even the very best servant in
this life who is faithful, who served Him all his life and was
faithful, always had this nagging thing called sin that didn't
allow Him to serve like He really wanted to. But in His presence,
we are going to serve Him. Serve Him without the curse,
without sin. We will serve Him. Look at this. And they shall see His face and
His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there,
and they shall need no candle, neither light of the sun, for
the Lord God giveth them light. And they shall reign, they shall
reign as king-priests, in our king-priests, forever and ever. Right now, we rejoice to hear
the gospel of how Christ is going to make all things new, how He
has and how He shall. But in that day, we're going
to behold it, all things new. But though there is only a joyful
inheritance for the believer, there's no joy. for the sinner
that passes from this life without Christ. When I began to think about how
quickly this life can be over, the first scripture that I thought
of was Luke chapter 12. Rob told me when I gave him my
text, he said, that's what I'm going to read tonight. I thought
of that text, the first thing I thought of was that text. Luke
12. Turn there with me. Now here the Lord Jesus declares
that nothing in this life shall profit us when we die. Nothing
in this life shall profit us when we die. The only true riches
is Christ Jesus Himself, which He freely gives us. That's the simplicity of Christ.
Christ is all. And He's the only true riches
there is. Nothing else. Prophets. Nothing
else. Now look. Luke 12, 13. As Christ
was preaching, one of the company said unto Him, somebody sitting
there in the congregation, Master, speak to my brother that he divide
the inheritance with me. We just read, God said, when
He brings His child home, we're going to inherit all things.
And here's the only one who can give the inheritance to us, Christ. And this man here is arguing
over an earthly inheritance with his brother. He comes to Christ,
he says, speak to my brother that he can divide the inheritance
with me. You know, that's all some people want from Christ.
Give me stuff. Make me prosperous. Make me healthy. Make me wealthy. Make my brother
give me the inheritance. Christ is not interested in that.
He's not here, didn't come to deal with that. And He's not
dealing with that. He said there to him, man who
made me a judge or a divider over you? That's not why I'm
here. I'm not here to be a civil judge. I'm not here to divide
earthly inheritances to people. That's not what Christ is. That's
not why He came. That's not what He's doing now.
First of all, Christ tells us to take heed and to beware. Now listen to Him in verse 15. He said unto them, take heed. Take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of the things which he possesses." You know,
when you pull into somebody's drive and you see a sign on a
tree or up on a wall or something that says, beware of dog. Every step you take, when you
get out of your vehicle, and there's nobody around. Every
step you take, you take it very cautiously. Your eyes are constantly on the
lookout. Where is it? Where's the dog? If you hear a noise, you look
right to that place. You beware. Beware. It means to It has the
word aware in it, but to be aware is to do it beforehand. And that's what you do, you beware.
Well, that's what Christ tells us here, to beware. And some
translations say, beware of all kinds of covetousness. What is
covetousness? It's having a heart set on everything
except Christ. Only the new heart that God gives
has no covetousness. Because it's pure, it has no
covetousness. But that natural heart is nothing
but covetous. That's all it is. The natural
man is set on Christ and that's all he has his heart set on. We see in this man, this man,
he came to where Christ was, he was in a church service so
to speak, he was hearing the Master preach the Gospel, but
all the while his heart was turned completely away from Christ and
set on an earthly inheritance. That's the natural heart. That's
the natural heart. It may go through the motions
outwardly, but the inward heart is set on earthly treasure. And as Rob just read, where your
heart is, where your treasure is, that's where your heart will
be. Where your treasure is, what you think to be most valuable,
that's what your heart's going to go after. And all a natural
man's heart goes after is an abundance of possessions. And
by that, I mean fame, esteem, riches, honors, all the things
that men are going after in this world. That's what the possessions
they want to have. Sadly, The sinner who does not
believe on Christ has only a covetous heart. That's all he's got. Men
who always excuse themselves because they can't give themselves
to Christ and His kingdom, His people and His righteousness.
