Luke chapter 12 today, and we'll
be in verse 13 or 14, but just again to frame things. The Lord
had had supper with these Pharisees, and His disciples were kind of
worried about that. And he comforted them, I say
to you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and
how valuable they were to him. And then we had the lesson of
confessing Jesus before men, and so today we're, We're looking at verse 13 and
14 of Luke chapter 12. And remember, as we were in last
week's lesson on the Spirit in the church and how the Spirit,
he said the Spirit, don't worry about when they take you before
the magistrates, when they take you before the courts and whatnot
and grill you about the Lord. Don't worry about what you'll
say. This Holy Spirit will teach you what you shall say in that
same hour. And we looked at a couple of
examples of that in Acts, in chapter 2 and chapter 7, where
Peter gave a sermon, and it was accompanied by the Holy Spirit.
There was 3,000 added to the church that day. And then in
Acts 7, where Stephen gave a really lengthy sermon beginning at Genesis
and going all the way to the time that he was standing there. and didn't seem to have much
results right at the time, other than they gnashed their teeth
and took him out and stoned him. We looked at the two different
results of the gospel that were exemplified there. Interestingly
enough, part of the part that we read from Acts chapter 7,
we'll be looking at again today, because it's just right where
we're at in Luke chapter 12, verse 13 and 14 today. So let's read that in Luke 12,
and there was this big throng of people around him wanting
him to do stuff or say stuff that was inspiring and do miracles
and whatnot. And one of the company in verse
13 said unto him, Master, speak to my brother that he 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 things which he possesseth. And he spake a
parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain 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 I'll do. I'll
pull down my barns and build greater, and there I'll bestow
all my fruits and goods, and I'll say to my soul, Thou has
much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink,
and be merry. But the Lord, or the God said
unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of
thee. Then whose things will they be that thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward
God. So we're kind of looking at that
section today. speak to my brother, and that
he divide the inheritance with me. And you know, that's the
dividing inheritance, the title of our lesson today. You know,
this really is, spiritually, it's an inheritance that cannot
rightly be divided. And so, firstly, we have here
a picture or a metaphor regarding, again, the two results of the
gospel, which we covered in Luke 12, verse 11 through 12, that
we just mentioned about the 3,000 souls that were added and where
Stephen was stoned to death. And today's lesson involves a
request by one who was of the multitude that followed Jesus
and who requested that Jesus really intervene as he looked
at it physically, intervene in a physical worldly inheritance
dispute. Boy, we've been involved in some
of those. Anybody that's been around a
long time probably has had something to do with an inheritance dispute,
how messy they can be. Well, the Lord says in answer
to him, interestingly enough, and really quite a fascinating
lesson we have today. He said unto him, man who made
me a judge or a divider over you. And you know that that phrase
comes directly from the law of Moses in Exodus. And we'll look at that here in
just a minute. But you know, his mission was
singular. His mission was not to be an
arbitrary judge over mundane things of this world that he
says, these things are not going to last. They're not eternal.
And you know, he looks at things from an eternal spiritual aspect. Where these things have no value
and and he says lay up for yourselves treasure where moss and rust
doesn't corrupt and and These things are just here for a while. And so his mission was singular
in that he only came here to save his people from their sins. He only came to save the children
that God had given him in the covenant of grace from before
the foundation of the world. We're going to find some interesting
scriptures here that point this out and how it applies to airship. as we go through this lesson.
So, you know, in John chapter 17, he said to his disciples,
as he is praying to the Lord, he says, They are not of the
world, even as I am not of the world. These things have nothing
to do with us. They may be applicable here for
a brief span of time in this world, but eternally they have
no bearing. Again, this episode here is drawn
directly from the Old Testament by Jesus quoting Moses in the
Book of Exodus, Chapter 2. And then again, Stephen, in his
sermon on Acts 7, quoted this exact same thing twice, and he
explains the spiritual principle of it in Acts 7, in verse 27
and 35, I believe it is. Anyway, moving on, in Exodus
2, verses 11-15, We find Moses, and remember he
had been raised as an Egyptian. He says in verse 11, It came to
pass in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out unto
his brethren, and looked on their burdens. And he spied an Egyptian
smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this
way and that way, and when he saw there was no man, he slew
the Egyptian and hit him in the sand. And when he went out the
second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together.
