This is not holy water, only
water for the weary. All right, back to Luke, chapter
12. The Lord just spoke the parable of
the rich fool to his disciples, and that's us. This man was only thinking of
retirement. And he said in verse 19, and what he did and what he said
is what our Lord expounded on that we just read. The man said
in verse 19, So thou hast much goods laid up for many years. take thine ease, eat, drink,
and be merry. But God said unto him, Fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee then whose shall
be those things be which thou hast provided. Our Lord told
us, boast not thyself of tomorrow, because we may not have a tomorrow. Our Lord said that. Don't even think about tomorrow,"
he said, at least anxiously. Boast not. Certainly do not boast
of or make big plans for tomorrow. You may not have one. And he said then to this fool,
now who are these things going to be? that you've saved up for. And the Proverbs, well, David
began saying this. He learned it from the Lord. But David said this, in Psalm
39, he said this, listen to this. Well, look, turn to it. I don't
want everyone to turn. Psalm 39, it's just too good
for you not to look at with your own eyes. commit to memory. David said this, the Proverbs
Solomon wrote, full of it, Solomon learned. In Psalm 39, beginning with verse
four, "'Lord, make me to know mine end, the measure of my days,
what it is that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days
as an handbreadth, and mine age is as nothing before
thee. Barely every man at his best
state is altogether vanity. Surely every man walketh in a
vain show. Surely they are disquieted in
vain. He heapeth up riches, and knoweth
not who shall gather them." Solomon said that we save and save and
save our money and heap up riches, and he said we leave them to
a son that's going to go out and just spend, spend, spend.
That's what Solomon said. Well, our Lord, now back to the
text. Our Lord says, you're a fool if you boast of
tomorrow and heap up treasure for yourself. Verse 21, he said,
so is he, he's a fool, but layeth up treasure for himself. Treasure for himself. We already saw how that treasures,
things, everything in this earth that men and women and young
people treasure comes from the earth. You remember
that? The ground of a rich man, thoughtful. Everything comes from the earth,
everything. And know this about me. all those
things. They're going back to the earth,
just as quickly as they can. Possessions, attainments, men
work to get up high in this world, you know, and then they get Alzheimer's. They can get to be President
of the United States only to forget their own name. Then what did it matter? Now
understand, I have great respect for Mr. Reagan, but this is a sad story. Everyone in here knows his condition.
It was said of him recently that there was a little figurine of the White House that
he had on his desk in his home. He said he picked it up one day
and looked at it and said, I don't know what this is, but I know
it has something to do with me. No recollection. Nor does this
world think anything about him. He's gone. Well, treasure for
Seth. Treasure for Seth. It comes from
the earth and it will return to the earth. Riches. Now, here's
another treasure. Relationships. They're going back to the earth,
aren't they? Riches our Lord in the word calls deceitful,
the deceitfulness of riches. They deceive us into thinking,
listen to this, the things of this world are deceitful. They
deceive us into thinking that they give joy, that they give
happiness and contentment, when in fact they give the opposite. Seriously, the more you have,
the more miserable you are, the more you worry about it. The
more you have, the more you care about it, care about losing it.
When you don't have things, you don't worry about it. What you
have, you worry about it, right? And it's just human nature, the
more you have, the more you desire more. And he tells us here in verse
21, a fool is one who lays up treasure
for himself and is not rich toward God. Treasures of this world,
things of this world, anything, everything, everything in this
world is going to end. It's going to see everything. But now, to be rich toward God,
that will never end. These things will never end.
Ephesians 1 calls them spiritual blessings in heavenly places,
heavenly things, things that will last. There's just a few,
and these are also called the fruit
of the Spirit, love. Love or relationships that men
and women have here on the earth? Well, it's hard to really call
it love, because people fall out of love. That's a misnomer,
really, isn't it? True love never ends. But people
love, and then they fall out of love and say, I don't love
you anymore. But love for Christ, now, Number one, his love never ends. He said, I'd love to be with
an everlasting love. And if he sheds abroad his love
in your heart for him, that just keeps growing, and it'll never
end. Now by the faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of
these is love. Faith will end. Hope will end. Faith will give way to sight. Hope will give way to reality.