Men who cannot give themselves. They cannot give themselves to
Christ. They can't provide for His kingdom
and for His cause. They can't do anything for that.
but they'll pay a great sum of money to send their kids to college
so that they come out and get a good job so they can get more
abundance of possessions. You take a man who thinks that
a person's crazy for selling what they have and moving to
some place where they can hear the gospel, taking a lesser job
or whatever, and moving where they have to go to hear the gospel,
and they'll say, that man's crazy. But you let a promotion come
up clear across the country, he won't have a single problem
packing up and moving there for that. And yet nothing of this world
shall profit us spiritually and eternally. Christ said, verse
15, a man's life. Now you think about this statement.
This is why, beware of covetousness. For a man's life, he's saying,
true life, consisteth not in the abundance of the things which
he possesseth. A man's life's not prolonged
by possessions, that they won't make him have a longer life.
Men think they can, you know, pay for better medical treatment,
all that, and it's going to prolong my life. Your days are sent by
God. And they certainly can't give
you eternal life. If they can't provide more life
in this temporal life, they sure can't help you eternally with
eternal life. And possessions can't put away
your sins. Some teach they can. But, you
know, what they tell you is, bring me your money. and I'll
absolve your sin." That's nothing but one man being hoodwinked
into bringing his money to a charlatan who cannot absolve sins. No man
can do that. Possessions and money and things
can't put away your sin. And the possessions can't justify
you and make you righteous and holy before God. You know who
life is? What does life consist of? Christ
only is life. I had a man text me this afternoon
while I had another message prepared and I got a call from Brother
Don this afternoon. I hadn't checked my email or
anything like that. And I just totally switched directions to
preach on this subject because this is what came to my heart. And I had a man text me, and
he was asking me, and while I was working on this, I was sort of
texting him and trying to help him. It's a friend that lives
out in Colorado. And he was texting me. I've never
met this man. He was texting me, and he asked
me, he said, I'm having a Bible study in my home tonight. He
said, what is a good definition of holiness? And I was studying this passage
right here. What is life? What does life consist of? Christ
said a man's life consists not of an abundance of possessions.
Well, what does life consist of? I'll tell you what life consists
of. It's the same thing holiness
consists of. It's Christ. He said, I am the way. He's the way. He's the way in
every way. He's the way. He said, I am the
truth. He is the truth. All this book
is concerning Christ Jesus, the Son of God. He is the truth. In Him is no lie. He is the truth.
And He said, and I am the life. Men are talking about everything
but what needs to be talked about in pulpits. And folks are running
about doing everything except what they need to do. They need
to be seeking the life. Christ the life. He alone is
life. Without Christ, now you think
about what that means. Christ is the life. So if I don't
have Christ, I don't have life. If I don't have Christ, you know
what I have? You know, this that I call life, if I don't have
Christ, you know what it is? God says it's being dead in trespasses
and in sin. It's a vapor that appears for
a little while and passes away. Without Christ, you don't have
life. But the believer who has life,
this is why it's such a joyous thing for a believer to lay down
this body of death. Because the moment he lays down
this body of death, nothing has changed for him, except he put
off that which he hated all the days since God saved him. He
has eternal life. God said, you have eternal life. Right now, you who believe on
Him, who have Christ in you, you have life. And immediately,
You'll be with Him. Nothing will hinder you from
being in God's holy and righteous presence because all is in Christ. And everything you need is Christ.
He's everything. So possessions can give us nothing. We can seek all we want to in
this world. It won't give us nothing. But
here's one thing that an abundance of possessions will do. Christ
said, an abundance of possession and the cares of this world and
the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things in
and in can certainly choke the Word and make a man lose his
soul. That's what possessions can do.
Now will you take heed and beware of having a heart set on gain,
of having a heart set on getting What this world has to offer?