And so he said unto him that did the wrong, wherefore smitest
thou thy fellow? And he said, who made thee a
prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me as
thou killest the Egyptian? And Moses feared and said, Surely
this thing is known." So he was saying, uh-oh, they found out
that I killed the Egyptian. I'm in trouble here. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing,
he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face
of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat down by
a well. And that's as far as we'll go
in that scripture. But who made thee a prince and
a judge over us? And as we looked at Stephen's
message in Acts chapter 7, when he was full of the Holy Spirit
and preaching this tremendous gospel message, He refers to this section in
Acts 7, verse 23. Acts 7, 23, And when he was fully
forty years old, it came to his heart to visit his brother and
the children of Israel. And he's talking about Moses
here, and he's directly looking at this block that we just looked
at in Exodus. And seeing one of them suffer
wrong, he defended him and avenged him that was oppressed and smote
the Egyptian. Verse 25 is really interesting. He says, "...for he supposed
his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would
deliver them, but they understood not. And the next day he showed
himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one
again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren, why do ye wrong one to another?"
But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying,
Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Isn't that interesting
how the Lord applies the same thing here to this one that has
an issue with his brother in an inheritance matter? And this picture of Moses as
a type of Christ here, he supposed his brethren would have understood
that God by His hand would deliver them, but they understood not. And we find that same principle
here in Luke 12, verse 13-14. And there's a direct application
regarding whom the Lord came to deliver, and it's connected
to this inheritance that's being disputed. Now, this is kind of
brought out in Genesis and explained pretty much in detail in the
book of Galatians. Genesis 15, we have the promise
that God made that His seed would be inheritors, that His seed
would be the ones. In Genesis 15, 3, and as Stephen,
in his example in Acts chapter 7, verse 1 through 5, in his
sermon said, the seed. He talks about the
seed, the children of promise being the seed and not children
of the flesh. Both of them inherited, but they
inherited different things. And in Genesis 15, 3, Abraham
said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born
in my house is mine heir." And that was, he was talking about
Ishmael, the son that he had by Hagar, and he was in his early
teens, I believe, when Isaac was born. So in verse 4 of Genesis
15, Behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall
not be thine heir. Isn't that interesting? This
is not your heir. But he that shall come forth
out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. What a spiritual
picture of God the Father, saying the things of the world, the
things of the bond woman, those are not the heir, but the things
that come out of, God says, the things that come out of my own
bowels, those are my heirs, my children whom I give to Christ.
And so Isaac and Ishmael, one was a spiritual inheritor, one
was a physical inheritor, one the son of promise, one the son
of the flesh. The inheritance has been decided
in eternity by God the Father, and it's not dividable. Divide
the inheritance with me. I want some of that. In Ephesians 1, verse 4, it says,
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy. and without blame before
Him in love." And then we have that in verse 4 that we're chosen,
and in verse 11 it says, "...in whom also we have obtained an
inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."
So isn't that an interesting viewpoint there that God presents
to us? You know, the heirs, do not choose
themselves. The errors are not the choosers. The heirs do not determine their
inheritance as much as a lot of them really work at that.
And this guy here is working at that same thing. He says,
oh, master, divide the inheritance with me. Talk to my brother that
he divide the inheritance with me. I welcome we're in Luke chapter
12, verse 11 and 12 and 13 here this morning. So So as we look at this heirship
and this dividing the inheritance in Christ's life, this matter
is already decided. It's been written in the Law
of Moses. It's pretty plain. In Galatians
chapter 4, we have a lengthy bit here about heirship and the
difference between just being sons and heirs. Galatians chapter
4, verse 1, beginning in verse 1 says, from a servant, though he be
Lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time
appointed of the Father. Even so, we, when we were children,
were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoptions of sons. And because you are
sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ." So he explains that principle very clearly there. And then if we'll skip down in
Galatians 4 down to verse 21, and he brings up this case of
Hagar and Isaac and Ishmael and Sarah. And verse 21, he says,
Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do you not hear
the law? They're always trying to do a workaround with the law.
And he says the law is pretty explicit. For it is written that
Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a
free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh. But he, the free woman, was by
promise. That just goes back to speak
where Abraham tried to accomplish things by his own. Him and his
wife tried to accomplish things in a physical way, and not in
the spiritual sense that God had before directed that would
be. Then he finally caused that to happen. But they had this
results of their physical application of spiritual things that they
had to deal with. He who was of the bond woman
was after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise.