Love will Just be perfected. And love for God's people. That's
the reason these relationships now won't end. These are eternal. Right here. These, your true
family, won't end. You'll love one another more,
more perfectly, someday. Joy. Love, joy. Joy. People of the world are happy
one day, just so happy they can just bust, you know, and the
next day they're just so sad they can just shoot themselves. Right? Up and down. Christ said, now my joy, the
joy that I give you, nothing and no one can take it from you.
Can't do it. You got to experience it to know
what he's talking about. Peace, love, joy, peace, peace,
true, lasting, inward peace, based upon sacrifice, based upon
unshakable, an unshakable promise of God's Word, based upon an
unmovable foundation, based upon an eternal covenant. Peace, the
headlines of the newspaper can't, can't take away. Can't do it. Peace. Peace. But then our Lord
applies all of this. I want to deal, I want to get
down through these verses. I've got to make myself, I've
started writing at the top of every page in my notebook here. Simplify. Simplify. Ah boy. But our Lord applies
all this parable, expounds it more fully. And so he said unto them, his
disciples, us, he says unto us, therefore. See why we couldn't
just begin here? Because he says, therefore. We
have to go back there. Those that are just rich for
themselves or lay up treasure for themselves, not rich toward
God, he says, therefore I say unto you. Now he's talking to
believers here. Talking to believers. This is
not written to everybody. This is written to believe. He
said now, to us, take no thought. Look at it. Take no thought for
your life. Your life. Take no thought. That means anxious thought. You
know good and well he's not saying never, don't even give it a thought.
Live for the moment and don't even make any sorts of plans
whatsoever. Scriptures don't teach that.
Proverbs 31, it deals with a virtuous woman, you know, it talks about
how she lays up, does things for her house and plans and this,
that. And a sluggard, only a sluggard lays around and says, well, I'll,
you know. You know he's not teaching that. A wise and prudent person, you
know, does make claims. But now, no, take no anxious
thoughts. That is, all-consuming thoughts. You know what anxious thoughts
are. We all have had them, do have them, will have them. Sleepless
thoughts. Sleepless thoughts. For your
life, your life. David said, teach me. Make me to know mine end. I'm going to end. My life is
going to end. True life will never end. I'm going to die. If I'm in Christ,
I'll never die. My life. What is your life? My
life. Scriptures calls it a vapor.
A vapor. That's a breath. You're alive.
One breath. You're one breath. I'm one breath
away from eternity. You ever watch somebody die? That last breath. That's it. A vapor. This life is so fragile. It depends on that. Think about
that. That's how fragile it is. It's just a vapor. Take no anxious
thought for your life. It's here today. It's gone the
next day. You're alive. Take no thoughts for your life
what you shall eat, neither for the body what you shall put on,
what you shall eat or what you shall put on. Now, doesn't this
describe 1999? If you could, if you could categorize
what people are thinking about today, that people are absolutely
consumed with, the two things. Look at the newspapers and the
magazines and TV and all that. What are you bombarded with? Glamour. Clothing. Isn't that it? Toss in, you know,
sex and automobiles and that's it. But the daily pursuits are
food and clothing. Always has been. Verse 30. Verse
30. All these things do the nations
of the world seek after. See that? They always have. This
always has been the pursuit of man. Food and drink. Eat, drink, and be merry. And
what are we going to wear? He says, our Lord says, the life,
verse 23, the life. Now, your life, but the life,
true life, is more than meat. And the body is more than raiment. Life is more than need and the
body is more than raiment. We saw that Sunday morning that
man is meant for things that are higher, things that are nobler
than filling this belly. Greater things than seeking food.