Christ Jesus, who is the life, tells us plainly, nothing you
can get in this world is life. Nothing here is life. It's not
eternal life. Christ alone is life. And without
Christ, no man has life. Now, hearing that, if I won't
take heed to that, and I won't beware, That's just crazy. A man that
says, I'm going to go after these things anyway, when I've heard
the plain, clear truth that Christ alone is life? A covetous man. If there was
a treasure chest somewhere overflowing with gold, and you said, it's
not this way, it's that way. I guarantee you the treasure
chest is right there overflowing with gold. He'd take your word
for it and he would do everything he can to get to that treasure
chest. But I'm telling you, the way is not after that treasure
chest. The way is Christ, the life,
the truth. He's the true treasure. And a
man will say, eh, how does he know that? I pray God will give us a heart.
I pray for you. I pray for you. I pray for you
that believe. I pray for you that don't believe.
And I have a desire for you. And here's my desire for you.
I want you to be able to say, Lord, incline my heart unto Thy
testimonies and not to covetousness. Take me and mold me and make
my heart be applied to your gospel, to your word, to Christ himself
and not to covetousness. Christ didn't say where a man's
treasure is, his heart will be divided between that and the
other thing. He said where a man's treasure
is, that's where his heart solely will be. A man can't serve God and go
after this world. It can't be done. I had a man
tell me that one time, an old preacher, and I thought, he don't
know what he's talking about. I can do that. I can manage that.
No, you can't manage that. Can't manage it. Now secondly,
the Lord gives a parable to illustrate the urgency of seeking true riches. Here's the urgency of seeking
true riches. Watch this, verse 16, He spake
a parable unto them. He's illustrating what He just
said. He spake a parable unto them,
saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. How? How did the ground bring
forth plentifully? The only way the ground could
bring forth plentifully is if God made it bring forth. If God
made it bring forth. You see, anything you and I are
able to achieve in this world, it's only God giving it to us
that we can have it. I pray God doesn't give us what
the natural heart wants. Because that's all the natural
heart wants. And if God just gives you that, we'll do what
this man did. I pray God to make you want Christ, because He's
going to give you what you want. He gives every man what he wants.
The man that he passes by, he doesn't want Christ, he wants
the world, and God gives it to him. But the man who wants Christ,
who's been made willing in the day of His power, he wants Christ
by God's sovereign will, and God gives him what he wants.
I pray God to make us willing for Christ and give us just what
we want. But until then, we'll take the
riches and not consider who gave them. This, look, what he does,
the ground of this man brought forth plentifully, and he thought
within himself, saying, what shall I do? What would have been
a good thing to do? fall on his face and thank God,
give God all the glory, praise God, and take those goods to
God's house and use them to further the gospel of God and for the
need of his needy brethren. But what does he do instead? He said, I have no room where
to bestow my fruits. Bestow is a key word he used
there because he said, later, sell that that you have and give
on. Bestow those gifts for the cause
of Christ. Seek my kingdom and my righteousness. Seek me and my cause. That's
what he said. He said, but I don't have a place
to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do.
I will pull down my barns and I'll build greater. And there
will I bestow all my fruits and my goods." They're not His. They're on loan to Him. God's
just given Him these fruits and these goods on loan. But He says,
I'm going to tear down My barns and build bigger barns. And I'm
going to bestow My goods and My fruits in those barns, in
My barns. And He says, and I'll say to
my soul, I will say to my soul, soul thou has much goods laid
up for many years. Take thine ease, eat and drink,
be merry. That's a man lying to himself.
That's a man trying to soothe his own conscience. 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."
My subject is being rich toward God. Now, this man finally had
what the whole unregenerate world is seeking. This man, he said,
I've got much goods laid up for many years. That's what everybody
wants. That's what everybody wants.
Sadly, there's an old fleshly man in every believer and that's
what he wants too. to have much goods laid up for
many years. He envisioned living many, many
years and his years being full of joy and full of ease so that
for many, many, many, many years he could eat and he could drink
and he could be married and he could just have a wonderful life.