And then in verse 24, an important sentence here, he says, which
things are an allegory? they're a picture, they're a
type. For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which
genereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount
Sinai, an Arabian answer to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage
with her children. But Jerusalem, which above, is
free and is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice
thou barren, that bearest not. Break forth and cry thou that
prevails not for the desolate hath many more children than
she which hath a husband Now we brethren as Isaac was are
the children of promise But as then he that was born after the
flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit Even so
it is now and boy then that the case where this fellow comes
to Christ and says you're a pretty well respected famous person
here intervene here and and tell my brother to divide the inheritance
with me. And we'll look at that law here
in a minute. But in verse 30 of Galatians
4, nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman
and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with
the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we're not
children of the bondwoman, but of the free. So this... Inheritance is being disputed
here in Luke 12, verse 13. It's really just a spiritual
allegory, as in Galatians 24, for salvation by grace through
our inheritance, Jesus Christ, our Lord, which really is coveted
by the Church. the children of the bondwoman,
and the attempts to obtain it through avaricious means and
methods, what the concordance says about that. So, you know,
the Lord ties us directly to covetousness here in verse 15. But the spiritual lesson here
given by the Lord is a man's life consisteth not in the abundance
of things which he possesses. That's in verse 15b. And if you'll
recall back to our lesson from Luke chapter 9 where he sent
the disciples out and he says, don't take anything. Don't take
any script, don't take a staff, don't take a coat, don't take
extra shoes. Don't take food. I'll provide
all things. I am everything to you. Total reliance on Christ." And
when they got back, he says, well, when you went out, did
you lack anything? And they said, no. We didn't. It was a hard lesson for them
to learn. Boy, I remember when I was teaching that lesson, I
said, man, when I go somewhere, I take a lot of stuff. I take
extra everything in case of emergency, you know, and take two, take
three. But he says, take nothing. And
that's a hard thing for us to spiritually grasp, that all of
our, everything we have and need is in him. And so, in kind of
a spiritual context here, it refers to Moses that he's quoting
this book of Moses, Exodus chapter 12 there, that Moses being a
type of Christ who would deliver them, but they understood not.
That's the same thing that he's up against here when he says
these very words to this, this one that would have him intervene
in this inheritance issue. And if we kind of dissect the
beginnings of the issue raised by that person in the mass of
people, he's probably not a true disciple. He was just a a hanger
on her. And, you know, one of the base
laws of Moses regarding inheritance is found in Deuteronomy chapter
21, verse 15 and 17. And by this custom dictated that
the elder son, if he had sons, there was just rules for everything. If he had two wives or a wife
and a concubine or If you had two sons, the elder would be
the inheritor of a double portion. And then if you had twelve sons,
you would divide it into twelve lots and then the eldest son
would get two chunks and the other sons would get the smaller
portions. And if you had a daughter, you
just gave her a dowry from your Herd, or your jewelry, or your
shekels, or whatever you had. But if you didn't have any sons
at all, then the daughter would inherit the full thing. So that's found in Deuteronomy
21. And you know, verse 13 in Luke,
this person was clearly unhappy with the inheritance. allotted to him. He was not happy. And boy, we find that just true
now as it was then, the dispute. And he was desirous to get more
that was apparently not actually due him. and who made me a divider
over you. The law is pretty explicit, and
spiritually, God the Father has determined the inheritors and
who are not. And Kuf just by definition in
the Bible, by Strong's concordance is avarice, which is greed for
money. There's an implication of fraudulence
or extortion in there connected to that word. So this fellow
didn't have any good purposes in what he was doing when he
approached the Lord. the use of that word rules out
any unjust treatment that this man perceived that he had received. And the parable that follows
this gives us an example of the spiritual versus physical desires
of the man, the unregenerated versus the born again from above.
There in verse 15 through 34 where it says, the life is more than just what
you possess. So how we view things then is
based solely on how we view Christ and how we view ourselves. And
is Christ to us just as this man looked at him and thought
well he's just a powerful but unmalleable individual that he
could cajole into getting things his way. And you know, that's
how man works. Well, hey, if you up the ante
on my inheritance, I'll give you 10%. That kind of a thing. That's kind of the intent of
that word. And so, or is he viewed as the Lord God Almighty, the
Messiah, saving his people from their sins. He's the just and
the justifier. How we look at Christ determines
how we view these other things completely. Whatever this man's
lot, it was never going to be enough. If he got it all, he
would just be trying to get more. It kind of brings up the question,
can man manufacture his own inheritance eternally from a spiritual standpoint? In Colossians 3, verse 1, it
says, If then ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above, those spiritual things, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, and not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and
your life is hid in Christ and God. When Christ, who is our
life, shall appear, then ye also shall appear with him in glory.
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil cupacence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry. He links covetousness to idolatry,
worship of that which you don't have. It's covetousness is to
the point of an all-consuming desire to have for yourself what
rightly belongs to others and willing to acquire by unrighteous
acts or to keep that which is obtained unlawfully. That's a
pretty dire definition of covetousness, and especially in spiritual things. Natural man can only think in
terms of this world, and survival and success are measured in wealth
and possessions, which things really can only be possessed
in this world. That's what the Lord said in
verse 20. They don't last any longer than,
he says, when you die, well whose things are they going to be then?
