So he commands again the help
of God. Could you turn with me to the chapter that we read together,
the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 12, and the text you'll
find in verse 20. 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? The text is the
end part of the parable that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to
push home the point of the sin of covetousness. In verse 15
it says, take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's
life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. This is in response to a request
made by one of the congregation who was, who obviously his father
had died, and he asked for the inheritance to be divided rightly. in the Jewish custom the firstborn
son was allowed a double portion of the of the inheritance and
so it could be that the man wanted more than his fair share or he
felt that the law was unjust that maybe there was two brothers
and that he felt instead of his brother having two-thirds and
he having one third that he believed that it should be split down
the middle and so he comes to the Lord Jesus Christ and he
requests that Christ act as his advocate regarding a legal matter
regarding him and his brother and Jesus says I didn't come
for these reasons. I didn't come to be a legal judge
over you or to sort out your earthly problems and he was able
to look into the heart of the man and saw that the motive for
the question was covetousness because this leads Jesus on to
say beware or to take heed about covetousness. Covetousness is
the unlawful desire of something that is not yours or the desire
of somebody else's property. If you think of the Ten Commandments
in Exodus 20 The Bible tells us there of the
various things that can be coveted that is not obviously a full
list. Exodus 20 and verse 17. Thou
shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbor's wife. nor his manservant, nor his maidservant,
nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. And so coveting is wanting something
that's not yours, that you're looking at the life of somebody
else's and you're examining their life and you think, well, they've
got a better house than me. And you think, well, I want a
better house. I deserve a bigger house. I deserve
something greater. And you look at your neighbor's
wife or your neighbor's husband and you think, well, I wish that
my wife was like that. Or I wish that my husband was
like that. I wish that my husband had that
certain characteristic or that certain behavior or even that
certain look. Or maybe you look at your neighbor's
wife and you think, well, I wish my wife was like that. She's
such a hard worker. She's so diligent. She does this,
that and that. And you begin to covet. you look
and that look then goes into your mind and you begin to think
you begin to mull over what you don't have and what they do have
and then you become jealous and you begin to want those things
that other people have and left to itself That covetousness can
turn into theft, it can turn into adultery, it can turn into
murder, it can turn into actual sin. As we see in the Garden
of Eden that Eve looked at the fruit And she saw it was a fruit
to be desired and to make one wise. So she saw it entered into
her mind. She began to think about it and
she coveted what that fruit was able to give her. And then she
acted and she took. And so in the law of God it says
you should not covet even a worker, a maidservant, nor his ox, nor
his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. So we bring it
down into today's perspective. There are many people that have
nice cars. They have good houses. They have good holidays. They're
able to go out to nice restaurants. And we can covet that lifestyle. We can think that we are being
hard done by by God. and that our life is of a lower
standard and we deserve to have far greater. We can even covet
other people's health. We can be in a position of sickness. We can look at somebody else's
life and we think, well, they're never well. They don't suffer
the hardship that I have to go through. And so we covet their
health and their lifestyle, their strength, their ability. Maybe
it's been in your minds recently with some of you have had college
results, some of you have had GCSE results, and you've heard
of other people that, you know, they've done better than you.