Why did he feel that way? Why did he feel that way when
he had much goods? Why did he feel that way about
that? His goods was his God. His goods was his God. He thought
he had security because of his goods. He thought his goods would
provide comfort for him. But he didn't look to the one
who gave those things. Wouldn't it stand to reason that
the one who gave those things would be a lot more secure and
much more of a refuge than those things? Wouldn't it stand to reason that
the one who gave those things could just as easily take those
things away? Wouldn't it seem that the one
who gave those things is the one we ought to seek and worship
instead of the things? That's exactly what Ever-Covetous
heart does. Exactly. That's why it is idolatry. Covetousness is idolatry. Covetousness
is a man trying to treasure up things for himself because he
thinks in those things he's going to be safe from harm and he's
going to be secure and those things are going to provide for
him. Sadly, we all feel this way. You know, you could not
have anything, and all of a sudden, you know, you get some windfall
or something, and all of a sudden now, you're just so happy. Your whole mood changes. We got
it made now. And then all of a sudden, it's
like, I can't give this away. Just five minutes ago, you didn't
even have it. And now you've got it, and you say, I can't,
no, I'm going to have to put this in the bank. But the man who's trying to find
salvation in the things of this world only finds woe. He only
finds woe. And that's a blessing if you're
God's child. But if you're not, it's still
going to be woe. Listen to this. Woe to him that
coveteth an evil covetousness to his house. that he may set
his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of
evil. That's what covetousness is.
Looking to God to establish you and to secure you from evil rather
than Christ the life. That's covetousness. Don't you
want to be saved from that? What if today? Right now! This
was the night. This is the day. Wouldn't you
much rather know that you're ready to meet God than to know
I have trusted a false God? He said to himself, how wise
I am, but God said to him, thou fool. God says this is the definition
of a fool. Thou fool, this night, not many,
many years from now, 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. Now I want you to think
about something. I want you to think about the
last time a loved one, somebody really close to you, suddenly
passed from this life. And I want you to try to remember
how shocked you were when you got the news. You expected them
to die, but not then. You expected them to die, but
not today. One day, that's going to be me
and you. We don't know the hour. We don't know the day. Only God
knows that. This is why I press upon you
the urgency, the urgency of believing on Christ now. Believing on Christ
today. This night thy soul shall be
required of you. God's given us a soul. And death
is not the end. We're going to spend eternity
somewhere. That's true of me and you and everybody. We've
been looking at resurrection. Everybody's going to be resurrected.
Everybody, everybody is going to one day stand before God. Every one of us are. Every one
of us are. And I showed you that believer
whose riches are Christ and who has robed with Christ, he is
going to enter into that judgment without fear, without having
to say a word, because Christ, He's going to be found in Christ,
not having a righteousness of His own, but having that which
is provided fully by Christ, which Christ is. And there'll
be no fear there. But now you put your place, when
I said you think of how shocked you were when that loved one
passed, you think how shocked you'll be when it comes, if you
don't know Him. When God says, this night I summons
you to stand right here before me. Christ says, then who shall
those things be that thou hast provided? Now don't you think
on this. Think of everything you have
achieved in life to this moment. Think of everything that you've
provided your family, yourself or others. Think of everything
that you have possessed, that you possess from the beginning
of your life to right now. Take it all and think of all
of it now. And let me ask you something.
If you die tonight, will any of it do you any good? Well, Clay, you're a preacher.
I don't want to stand before God in that. I sent enough preaching to send
everybody here to hell. Well, you were faithful to attend
the church service. I don't want to stand in that. Well, you built a bunch of buildings.
I don't want to stand in that. You helped feed the poor. I don't
want to stand in that. Everything a man possesses when
he passes from this life, the Lord says, then who shall those
things be? They won't be yours. You know,
some other fools are going to be arguing over who gets to have
that. Just like these two brothers were arguing over who gets to
have somebody else's inheritance, some day somebody is going to
be arguing over who gets yours. But it won't be yours. You're
going to be standing naked and empty before God if you don't
have Christ. So is he that layeth up treasure
for himself, and is not rich toward God. Now, here's my last
question. What is it to be rich toward
God? What is it to be rich toward
God? To be rich toward God is to possess the unsearchable riches
of Christ. That's what it is to be rich
before God, is to possess the unsearchable riches of Christ. And you want me to tell you what
that is? It's Christ. It's Christ. Christ Himself. He's revealed by God. He's the
riches. He's revealed by God. You know
what I'd do? I'd call on God. I'd call on
God for mercy. He's revealed in His Word. You
know what I'd do? I'd study this. I'd go into this
field right here and I'd start digging for the treasure. He's revealed in His Gospel.