You don't have any control over them. They won't buy you nothing
when you have moved beyond this world. These things can never
bring true contentment or happiness. And the more things you have,
the more one becomes a slave to possessions. You know, you
have things, and then you worry, well, who's going to steal them?
Or what's going to happen to them? They can become all-consuming
if we aren't careful. And they become a worry and not
a joy. And the spiritual view that comes
with rebirth, Our desires and expectations
are much different. You know, worldly possessions
are necessary to a point in this life, and Jesus brings that up,
and He says, the Father knows you have need of such things. So it's not wrong to need or
have those things, but attaching the wrong value to them I guess
is the point of the message here. And that which is obtained by
airship is of far much more value. And we look to our Heavenly Father
who has in eternity adopted us to sonship, which we read about
in Ephesians. And if we turn over there and
read there in Ephesians 1, verses 3-14, we find that inheritance
is mentioned twice in that block of Scripture. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of His grace, wherein He hath
abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure,
which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to
the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom
ye also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, in whom also after you believed you were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance,
until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
His glory. So we have that mention of inheritance
twice, and how that comes to us through adoption by the Father
and through Christ. Inheritance in the Scriptures
is defined clearly as possession acquired through heirship. Possession
acquired through heirship. And what does the Bible tell
us we're inheriting? And really it's not so much a
what, but a whom. And we find that in other places
in the scripture that we've looked at previously. It's a whom, it's
Christ. In Numbers chapter 18, verse
20, And the Lord spake unto Aaron,
Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt
thou have any part among them. I am thy part and thy inheritance
among the children of Israel. And David echoed those sentiments
in Psalm chapter 16, verse 5. The Lord is the portion of mine
inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. The
lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places. I have a goodly heritage. And that's how he viewed it. So if we could turn over to 1
Peter chapter 1, and we'll read a few verses there having to
do with this inheritance. And a long time ago we looked
at that in our study of 1 Peter. Suppose I hit the right button
here. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, there in 1 Peter 1, verse 1, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, chosen by the foreknowledge
of God through the sanctification of the Spirit unto the obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten
us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. We're born again by Christ to
an inheritance. incorruptible and undefiled,
that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time." So we have this inheritance that's the exact
opposite of everything in this world. It's incorruptible. It's a fadeth not away. It can't
be rotted away or defiled. in Romans the 8th chapter in
verse 16 and 17, the Spirit confirms in us that we are the children
of God. And in verse 17 says, and if
children, then we're heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. It all has to do with inheritance,
with heirship. And conversely, the people God
the Father gave the Son in eternity are His inheritance. In Deuteronomy
32.9 it says, for the Lord's portion is His people. Jacob
is the lot of His inheritance. Then that's followed up by Isaiah
in Chapter 8. I think Norman mentioned this
in one of his lessons here not too far back. In Isaiah 8-18,
which is quoted in Hebrews again, Behold, I and the children whom
the LORD hath given me are for signs and wonders in Israel,
whom the LORD of hosts which dwelleth in Mount Zion, the children
which the LORD hath given me. And so this inheritance that
is talked about here in Luke chapter 12, divide the inheritance
for me. Well, the inheritance, as we've
learned, is a matter of heirship, and it's a matter that the father
determines the heirs. And God the Father here has already
determined that the heirs are the seed of promise, and not
those of the flesh, not those of the bond woman. So Christ
is basically telling them there's no dividing. You either have the inheritance
or not, and that is up to God. We just sang that hymn, Be Thou
My Vision, Thou Mine Inheritance. That person had an understanding
part of this study that we just had here, Be Thou My Inheritance
Now and Always. And he had that view that we
get as believers. You know, riches are okay and
nice to have in this world, but they're not the measure of our
spiritual relationship with the Lord. And whether we have a lot
or we have none, we still have the same inheritance in Christ. Wealth is not a measure of our
relationship with God, the Father. These things, they fade away.
They're not worth anything. Don't set too much store in them.
When you go, you can't take them with you. And you have no say
over what happens to them. And even what you said you wanted
to have happen to them while you was alive may not necessarily
be what ends up. But with God the Father, there's
no messing around with it. It is what it is. All those things really just,
they just have no value beyond this world. So set your heart
on treasures that are above, where Christ sits on the right
hand of the throne of God making intercession for us. And he is
our inheritance. He's our all in all. And he said unto them, Take heed
and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in
the abundance of things which he possesses. So we'll end our
lesson there for now, and until the next time, be free.