And you think, well, because they've done better than me,
they're going to have a better pathway in life, they're going
to go to college, going to go to university, they're going
to get a better job, they're going to have more money than
I have. And so all these thoughts come into your mind and you become
covetous of what has happened to somebody else rather than
yourself and as we looked at the other week it's so easy isn't
it? to look at the life of somebody else and to think that they have
it far easier. We looked at the other week,
it was looking at the faults of others. It's so easy to find
sin in everybody else rather than sin in ourselves, but it's
also very easy to look at the lives of other people and to
think that their life is far better and greater and easier
than our life. But all we see is a veneer of
somebody's life. And we have like Facebook and
Instagram and Twitter and people are uploading their photos of
their life, where they're going on holiday, standing next to
a nice ship or standing by the beach, standing by a nice restaurant
or an aeroplane or seemingly living a life of luxury. Yet
it could all be completely false. It can all be just a front and
you end up coveting somebody else's life that is just false,
doesn't even exist and you become so dissatisfied with your own
life that you begin to grumble and complain about God. Why has God made me like this? Why aren't I allowed to go on
luxurious holidays? Why aren't I allowed to drive
in a luxurious car? Why can't I have a luxurious
house? And these things begin to eat
away inside us and we can become bitter. Bitter against the pathway
or the status, the standard that God has set us out, set us in. And so the Bible tells us to
beware of covetousness. Jesus tells us people's lives,
they don't consist of the abundance of the things that they have. That abundance of things cannot
extend their life, cannot do them any good. Ultimately, it
cannot bring them salvation. It cannot go beyond the grave. It is just here. If a man is drowning and you
throw him some gold bars it won't do him any good. It would just
hasten his destruction. And just because we see the people
of the world seemingly living an easy life doesn't mean they're
experiencing the favor and blessing of God. God may heap treasures
upon them as a judgment to them to keep them from turning unto
him. Those treasures are a weight
to hold them down they don't draw them to God at all they
keep them selfish and self-centered walking in their own strength,
they rest on uncertain riches. And so Jesus tells us, take heed
and beware of covetousness. We looked at this morning the account that Jesus was as
he was preaching he goes to the city of Nain and as he is walking
there he comes across a funeral procession and he sees there
a widow lady who is weeping she's lost her husband already and
now she has lost her son and Jesus says to her weep not but
then he speaks to the young man and he says to him arise And we saw there in that account
the way that each of us are going to exit this world. It is an image that is going
to take place in our lives unless the Lord Jesus Christ comes again
that we are going to walk out of this world in a coffin. Around about us there will be
weeping but no amount of weeping will be able to bring us back
because we will have gone. Our soul would have left the
body and we're not here. Everything that we would have
ever owned in this life will be divided up amongst our family. Whether we have had a lot whether
we have had a little we will all be buried in the ground and
as the bible says rich and poor together death is the ultimate
leveler of all things and Jesus says where our treasure
is there will our heart be also And so the parable that the Lord
Jesus gives about this rich man whose ground bought forth plentifully
is a demonstration of where the man's heart really was, where
he was truly living for, what he was truly living for. He was not living for heavenly
treasure. His heart was not upon eternal
things, but his heart was upon the material things of this world,
seeking to achieve and to gain success and to add abundance
to all that he could possess so that he might live a life
of ease and pleasure upon this world, having given no thought
for his eternal condition. He was living for this world
and he failed to even consider the world that is to come. And the Lord Jesus makes it very,
very clear that this life is not the end. Although we will
be carried out in a coffin yet this world is not the end. There
is another world that is beyond this world. There is a world that even exists
today that is hid from our eyes, that has been seen by a few people
in the scriptures, which is heaven. And the Bible tells us that after
we die, our souls will be separated from our body and we will go
into the presence of God. Remember the thief on the cross,
Jesus says to him, this day, will be with me in paradise.
It was an immediate thing that was going to take place when
the man died. He was going to be ushered into
the presence of Christ into the spiritual realm that is hidden
from our material eyes and just because we can't see it does
not mean that it isn't there. Jesus himself says I am the one
that has come from the father I am the one that has come from
heaven down to earth to tell you all that the Father has given
me to say. He says I have come from the
Father and I'm going to the Father. So Jesus tells us take heed,
beware of covetousness. For a man's life consists not
in the abundance of the things which he possesses, Jesus said. But now the man says. Jesus spoke a parable unto them,
saying, The ground of a 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. He asks himself a
question. What should he do with the abundance
that had been given to him? If you think of farming, as Jesus
uses that illustration of farming, it was the fields that brought
forth an abundance. look at it it is really the work
of God. A farmer has no ability to cause
a seed to grow, he has no authority over the sunshine or the rain
or the pests, the insects, or the diseases that can devour
his crop. And so as he plants his seed,
he is completely dependent upon the grace of God, that God would
honor the covenant that he made to Noah to provide that seed
time and that harvest, that he would provide the rain and the
sunshine to enable that crop to grow. The man was rich already. The Lord had blessed him materially
with the material things of this world. His crops had continually
brought forth an abundant supply. But now this harvest there was
a greater abundance. And he doesn't know what to do
with all the fruit that had been given to him. But he answers his own question. instead of committing to the
Lord in prayer, instead of giving thanks to God and saying Lord
please guide my eyes and my thoughts as to how I can deal with this
abundance, please guide me to the poor and the needy that I
can I can pass on the blessings of God to assist those who are
struggling, guide me to some needy village that has suffered
drought or hardship, guide me to some widow woman. No. His thoughts were not to
God, his thoughts were not to distributing, his thoughts were
not to his neighbor, his thoughts were to himself himself he thought
within himself what shall I do because I have no room to bestow
my fruits and he said this I will do I will pull down my barns
and build greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my
goods pulling down barns and building
barns costs money. So he was going to spend some
of his riches to build bigger barns. Now we could say that
he may have provided work for the poor and needy people or
for his workers, which would have been a good thing to do,
but it was the motive by which he was doing it. The Lord knows
our motives. You see we may do something.
We may do a good work. We may appear on the outside
to be doing what is right and pleasing in the sight of God.
We may be doing it for the wrong motives. Jesus uses that example of the
Pharisees. that they did long prayers. They liked the honorable seats in the feasts. They liked the praise of men. But their long prayers and their
obedience to the law were driven not out of love to God, but out
of the praise of men. And Jesus says to them, you will
have your reward. Men will praise you, but God
will reject you. Remember, Jesus says, he says,
go into your closet and pray in secret, and then your father
who sees in secret will reward you openly. And so the Lord understands
the motives and the intents of our hearts, the reasons why we
do things. the Lord understood the motive
by which this man was providing work in the pulling down and
the building up of his barns it was for himself. It wasn't
to benefit anybody else it was so that he may be able to come
to a position of laziness. He wanted to have a life of leisure
and ease He says, and to my soul, I will say to my soul, soul or
life, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine
ease, eat and drink and be merry. Wasn't interested in what God
wanted him to do at all. If you think that if this was the Lord Jesus
Christ, as we looked at the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, what
motivated him was always compassion. He was concerned. He was filled
with compassion for those who were unwell or for the situation
with the widow lady. It was compassion. And to think
that if this man had the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ, if
he were filled with the spirit of God and his relationship was
right with God, how do you think he would have acted? If he asked
himself the question, he thought within himself, what shall I
do? Because I have no room wherewith
to bestow my fruits. If his mind was truly God-centered,
how would he have acted? He's asking himself the question.
Surely he would have acted in a godly manner. But because he's not concerned
about God, therefore he's not concerned about anybody else.
And he's only concerned about himself. And so he doesn't want
to bestow all his goods to the poor He doesn't want to distribute
to the necessity of the saints. He doesn't want to help the orphan
and the widow. But he wants to hide away all
that he has for himself. He wants to hide it away for
himself. You may say, well, that's a good
thing to do because there may be a time when the harvest is
bad and he would have then a supply. Why wasn't he a bit like, or
maybe you could say he's a bit like a Joseph, a Joseph he stored
up for seven years. He had an abundant supply, so
much so they gave up counting the corn. Maybe that is the attitude
that we should have. But the reason why Joseph stored
up an abundant supply was because God warned him. God told him,
store up the corn for seven years because there's going to be seven
years of famine and you're going to have to distribute all that
corn. And so his motive had nothing to do with famine
or helping anybody in another famine. His motive was self. He wanted to hide it rather than
distribute it and his actions revealed where his heart was. Verse 34 says, for where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also. His treasure was
upon earth and not in heaven because God tells us that he
had made no preparations for eternity. His death hadn't even
been brought into his mind. He hadn't considered that his
life was in the hand of God. Jesus says, take heed and beware
of covetousness. The man says, this will I do. I'll pull down my barns and build
greater and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. Isn't
that what people say today? This is how the modern society
works. There's a constant pulling down
and a building up. There's a knocking down of houses
and there's a building up of more houses. People are always
trying to make more and more and more and more money living
for this world. in order to create for themselves
a leisure time, a pleasure time. They may have a good and a relaxing
retirement. They can travel the world. They
can see all the sights. They want to have enough so that
they can live a life of luxury. They see work as a burdensome
chore. by which to be done away with
as soon as possible, to do as little as we can, to gain as
much as we can, so I can enjoy myself. That's how the world rolls. The
ungodly mind thinks. But Jesus says, you fool, this night, thy soul shall be
required of thee. then who shall those things be
which thou hast provided thou fool. The Bible tells us what a fool
is. Psalm 53 And even in Psalm 14,
Psalm 53 in verse 1, it says, the fool has said in his heart,
there is no God. Corrupt are they. They have done
abominable iniquity. There is none that doeth good. So when God says, you fool, What
he is saying is that you are living a life that rejects the
existence of God. That you are living without consideration
that there is a God whom you are accountable to. That there
is a God who holds your life. The God who gave you life and
the God who will take your life. And so the man is living without
the knowledge of God. Although God is there looking
over all of his dealings. Yet in the mind of this man,
all he's concerned about, I'm going to have a long life. For
many years, I'm going to take my ease and eat and drink and
be merry. But God says to him, you fool. This night, thy soul shall be
required of thee. He was making all his decisions
without considering God. without considering eternity,
without considering the state of his soul. The Bible tells us that God is
able to cleanse our soul from all sin. That this man had no
concern for the sins that he had committed. He had no concern
that he was living a life of covetousness, that he was overindulging,
living in excess in the things of this life. Living without mercy and concern
for everybody else but just filled with self-satisfaction and self-pleasure. Living without the fear of God. The Bible tells us doesn't it
that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The
fool has said in his heart there is no God but the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. To fear God is not, ultimately,
is not to live as a quivering wreck underneath him, but to
acknowledge him as the great creator and provider. Yes, we live, we should be in
fear of him because we're outside of the covenant of Christ and
God hates sin. But as we are brought under Christ
Jesus, we have a fatherly fear, a respect to God. so the fear of God is the beginning
of wisdom, the fool has said in his heart that there is no
guard, presuming that his life is in his hands, presuming that
because he has obtained a standard of wealth that he is going to
live for a long long long time. Remember I told you a few months
back about that billionaire in America who is seeking to reverse
time, the effects of time or age upon his body. doing exercises
and special programs and eating special things every single day
in order to reverse the effects of age upon his body. Ultimately
he can never escape from death. Can never escape from death. It's always round the corner
and we have no control over it whatsoever. God has the authority to take life
and he is the one that knows the length of our life. He is the one that knows when
the clock will stop ticking on our life. He is the one like
we said this morning who will as Jesus says to that funeral
procession as he touched that possession and it stood still. It is God alone who will touch
our life and it will stand and it will stop. Our heart and our
breathing will stop and then our soul will leave our body
and we will enter into that spiritual place whether to be with Christ
or to be separated from him and our bodies will be laid into
the ground or even if you're cremated it
won't make any difference when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again
and he says arise the ground will give up its dead The sea
will give up its dead. Every soul will be reconciled
to the body and we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
And Jesus says, I know because I have come from the Father and
I'm going to the Father. This same Jesus who we have seen
going up into heaven will one day come again. Are we living like this foolish
man? Are we living like there is no
God? Are we living like there is no death? Are we living like
there is no judgment? Are we living a life of covetousness
seeking to obtain more and more and more and more seeking to
satisfy the cravings of the flesh The Bible tells us that the grave
is never satisfied. The Bible tells us that our flesh
is never satisfied. No one can ever get enough. Those multi-millionaires, those
billionaires, they haven't got enough. They're always wanting
more. because they're never satisfied.
The only way we can truly be satisfied is to be found in Christ
Jesus with a treasure that the Bible tells us can never be taken
away. And that treasure is secured
in heaven for it is found in Christ Jesus himself. Christ
is the treasure. And the forgiveness of sin is
the greatest treasure that a person can ever receive. Corinthians
tells us, 1 Corinthians 12 it says, but covet
earnestly. So Jesus says, take heed and
beware of covetousness. Coveting the things that this
world has. Be content with such things as
you have. Paul says I know how to abound
and I know how to be abased. He was content with whatever
pathway the Lord led him. But he tells us here to covet
earnestly the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent
way. Those best gifts are spiritual
gifts. Evidences of Christ's spirit
indwelling in us. The greatest gift, he says, is
prophecy to speak on behalf of God himself. To covet those gifts. To covet
that growth in godliness and holiness. Instead of building
up a wealth here below, but to use our wealth to the advancement
of the kingdom of God, distributing to the necessity of the saints,
providing ourselves treasures in heaven which fail not, where
no thief can approach, neither corrupt, for where our treasure
is, there will our hearts be also let your loins be girded
about and your lights burning and you yourselves like unto
men that wait for their lord for he will return from the wedding
and when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately
what does he say He says, those whose treasure is on this earth,
they will be laboring for the things of this earth. They will
be living for the kingdom of this earth. But those whose treasure
is in heaven are living for that kingdom. They are living for
their master, the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are waiting
for him day by day to come. And when he comes, he will find them doing. not hoarding up treasures upon
earth not living a selfish life but living with their eyes fixed
upon eternity living for the Lord Jesus Christ living and
knowing that their life could end at any moment and that Jesus
could come again and that everything that they have could just be
ushered away in an instant How are we living? Do we make decisions based upon
the frailty of our life? Do we make decisions regarding
the things that we have based on the fact that we are Christians?
Based on the fact that everything that we have is going to be taken
away at one point? sad to be a Christian that is
caught up with all that this world has
to offer. The Bible tells us that those who are rich they
can pierce themselves through with many sorrows. It has been said that the greatest
trial of faith is wealth. I've said to you before we live
in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We have far more
than millions and millions of people could ever dream of having
and that has an effect upon our spiritual walk and our spiritual
outlook. I remember our friends in Kenya
as a farmer they were to save a portion of their crop to plant
the following year or the following seed time. But sometimes they didn't harvest
enough to get them through to the following seed time and so
they had to eat what they were going to plant the following
time so they ended up with nothing. you may say well that's foolish
they should have just kept it there what and starved to death
while they've got seed in the granary no they trusted God they trusted
the Lord that if we had to eat this that he was going to provide
a way by which we would get seed to plant for the following year
They didn't have the safety nets that we have, insurance policies
coming out of our ears. When they had nothing, they had
nothing. But they had God. Hudson Taylor, when he was in
China, he said, I've got nothing in my pockets but all the promises
in the word of God. That's enough. Don't let our material prosperity
dampen our faith in God. Don't let us be covetous always
looking at what everybody else has but covet the greatest gifts
those spiritual gifts are those gifts that can be used for the
advancement of the kingdom of God those gifts as we saw the
other day that can be that the benefit of those gifts can be
passed through that fire of judgment and come through the other side. A ministry made up of silver and gold and
precious stones rather than a ministry made up of hay and stubble that
will be burnt up. May the Lord give us that that
courageousness that he that win his souls is wise rather than
seeking to be great in material things, but to be used by the
Lord, for our treasure is in heaven. And even when we have
done all these things, the Bible tells us, you are unprofitable
servants. You have done that which has
been required of you to do. May the Lord grant us that true
then humble spirit, that mind of the Lord Jesus Christ to be
able to live in dependence upon him, trusting him for all things
and knowing how to distribute rightly and to live rightly in
this world. Loving God and loving our neighbour
as ourselves with that knowledge that Jesus Christ is coming again
and that one day if he doesn't come before we die we will be
taken out of this world but we will enter into his presence
that our salvation is secure in him at our treasure our ultimate
treasure is in glory and that no thief and that no rust can
ever enter into there and to snatch it from his hands. God said thou for this night
thy soul shall be required of thee those who are living for
the kingdom of Christ. That won't matter a bit. they
will go to a better place. Death is the doorway to take
them into glory where they'll be face to face with the Lord
Jesus Christ but those who are covetous living for this world
it will take them from time to eternity in and to the rejection
of God underneath his wrath forever and ever. Thou for this night
thy soul will be required of thee. Amen. Let's sing our final hymn, hymn
number 95. 95. And did the holy and the
just, the sovereign of the skies, stoop down to wretchedness and
dust, that guilty worms might rise? Yes, the Redeemer left
his throne, his radiant throne on high, surprising mercy, love
unknown to suffer, bleed, and die. Hymn 95, tune 172. Under the holy and the just,
the sovereign of the skies, still now to preach in years and hours,
that guilty mind might rise. ? As the Redeemer left His throne
? ? Is redeemed through the light ? ? Celebrating us in love unknown
? ? To self-help me, to self-help me ? and suffered in his stead. Forever may their glow of grace,
hope and the saving grace, ? Dear Lord, what hell beyond death's
dwell ? ? In thy attuning band? ? ? Are these your sick that
stretch forth well? ? ? That return, that I impart ?
? Hope in us to divine ? ? Let it, my hope, its worthless part
? ? And make it wholly mine ? Dear Lord, we give Thee thanks
for hearing prayer and for removal of the distraction. And Lord,
we pray that Thou help us to go on our way and consider the
truths of Thy holy word. Do give us, Lord, a heart that
is fixed in heaven. Do wean us, we pray, from the
things of this world and to give us a treasure in Christ Jesus,
to know that our sin which is so many, so much has been washed
away. We pray, Lord, that Thou wouldst
dismiss us with Thy blessing. And now by the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, do be with you each,
for now and for evermore. Amen.