You know what I'd do? I'd be at the place where His
Gospel is preached consistently, hearing, looking up the Scriptures,
go home and look up the Scriptures. I'd be searching diligently.
Give yourself to know Christ like you've been giving yourself
for vain things. Just imagine. What's something
you dearly, dearly love and have been giving yourself to in this
life? Give yourself to Christ like
that. To know Him. To seek Him. Without Christ,
a person could possess the whole world and possess nothing. What
will a man be profited if he gains the whole world and loses
his own soul? Or what shall a man yield in
exchange for his soul? I guarantee you one day, when
it's too late, And it comes between all, if you had all the possessions
in the world, if it came between those and having Christ, one
day when it's too late, you're going to say, I wish I had Christ. Those things aren't worth anything.
I wasted my life going after that. And that, when I talk about
it, I'm not just talking about money. I'm talking about this
life. I'm talking about going after
this life. I'm talking about trying to set
your nest on high and secure yourself from evil by the things
of this world. Everything is worthless except
Christ. Being rich toward God, so it's
possessing Christ. And then being rich towards God
is possessing Christ because He's God. It's to have this peace of heart
and to know. I wouldn't trade this right here
for anything. I pray I can make that statement
honestly. I pray God will keep me. I pray I don't ever have
to face temptation enough to make me face that. But I love and treasure knowing
that Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for me, is seated at God's right
hand, and He is able, has, not able, but has accomplished redemption
for me that is eternal. Because He's God, what He did
was eternal. I'm not looking to fulfill the
law. I've eternally fulfilled it. And I love knowing that I have
God who rules everything in my life for my good. When a believer
passes from this life and it's so hard and so sad for their
loved ones, this is what is the comfort.
Even in the midst of the tears, this is the comfort. God is ruling
everything in my life for my good. I know that. May not seem good right now,
but it's for my good. And who provides us everything
that we need for now and for all eternity, but Christ who
is God. To know that if I need it, if
it's something I need, if it's something for His kingdom and
something for His cause, and I need it, He will provide it. You can't put a price on that. And it's to know this, He's so
sovereign that He's working His good pleasure in me. I don't
have to sit around and worry and fret and wonder, what should
I be doing? Should I be working this work
or that work? I know this, God will work in
me His good pleasure. He will bring me to do what He
would have me to do. And He'll shut up the way. Every
other way, but that way. And then, here's something else.
Being rich toward God is having Christ who is glorified man.
He's God and man. And because He's man, He's been
touched with every feeling of every infirmity that I have.
And you have. From the cradle to the grave. From the womb to the tomb, there's
not one place that he hadn't been and experienced that his
people are going to experience. So he's able to comfort you. And because he's sovereign God,
he's able to irresistibly comfort you. That's the greatest peace
in the world to know that. I can't comfort my brethren whose
hearts are broken. I can't comfort my brethren like
I'd love to, but I can't. But he can. He can. Being rich toward God is to have Christ fully robe you
inside and out. That's what it is to be rich.
To be fully robed inside and out. Freely He bestows on the
believer His righteousness. His righteousness is freely bestowed
to us. so that we have His righteousness. That means this, the law has
nothing to say to His child who believes on Him. In Christ, we
lived perfectly before God's holy law, when Christ lived perfectly
before God's holy law. And when He died, He justified
us of all our sin. So the law has nothing to say
to us. In Christ, God says, well done. Are you ever fearful of... Anybody here that has not cast
their care on Christ, do you ever find yourself fearful of
what it would be to meet God and not have a perfect standing
with God? Imagine not having to worry about
it. Imagine being free from that, knowing I have Christ. I have Christ. And it's freely
that He robes us inwardly with a new heart. Christ in you, the
hope of glory. He gives you a purged conscience
and purges you from dead works to serve Him. And you know what
the Hebrew writer said in Hebrews 10? He said all those works that
they did back there, if those works had made them perfect,
then they would have had no more conscience of sins. You know
what he's telling the Hebrews that he was writing that to?