Okay, that's just so. A den of mocks, cattle. Go out and observe the cattle
on Thousand Hill. They're concerned with one thing. Okay, cattle. The dumb beast
is concerned with one thing. Food. Boom. It wakes up thinking about whether
they don't even go to sleep hardly. Boom. Boom. And then the farmer
comes in and gets one of the cows and takes it off to the
slaughterhouse and the rest of them don't even hardly look at
it. They might. And they go right back to sleep. You know someone died just then. There went another one. Someone dies nearly every second. There went another one. Another person, human being,
soul, gone. This is reality. Who was it? But men, like cows, they might
look up for a minute. When they get to the funeral,
go to the funeral home, hmm, I better get serious about God. Soon as it's over, go right back
to eating, right back to grazing, right? Don't you be that way. Don't we be that way. And he
tells us to consider two things, two things here, two of the simplest
things on earth. The ravens and the lilies, verse
24. Consider the ravens. You know
what ravens are, don't you? We all have them. Seem to be a worthless bird,
aren't they? I kind of like them myself. They're everywhere. They're plentiful.
It's not hard to find a raven. Or a crow. Or a starling. We have a lot of those, don't
we? A raven. He says, you consider
the raven. He says, they need to sow. That is, they don't plant the
seed. They eat what you plant. They
don't reap. They don't gather, that is. They
don't have a barn. They don't have a barn. You see,
he just talked about a man who had barns and wanted to build
a bigger barn. And he said, Ravens don't even have a barn. God feeds them. I was sitting in my study today,
this morning, looking out my back window, and a couple of
birds flew up onto the bird feeder, but it was empty. I ran out of
feed some time ago. I just had forgotten to fill
it. I felt bad. I saw those little
tufted titmouses and black-capped chickadees, you know, lighting
on there looking for feed. I thought, oh my, I want to go
get them something to eat. I thought, no, they don't
need me. They were eating before I got
there. And they'll be eating when I'm gone. God feeds them. God feeds them. And he says unto
us in verse twenty-four, how much more are you better than
the fowls? Well, are you not better than fowls? In one place
our Lord said, many sparrows. Are you not better? Yes. Not
in and of ourselves, no, but because Christ paid the infinite
price for us. Because of what Christ paid for
us, we're of great value to God. It's hard to understand that
it's subtle. It really is. God could make of the stones
children of Abraham. Well, that's just what he did.
He took a stone heart and made a child out of me. Okay, but
now that I am a child of his, I'm of some value to him. Now,
understand, I didn't say that, he said it. Now, in myself, no. But because of the price that
Christ paid, infinite cost of his precious blood, his life
lived, his righteousness imputed, God's not going to let that go
to waste. And plus, he's made a new creature,
which is in the image of Christ, and he is well pleased. Yea,
delights him, this new creature is created. Well, that's just
so. He loves you, me, if you're a
child of his. He loves you like his son, more
than you love your own. But because of the price that
Christ paid, you see, we're better than the fowl. Most of you know O'Malley, that
horse I bought. I paid $900. Now, as far as horses
go, that's not a big price, but I understand. I paid $900 for
that big, fat blonde, a work horse. I paid $900 for a work
horse, Joe, a work horse. She's never plowed one row in
five years. She hasn't earned me, Lord, she
hasn't earned me one dime. I keep, now she weighs 1800 pounds.
I keep pouring the food to her. I just keep pouring the food
and spending money, vet bills and all that. I just think she
hasn't earned me a dime. I'm worth more than my life to
my God, even though I feel like I haven't given God one thing."
That's what he said. Now, concerning anxious thought,
he says in verse 25, which of you with taking thought, endeavoring,
striving all you can, can add to his stature one cubit? Now one cubit, you know how much
a cubit is? That's 18 inches. I used to think of this as, you
know, just a little small cubit. It's 18 inches. We sure can't grow 18 inches
by thinking, can we? But God says to him, that's easy.
It's the least up to him. Your children, you feel like
your children grow that much In a year, don't they? They do. They grow every day. Don't think about it. That's
as easy. That's the least. God, he says
here, well, that which is least, why take you thought for the
rest? Why take thought for the rest? Verse 27, consider the
lilies. Now, he gives us the flowers
of the field to consider. The lilies, how they grow, consider
how they grow. Now he's talking about the day
lilies here, he's talking about the wildflowers out in the field. Now you can have, I love flowers,
we love flowers don't we Nancy? Beautiful flowers. People's flower
gardens and all that, but nothing compares. to God's wildflowers
out in the field. You've seen those bluebells go
out in the field of lilies, watered by God, fed by God, arrayed
by God. He said, yet Solomon, the lilies,
flowers, they don't toil, they spend not yet, I say unto you
that Solomon, in all his glory. You remember the story of Solomon
and Sheba, Queen of Sheba, beholding Solomon in all his glory, his
arraignment and so forth? Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed. That's one of them. Just thought about that. That's
just one of them. There's another one coming up. Did anybody pull
that up? Anybody? No, that grew of its
own. God grew it. You know, just one
flower made by God far exceeds anything ever made by man. Doesn't it? Just one flower.
It really does. It really does. We were driving home one day,
and the sky was absolutely indescribable. I told Mindy, I said, we looked
at the sky, we were just marveling at the sky. And just coming down Route 40. We weren't in Montana. Ain't
what it looked like out there, you know. Just driving down Route
40, and there was Cook's Knob, you know. It wasn't Pikes Peak,
but Cook's Knob. But yet the sky, I told men,
I said, you know, if you painted that picture or tried to, people
wouldn't believe you. They'd say, where'd you get that
wild imagination? Skies aren't that color. Oh,
yes, they are. You've seen skies like that.
Man, one sky, one evening sky of God's. far exceeds the beauty of every
painting painted by Renoir, Monet, Manet, Degas, Da Vinci, all of
them. Nothing. One sky. Just one evening sky. Oh, my. One flower. Verse twenty-eight. So he said, now, if then God
so clothed the grass, If he feeds the ravens and clothes the lilies,
it's just grass. It's just grass. These things
are just marvelous. They're just marvelous, aren't
they? Consider the lilies, he says. Consider it. Stop and smell
the roses. Stop and look at the roses. And
only a fool would say, no, God, you just look at that very closely. Life is in that. Seeds and all
that, beauty, just everything about it. It's glory. Well, if
God, God tends to that. Verse 28, if God so-called grasps,
that is, today in the field and tomorrow is cast in the oven,
just day limits, Morning glories. Aren't those beautiful flowers? Morning glories. Weeds here today,
gone tomorrow. If God closed them, how much
more will He close you? O ye of little faith. Oh, ye of little faith. How much more will he clothe?
Oh, and he has clothed us. He paid an infinite price, and
he wove a wonderful garment, and clothed us. It's called righteousness,
the righteousness of Christ. He has clothed us. And verse
29, seek not what ye shall eat or
what ye shall drink, That Andrew. I'm not going to bear. Charles Ross look. To stare at. The old seven before the. Sixty. Read this with me, Psalm
37, verse 25. He said, I have been young. I was, I ought to be 16 years
old. It's unbelievable. My wife was
17. What? What do you mean? I'm serious, people. I lived
to get my driver's license. To turn sixteen. Sixteen. Forty-four. Seventy-four. And now I'm old. Yet. Have I not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread?" You've never missed a
meal yet, have you? I hadn't either. Why take it off? You can sit
down. Object lesson. Object lesson.
You'll never forget that. They'll never forget it, I hope. Thirty years. Never. Never. He worries. I worry. Charles, your worries
ought to be over. Right? Ought to be. So should mine. So should not. Seek ye not, he says, verse,
back to Luke 12, seek ye not what ye shall eat or what ye
shall drink, and don't be doubtful. Be not doubtful. Now Margen says,
live not in careful suspense. He said, your father knows, verse
thirty, all these things do the nations of the world seek after.
Worldlings. You're meant for higher things.
And your father, your father, your father, now he knows. Our father knows best. Your Father knoweth that you
have need of these things. He knoweth. He knoweth. Verse 31, You rather
seek ye the kingdom of God. What's that? That's the gospel. That's eternal life. Remember,
he said that this is the Sermon on the Mount, by the way, if
you haven't already noticed, this is a shorter version of
the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5 on. Seek ye first the
kingdom of God. And over in Matthew 5, it says
in his, 6, it says in his righteousness. That's the God, that's Christ,
that's the gospel. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God, eternal life, the gospel. Seek first. The Scripture says, Remember
now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, the days of your youth. Seek first. Come to know God
early, as a youth. Then your real troubles are over. Really, really. I'm talking about soul trouble. All these things will be added
to you. When you're young, seek first. First fruits in everything. Seek first. Your first fruits.
First thoughts. Wake up in the morning. Don't
think about what you're going to put on. And your thoughts heavenward.
Think about what he's put on you. Huh? Don't think about where
breakfast is. Don't be a cow. Don't be like
Marley. Huh? Chew on a little bit of
his word. Go in the strength of that meat. We're meant for higher things.
First thoughts in the morning. Don't be like a pig. Be like
a son of God, child of God. First labors, first gifts. Seek
first. Seek a true husband, Christ. Then you'll get one of those
temporary ones. Seek an eternal husband, then you'll get one
of those inferior models. Right? And all these things, he said,
will be added unto you, all this stuff, to boot. Seek eternal
things and you'll get stuff to boot. That's the way it is. That's the way our God is, isn't
it? Huh? Verse 32, he says, Fear
not. Oh, I love this. What a favorite verse. Fear not,
little flock. Fear not. Fear not. Remember when he said
to his disciples about four years before he was going to leave,
he said, let not your heart be troubled. Someone said, people have three
sorts of troubles they worry about. Past troubles they have had.
Troubles they are having, and troubles they expect to have.
Well, the past ones are over. Why bring it up? People, everybody
raises their right hand. I'm serious. I'm not going to make you repeat
after me, but at least say this in your heart. I will not bring
up never a discouraging word in this house ever again. I will
not tell my troubles. ever again walking out this door.
I'll only think of that which is good. Huh? That past is past. None of us has ever had troubles
like the Apostle Paul. He said, I'm forgetting those
things that's behind me. Troubles we're having right now,
we can't do anything about those either. Can't. Not a thing. We try, but
John, we can't do it. The lease, we can't take care
of the lease. We sure don't have any
control over the troubles that are coming. Fear not. Fear not, little flock. He calls me little flock. What
does that mean, he is to me? My shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. He said, I shall not. I've been young. I've been 16. And 28 years later, I've never missed a meal. A meal. And now 28 years more, 30 more
years later, Fear not, little flock, little
flock, that means the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He says, it is your father's, your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. I love that. I'll never forget
when I first, Lord first, impressed this verse to my mind. Oh, my,
my. Fear not, little flock, it's
your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. A father's
love wants nothing but the best for
a child. A father's love wants nothing
from a child. Is that right, Edmund? What do you expect to get out
of Kevin and Wendy? Huh? You don't want a one pin
down from them, do you? Huh? Just to love you in return. That's it. You lay down your life for them?
Would you even stop and think about it? It's your father's good pleasure. Fear not. Your father knows what
you have need of even before you ask. A father's love, my,
my. Do you want Christ? Do you want
eternal life? Do you? And say it from your
heart, I want Christ, I want eternal life. It's His good pleasure. It's just His good pleasure.
He's just delighted. He's more ready. Scripture says
He's more ready to show mercy. Ready to forgive. Before you
confess, he's waiting for you. Before you ask, he's already
answered. Good pleasure. It's his good
pleasure to give you the kingdom. The
kingdom. We were just talking about this
when we met. have it when we get older. I hope when I get
older, say 60 or 70, that I'm not clinging
to this stuff. I hope that I'm just starting
to really start to let go. We were talking about when Hannah
gets up and gets married, you know, when she gets about 40
and thinks about getting married, that I hope that when she comes
and asks for something, Well, I sure do like that end table.
Oh, no. Oh, I've had that for 40 years. You can't have that
all the time. An end table? We were thinking
about that. And we both said, I believe we
could just take it, honey. We've used it. Our life's over. Yours is, you know, you're getting
married. Take it. What do you want? Well, just
leave us a bed, Lao. Really. It's your father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom. Take it. Now look at this. This is
wonderful. This is wonderful. Our Lord gives
us a sure way to have all things. Now look at this. Thirty-three. Sell that you have. Well, it says, buy, accumulate,
store. The Lord says, sell. Give the
world. Well, it says, lay up, gather,
bread. The Lord says, cast it on the
water. Well, it says, he who dies with the most toys wins.
And the Lord says, he who saves his life loses. He who loses
his life for my sake in the gospel finds it, wins eternal life. Sell what you have. Give alms. Provide yourself bags which wax
not old. The picture here is of an old
money sack. How much money went down with
the Titanic? How many ships have sunk with
gold buoy on them, treasures, unsearchable riches? And people
have been out diving for them, spent billions trying to find
them. Died doing it, too, somehow.
Well, he said, bags which wax not old. A treasure, look at
this, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not where no thief
approaches, nor moth corrupteth. Everything on earth that's liable
is subject to these two things, theft and corruption. Everything. Everything is subject to theft
and corruption. If one doesn't happen, the other
will at some time. If it's not stolen, it'll corrupt,
it'll rust, it'll fade away fast. And we're not just talking about
things, relationships. As much as you love your children,
some man, some woman. I love my daughter, but some
no good, worthless, low-down, shiftless, low-down snake in
the grass, two-legged beast called an owl. is going to, she's going
to fall for him. If he loves Christ, he won't
be low down, worthless, shitless, no good. And I love him too. But the fact is, he'll steal
her heart away from her daddy. That's just right, isn't it? A moth. He said a moth can destroy
your favorite suit. It doesn't matter who made it. Pierre Cardin or Sam Walton. A moth, a little bug, can destroy
that. A germ. Think about this. A little germ. can reduce us
to a vegetable. What a little joke. Write this
on everything, from things to relationships. Write this on
it. Write this across it. Temporary. Temporary. Now, he says here in verse 34,
in closing, where your treasure is, that's where your heart is. That's a fact. Where your true
treasure is, things you value the most, that's where your heart,
that's where your desire, that's where your thoughts, that's where
your concerns will be also. So is the needed exhortation in
Colossians. to set our affection on things
above. If you've ever been risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits
on the right hand of God. Set your affection, your mind,
your heart, on things above, not on things on the earth, because
you're dead. You're dead. Don't mortify your
memories. And write that on everything,
too. Dead. Or dying. Temporary. Temporary. A. Provide, hey, rich
toward God is rich in joy, love, joy, peace, faith. James talked
about being rich in faith. Wouldn't you like to be as rich
as the Apostle Paul? He had nothing. Well, didn't
he? He had everything. He could sit in a jail cell and
sing hymns. Peter and the boy sitting in
the jail cell, and their chains were dropped, and the angel had
to run them out. That boy, rich toward God, unsearchable
riches of Christ. All right, let's stand. Our Father, we ask of these riches
that only You can give. This wisdom cometh only from
above. This desire, these thoughts,
these things, man can receive nothing except that it be given
him from above. You must put these things in
our hearts, things of God, things of Christ. You must give faith.
You must give. Love, joy, peace, all these things
are yours to give, nor we do gladly receive them. You give. We want them. We desire them.
And you claim your promises. It's your good pleasure to give
them unto them. Cause us to seek after these
things, not things on earth. Calls everyone in here to earth
this night, young and old. Seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness, knowing all these things will be added
unto you for Christ's sake. Amen.