If Christ has purged your conscience, you'll cease from those dead
works because you have no more sin. You have no more conscience
of sin. How do you have that? By being
sanctified, by Him purging your conscience. pure heart, to be honest with
God about your sin, to come to God and be able to say, just
spill your guts to God. Isn't that good? Don't you enjoy
that? I look... I'm not trying to say
it any... I look forward to the night when
I can lay down my head on the bed and just talk to God. I love that. I love it. and be honest with Him about
my sin, be honest with Him about the fact that I need grace and
I need mercy, just be honest with Him. Everything that we
need to be rich with God, Christ is. Everything. Everything we need to be rich
in this life, Christ is. Everything we need, period, Christ
is. Christ is. His wisdom, His righteousness,
His sanctification, His redemption. Christ is all. All. Our intercessor,
our provider, He's all. The king's daughter is all glorious
within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. Inside now. To be rich with God
is to have this too. Is to have a true family. Has to be rich with God. To have
a true family. United by Christ, by the Spirit
of God, by the blood of Christ, to be united with Him. This is
a family that we have in God's family that will never, ever
be broken up. Ever. Not ever. The whole family in heaven and
earth, Paul said, is named after God. The whole family in heaven
and earth. Now here's what I'm trying to
tell you. Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call ye upon
Him while He is near. Paul said He's in your heart. He's in your lips. It's not something
to be grasped. It's not something to say who's
going to come down from heaven for me or who's going to come
up from the deep for me. It's in your heart. Faith, which
we preach. Believe on Christ. Call on Him
while He's near, He said. Let the wicked forsake His way.
Who's the wicked? Me and you. Let the wicked forsake
His way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him
return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him. He will have mercy upon you and
our God will abundantly pardon. Clay, you can't say that. I can
say that. God says it. And if God says
it, I can say it. He said, come to me, forsake
your thoughts, forsake your works, forsake everything about you
and your riches and come to me. And He says, I will have mercy
on you and I'll abundantly pardon. He's never, ever, ever turned
anybody away that came to Him truly seeking mercy. He's never
turned them away. Ever. And He won't. He won't. We will entrust our eternal soul. This is it. This is the sum of
it. We will entrust our eternal soul to a lifetime of seeking
possessions in honor and riches and esteem and die and suffer
hell forever, separated from God and everything that is good. Or we will entrust our soul to
Christ now and be accepted of God and live forever. That's it. There's no middle
ground. That's it. And I can tell you
this, everybody that God chose and Christ redeemed and the Spirit
is going to quicken them and He is going to draw them and
they are going to come and bow to Christ and ask mercy and find
mercy and ask for pardon and find pardon. And He is not going
to lose one of them. And the rest are going to go
on making excuses and meet God naked. I pray, I sincerely, sincerely,
sincerely pray for you. I pray God make you come. I pray
He make you call on Christ and cast all your care on Him. Believer, right now, cast all
your care on Him. You know when we start getting
troubled? When we start trying to carry some of that care. Carry
some of that care. That's when we get troubled.
Cast all your care on Him, for He careth for you. And brethren, one day, I'm telling
you something, we're going to wake up, we're going to close
our eyes in this life and wake up in His presence and we're
going to be satisfied and rest in His arms forever. I envy my brother. I envy him. What a place to be. What a joyful
place to be in the arms of Christ. Amen. Let's stand together. We'll be
dismissed in prayer. Father, thank you for your word. Make us hear it. Comfort your hurting people. Comfort the Groover family. I
ask, Lord, you'd comfort them, their children, their mother, their father, their church, all those brethren. We pray, Lord, that You'd provide
for them. Do what Your will is. We trust that. We thank You, Lord, that the
time You gave us, the faithfulness You gave, the gospel You gave,
and the work You did. We're thankful for the time we
had. Lord, we pray now You make that
word effectual in the heart of somebody here. Make them seek
the true riches now. Thank You, Lord, for making Your
people rich. Thank You, Lord. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen.