Alright, now in that passage
that Brother Jim just read, Luke chapter 12, what I want to get
to here is the parable that he concluded with. It's normally
called the parable of the rich fool. And so that's what I'm
going to title this message, the parable of the rich fool. But I want to show you what led
up to this. Now, you know, man by nature
has really no spiritual, or no value rather, for spiritual things
and things of eternity. No real value for them. I know
people by nature, they know that they have a sense that this life
is not the end and that someday they're going to have to be held
accountable, but man by nature really doesn't understand these
things. That's shown in the way that
he seeks to fulfill his desires or his goals in those areas. Usually it's by religion, religion
of works, and many times it's by materialism, gaining, acquiring
all the things that we can acquire in this life. And the thing about
it is, by nature, we're all so worldly-minded that we can't
see afar off. For example, we know the value
of physical life. And maybe we don't take care
of ourselves like we should, but when we get sick, boy, we
get concerned then, don't we? And you got to find the right
doctor and the right medicine. And it's hard to get a fella
that's got chest pains to the emergency room, but it'll eventually
happen. It'll get him there sometime.
But we know the value of that. And we know the value of physical
food to nourish our bodies. But we don't know the value of
spiritual food to nourish our spirits. That is by nature now
until the Lord teaches us and brings us into a, gives us a
real value, a real hunger. You know, Christ said, blessed
are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness. And what that
means is if you have a hunger and thirst for righteousness,
true righteousness, which can only be found in Christ, that's
a blessing from God. You didn't have that naturally.
uh... that you didn't you were born
with that kind of a hunger you were born with a hunger from
mother's milk and for physical food but not with hunger and
a thirst for spiritual things the glory of god in christ that's
a gift from god and we know the value of physical riches don't
we you know we all sit around sometimes and think well what
if i win the lottery what we do with it you know that's a
fantasy all but just a very, very few
people. But we don't know the value of
spiritual riches. And that's what this parable
is teaching. But in Luke 12 here, it starts out with the Lord speaking
of a few spiritual, eternal matters. Things are important. He speaks
of salvation. And He tells them to beware of
the leaven of the Pharisees. That's false religionists who
teach salvation by works. And he said, that's hypocrisy.
And he said, even though it looks good to men, in the end, it's
going to be exposed for what it is. He said, every thought,
every work, every motive is going to be flashed out for all to
see. And that's not the idea. Now, I know you get these little
pamphlets about judgment and, you know, they say, well, it's
going to be like a movie screen and your whole life is going
to be flashed up. No, that's not what it is. What he's talking
about is that in the end, at the judgment, it will be declared
that all of your hopes and all of your goals and all of your
desires in that kind of religion, that religion of work salvation,
will be exposed to be hypocrisy and nothing but death. You'll
go away empty. You'll be eternally damned. That's
what he's talking about. He said, beware of that. And then he speaks of confessing
him before men. He spoke of that. Confessing
him before men at this time, and sometimes even today, will
draw the derision of men, physical pain, persecution. But he told
them, he said, now don't fear them that can kill the body and
do no more. Remember he said that. If the Lord allows them, for
His purposes and His providence, to kill the body, and He did
in some of His disciples. I mean, they beheaded Paul, you
know, and all the disciples, all the twelve, died the deaths
of martyrs, and even John, who died of old age, was exiled and
died alone on the Isle of Patmos. And He said, but don't fear them
that kill the body. And I think that certainly applies
to men who would come against us, but I'll tell you what, it
also applies to that little germ that can get inside your body
and spread and kill you. That's all they can do. But fear
Him that can cast your soul into hell. Fear God. And that fear
there is a worshipful fear. That fear there is a fear of
faith. It's not just running scared from God. It's that which
causes a sinner to seek the Lord and seek His way of salvation
by grace and mercy and submit to Him and worship Him and praise
Him. And so he talked about that, and then he said, he talked about
the value of the soul. The soul is valuable to God. That's why he sent his son to
die for his people, that we could live forever. He mentions here
in verse 10, listen to this, he says, "...whosoever shall
speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven
him. But unto him that blasphemeth
against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven." I really wasn't
going to go in all this introduction, but when you read the context
of this and you hit that verse, everybody's mind, where does
it go to? goes to the unpardonable sin, the unforgivable sin. And
I know if I didn't say a word or two about that, your minds
might stop right there. You know, the human mind's a
powerful thing. I mean, you'd be sitting right here in front
of me, but in your head you'd be a million miles away. Isn't
that right? You know, what are you thinking
of this morning? Where is your mind this morning?
The scientists say that we only use 10% of our brain power And
I thought about, well, if we use the other 90%, it's hard
to tell where we'll end up, you know? We'll be 3 million miles
away or so. But pray that the Lord will keep
our minds glued to His Word. But here in verse 10, he's not
talking about a sin that is unforgivable or unpardonable, as if there
is a sin out there, which nobody really can put their finger on,
that God cannot forgive it. That's not what that's teaching.
All it's simply teaching is this. Now listen to me very carefully
about this. He says blaspheming against the
Holy Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit's ministry and work? He's
sent to convict God's people of sin and drive them to Christ
for forgiveness. That's His work. And so if you
reject Christ, you're rejecting and blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
In other words, if you hear the gospel of God's grace in Christ
and walk away in unbelief, you have just, you know, somebody
says, well, I wonder if I blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Well, I can
tell you, you have. You see, if you walk away not
believing the gospel of God's grace in Christ, rejecting Christ,
you have rejected the only way that a sinner can be forgiven,
and therefore you're not forgiven. That's what he's saying there.
There's no way. There's only forgiveness of sins
in Christ. It's by His blood that sins are
forgiven. Without Christ, there is no forgiveness.
That's the point of that, you see. And in Christ, the Bible
says all sins are forgiven. That's what the Scripture says.
It doesn't say in Christ all sins are forgiven except one
and then leave you hanging out there as to what it is. No, all
sins... Listen, the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanseth me from all sin. But now without Christ, there
is no forgiveness of any sin. Now that's the point that that
makes. And so he deals with this. He talks about the synagogue
and the magistrates. And then verse 13, now look at
this. One of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my
brother that he divide the inheritance with me. Now, I imagine that
all the time here that the Lord was teaching and preaching, this
fellow that asked that question had one thing on his mind. The
inheritance. And that's why I ask us that.
What's on our mind? What's on our mind? Think about
this and consider what's on your mind today. I know you've had
a a week, you've gone to work, you've dealt with your family,
you've had problems, you may have triumphs, but something
is on your mind. And you know, with this many
people in one building, it's probably that many different
things. But what's on your mind today? You may not be thinking
about anything spiritually or biblically. And your mind may be on anything
but that. But if it's on anything biblically,
what is it? Is it on the glory of Christ?
The gospel of God's grace, salvation, or is it somewhere else? It be
like the Lord preaching a message, or one of his preachers preaching
a message, and somebody going out the door shaking my hand,
saying, oh, by the way, where'd Cain get his wife? That's the kind of thing it is.
I had a fellow write me a letter from TV, one of the TV messages. I don't remember which message
it was he heard. But he didn't really ask a question. He wanted
to make a point. Here's his point. Adam didn't have a navel. I started to write him back and
say, big deal. So if you find out that Adam
had one or didn't have one, let me know. You know, what is on your mind? Why would anybody take up that
kind of... I don't see that anywhere in
Scripture from Genesis to Revelation as even being an issue. But that's
the curiosities of men. Well, listen to me. You know,
this issue of the Gospel is the only issue of eternal life. You
know, somebody... I'll tell you another question
that somebody asked another preacher friend of mine. You know when
the When Philip, when he preached in Acts chapter 8 to the Ethiopian
Union, he says he was caught away. Some fellow wrote him a
letter and said, do you think that could have actually happened
by the Spirit or was it a UFO? You know, now those are silly
ideas. I know. And you may look at this,
you say, well, now this fellow's question isn't that silly. He
said, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance
with me. That's an important matter to people. You know, who's
going to get the inheritance? I don't know what brought about
this question. Maybe he was a younger brother, and back then the firstborn
got more. That was the law, you know, under
the old covenant. The firstborn got the main part
of the inheritance, and maybe he was just wanting to get part
of that. But I know this. His question
is coming from the motive of greed and covetousness, wanting
to get something that he didn't deserve. I know that. And this fellow's question, it
may have been a valid question in his mind, but I'll tell you
what, it revealed where his heart was. And his heart certainly
wasn't on spiritual matters, it wasn't on eternal matters,
it wasn't on the glory of God, it wasn't on Christ. Sometimes
our questions reveal as much about us as do our supposed answers,
don't they? One time they were trying to
trap the Lord with different questions. One group said, do
we pay our taxes to Caesar? One group says if a man's married
and his wife, or a woman's married and her husband dies and she
marries another one and he dies, who's she going to be married
to in heaven? You know, things like that. And he, he came right
down on them in Matthew chapter 22. And he said, well, I've got
a question for you. And here it is. What think ye
of Christ? Now that's a good question. There's
one that you need to spend your life considering. There's an
issue of life and death. What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? They didn't know the answer to
that. I imagine they'd probably written books about why we should
or should not pay our taxes. They didn't know that. Job asked
a question. One of his friends asked a question.
Let me give you this question. How can God be just and justify
a sinner like me? Now, that's a good question.
Spend the rest of your life thinking about that question, seeking
the answer. The Bible tells us to foolish
and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strife. I can tell you right now, if
there's a question that comes up that divides brethren, it's
a foolish and unlearned question. Stay away from it. Paul wrote to Titus, but avoid
foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and striving
about the law. They're unprofitable. They're
vain. Here's the question. How can God be just and justify
a sinner? How can man who's born of woman
in sin, how can he be clean before a holy God? Now, that's a question. And what do you think of Christ?
Well, look at verse 14. Christ answered him, he said
unto him, man, and that's a term of derision literally here. He
said, who made me a judge or a divider over you? Christ wasn't
a civil magistrate who was sent here to decide who gets the inheritance
and who gets this part. He didn't come to do that. He
came to save sinners. And that's what I need. How about
you? Paul said, Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. What's my
greatest need? An inheritance? My greatest need
is forgiveness. My greatest need is righteousness,
which I don't have in me. That's right. That's my greatest
need. I need that much more than I
need the lottery or an inheritance. He came to save sinners. And
look at verse 15. He said unto them, Take heed
and beware of covetousness. Covetousness. What is covetousness?
It's greed. Somebody said it'd be more well-defined
this way. It's greed plus envy. That's
what it is. Not only just greed, wanting
more and more and more, but it's wanting what others have. And
this fellow wanted what his brother had. Make him divide the inheritance
with me. And he said, beware of covetousness.
And then he makes this statement now. And this is the theme of
the parable. He says, for a man's life, that is the summation of
a person's life, the value, the glory of his life, consisteth
not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. That's not
life. You may possess a lot. One fellow
asked another fellow at a funeral of a rich man, he said, how much
did he leave? And the fellow said, why, he
left it all. He doesn't possess it now. However
much he had, he left it all. Every bit of it. So a man's life
does not consist of that which he possesses. Listen, if people
measure you by how much you own, do you know what? That is a sick,
poor life. They say he's a land baron. or
he has a big bank account, or he has a name on buildings. If
people measure you, your worth, your value, by what you own,
then they're measuring you, your value and your worth, by things
that are going to perish. Isn't that something? But we
do that. We do. First thing we want to know about
a person is what does he have and what does he do? Not where
his hope is. Where's your hope? Where's your
hope for eternity? That's how you measure a person's
life, right there. Somebody says, well, my hope
is in joining the church. Well, let me tell you something
now. If that's your hope, it's a poor life. Someone says, my
hope is in trying to do the best I can do. If that's your hope,
you're a failure. But when somebody says, my hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness,
and I dare not trust the sweetest praise, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name, on Christ the solid rock I stand, and all other ground
is sinking sand, that's a good hope. That's a value. That's a measurable life, measured
by the glory of God which cannot be measured. Isn't that something? Isn't that something? Paul spoke
of covetousness, which is idolatry. That's the kind of covetousness
that leads a person to try to acquire all that they can acquire
and not even think about, consider seeking the Lord and seeking
the truth and worshiping God. A man's life cannot be measured
or defined by the abundance of the things that he possesses.
The world could easily look at a rich man and say this, I know
he's blessed of God. Or they might say, I know he's
doing something right. I'll never forget when we were
down in Albany, we got flipped on the news and there was a fella
up here who won the lottery. I think he got like 40 some million.
And from what I've heard, he was a fellow that lived the life
of debauchery up until that time. And they interviewed him, and
the first thing he said about his winning the lottery, here's
what he said. Now listen, he said, there is a God. And I thought
to myself, I said, first of all, that's a lie. There isn't a God. There's one God. There's one
true and living God. There isn't a God. And let me
tell you something. That one true God, He was there
before the fellow won the lottery. I understand the fellow's messed
it all up like most of them do and doesn't have a thing now.
But you know what? God's still here. And He will
be for eternity. You see, it doesn't matter how
we think, what we say, or what happens to us, God's still on
the throne. God still saves sinners by His
grace. Whether I win the lottery or
lose everything, I've got It has nothing to do with it. What
a fool. What a fool. You say, well, you
shouldn't call him a fool. Well, the Lord does. Look at
the parable. Look at the parable. Look at verse 16. He said he
spake a parable unto them. The ground of a certain rich
man brought forth plentifully. He had a good crop that year.
And he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? Now,
what are you going to do? You've got a good abundance here.
The Lord has given it. What shall I do? He said, because
I have no room where to bestow my fruits. I don't have room
to put all that. Well, here's what he says. He
says, this is what I'm going to do. I'll pull down my barns. I'm going to tear down the barns
of God and build bigger barns, build greater. And there will
I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul,
soul, now this is the, this kind of language here put forth in
this, in the scripture. is the essence of egotism. I'm talking to myself. So, it's
like the fella, sorry. Like the fella, he says, so,
you know, he sticks his chest out. I'll get it back here on
the rock. Get on me. All right. Says, so, look at
what I've done. Look at what I've accomplished.
Look at everything that I've got and I possess here. He says,
so, thou hast much good. laid up for many years. He's
thinking of the future. It's not bad to think about the
future. If you don't think about the future, that's foolish too.
But he said, I've got much goods laid up for many years. Take
thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Well, that sounds pretty
good to some, but look what happens. Verse 20, but God. Now, you know,
we talk about that term, but God. Remember in Ephesians chapter
Two, but God who is rich in mercy, I love that, don't you? But God
who is rich in love and mercy, wherewith he loved us. But here's
one I don't ever want to hear. But God said unto him, thou fool,
this night, tonight, thy soul, thy soul shall be required of
thee. This fellow's going to meet the
Lord. And he said, then who shall those things be which thou hast
provided? Who is going to get them then? So is he that layeth
up treasure for himself. That's what the fellow was doing,
laying up treasure for himself. And not rich towards God. Not rich towards God. Now, I
want to make this point first. Christ is not criticizing this
man for being rich. Not at all. It's not a sin to
be rich. Abraham was a very, very rich
man. He turned down a treasure of
a king's ransom because he didn't need it. Could you imagine that?
Job was a very, very rich man. The Lord didn't take Job's riches
away from him because Job had sinned. He was using Job to make
a point that we have to understand to live our lives in peace. And
that is God's in control. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh
away. What did Job say? What did he say after that? Blessed
be the name of the Lord. That means this. That means whether
he gives it to me or whether he takes it away, blessed be
the name of the Lord. He knows what's best. You say, well, I
think I know better. Well, that's your problem. You
don't know better. God does. You don't know better
than God any more than your little children know better than you.
They think they do as they get older, don't they? We've got
some high school graduates we're going to honor. I hope you all
don't think you're already wiser than your parents. I hope you're gaining in wisdom
and growing, mainly in the wisdom and stature of the Lord. Wisdom
and admonition of the Lord, right? But listen to your mom and dad.
They love you. And they know what they're doing.
They've been through some things you haven't been through. And
if you don't think so now, you'll be amazed at how much they'll
learn between now and the time you hit 30 and 40 and 50. It's that way. So the Lord is
not criticizing or saying the man's going to hell because he's
rich. Now, the Bible doesn't speak against riches. It speaks
against the love of riches. That covetousness that takes
a sinner away from God, that takes him away from Christ, and
gets his mind on himself. And then he's not criticizing
the man for saving. It's good to save. He's not criticizing
the man for planning. Here's what's wrong. There are
four things missing in this fellow. Number one, In His life and all
this accumulation, there are no thoughts of life after death
and eternity and judgment. Now, I know people, now listen
to me, I know we say we believe we're going to die, we believe
there's a judgment, we believe there's an eternity to spend,
but let me tell you something, most people who claim that and
say that live their lives as if there is no death, as if there
is no judgment, as if there is no eternity. It's always something
I'll think about tomorrow, especially when we're young. We've got the
world by the tail on the downhill slide. But you see, what did
the Lord say to this man? He said, this night, tonight,
thy soul shall be required of thee. It may be tonight for me. It may be this night for you.
You don't know that. How many people, especially some
of you middle-aged to older people, Look back on your life and see
how many people, how many friends, how many family members were
cut down in the prime of their youth. Thinking that they had
their future just like we did. Thinking they had their whole
lives ahead of them. And if you did ask them, say, now do you
know you're going to die one day? Oh yeah, I know. You don't
know when, do you? The very hairs of the, the number
of the hairs of your head are numbered right here. He said
that. Who numbers them? God does. But we just don't know. And then judgment. Say, well,
when I stand before judgment, what comes after that in your
mind? When I stand before judgment. When I stand before God in judgment
and give an account. How are you going to give an
account? How am I going to give an account? That's the issue
here. This man here, all he was worried about is, you know, where
am I going to put my stuff? Somebody said, heard me preach
that message several years ago about, you know, talking about
stuff. That's what we want. We want more stuff. You've got to
find a place to stuff the stuff. That's what he's doing. That's
what our lives are about, you know. We've got stuff. We get
rid of some stuff. Then we go buy more stuff. And
then two years later, we've got to get rid of that stuff. And
they have yard sales so people can get more stuff. In fact,
you have yard sales so people can buy the stuff that you're
getting rid of. Oh boy, that sounds smart, doesn't it? Human
nature. Well, we come up with some good
plans, can't we? I said, boy, I thank God he's
in control. Because if we were, we'd already
be dead probably. But you think about it now. Think
about this. This night, this man had no idea
on his mind that that night he was going to die. And I have
no idea in my mind that tonight I'm going to die. But it could
be. It could be. So, when I stand before God at
judgment, what is the issue then? I'll tell you exactly what the
issue is. It's not how much you have, how hard you work, how
much you own. There's only one thing that's
the issue at the judgment. Do you know Christ? Do you have
Christ as your hope? Is He your wisdom, your righteousness,
your holiness, and your redemption? Are you washed in His blood and
clothed in His righteousness? That's it. That's it. Brother Mahan preached a message
one time that just always imprinted on my mind and heart. He had
four points. We have a life to live. We have
a death to die. We have a judgment to face. And
we have an eternity to spend. There's your four things, right?
Stand before God as those who will give an account. And if
my life is not hid in Christ Jesus, then what's going to happen
to me? I'll perish eternally. But this
man had no thoughts of that. Secondly, here's another thing
that was missing. He had no thoughts of God. No
gratitude. No worship of God. No seeking
after God. Back in that psalm that I read
in the opening there, that's normally read at funerals, listen
to it again, Psalm 116. It says in I thought I put it on Psalm 116.
Now here it is. Psalm 116, verse 12. It says,
What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards
me? Do you realize that everything
that we have that is good is from God? No matter what it is. No matter what it is. If I have
good health, you say, well, now you go to the gym now and you
work out. I do. But if I have good health, it's for one reason.
It's God. Because I tell you, I can work
out in the gym every day and still have cancer, still have
heart disease. If you have good health, if you
have a good home, you children, I tell you this all the time
and I mean it, you could have just as easily been born in some
third world country and then cast off as an orphan and lay
there starving and die. as you could have been born in
the United States of America with parents who love you, take
care of you, where you can get the best education, where you
can have these things. Who determined that? You say,
well, I worked hard to get it. God giveth the increase. Isn't
that right? Now, what are you going to render
unto God for all His benefits towards you? The reason this
man had a good crop God gave the increase. But he didn't think
about that. He just went about his life,
eat, drink, be merry. For tomorrow you die. Get all
the gusto you can get. That was that old beer commercial,
wasn't it? Grab all the gusto you can get. Somebody said, grab
all the gusto you can get and ride a ride on into hell. That's
what it was. But look at it. He says, Psalm
116, verse 12, What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits
towards me? Well, look at verse 13. Here's
the first one. I will take the cup of salvation and call upon
the name of the Lord. Have you sought Christ? God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Whether I'm a poor sinner, a
rich sinner, a sick sinner, a healthy sinner, one born in a third world
country or one born in the United States of America, whether I've
got a good education or poor, God be merciful to me, the sinner. God, don't let me go through
this life without Christ. Don't let me go through this
life on my own, seeking mine own. And then he says, He says
in Psalm 116 here, verse 14, he said, I will pay my vows unto
the Lord now in the presence of all His people. Now, that's
not paying the Lord off with your works or with your money.
Paying your vows means to worship Him. Your life is to be marked. My life is to be marked with
worship of God. Thank God. Not just looking up
in the air and thanking Him. I'm talking about worshiping
Him. I'm talking about praising Him, hearing His Word, feeding
upon His Word, with the people of God. Don't just flitter on
through life, accumulating more stuff. And then he says there,
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
Now this guy, this over here in Luke 12, he's going to die
this night. Thy soul shall be requited. But his death wasn't
precious in the sight of the Lord. He died in unbelief. He
died an unredeemed, unregenerate sinner. He died without Christ. But those who seek and take the
cup of salvation, who run to Christ for all salvation, for
forgiveness, for righteousness, for life, and rest in Him and
cling to Him, and those who worship God, thanking Him in gratitude
for all His benefits, especially the eternal benefits, I thank
God for everything that we have, but especially for salvation.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of that saint,
a sanctified one, one who died in Christ. Deuteronomy 8.18, and you shall
remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power
to get wealth. You see, if you have wealth,
that means you have power to get it. But who gave it to you? Who gave you that power? God
did. And God could take it all away tonight. With your death, or he could
cause the stock market to crash even farther than it has. Some of you may have had jobs
last week. Don't have them today. The Lord
giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Some of you may not have had them last week, and you have
them today. You see, whether you're on the mountaintop or
in the valley, and I'll tell you, this guy, he thought about
his bounty, his barns, his goods, his crops, his barns, his crops,
but not his soul. He didn't recognize that God's
the real owner of all of it. And then thirdly, he had no thoughts
of others. How could he share with those
in need when he thought of only himself? No thoughts of relationships. You know, this fellow, I guarantee
you, he and his brother were at odds over the inheritance. Or he wouldn't have had to come
to ask what he was really asking. He was asking the Lord to settle
the matter like a civil magistrate. It's like taking his brother
to court. So you know they were at odds. Well, this fellow in
the parable, he didn't think about others. All he thought
about was himself. The I, me, my generation. That's what he is. If God blesses
you with an abundance, do you ever think of others? Our Lord
spoke of that in relationship to His people. He said, when
I was naked, you clothed me. He said, when I was in jail,
you visited me. When I was hungry, you gave me
meat. He said, when I was sick, you
visited me. And they said, Lord, when did we ever do those things
to you? And He said, in that you've done them to the least
of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. And then, fourthly,
there's no humility. No humility at all. So thou hast
much good. What am I going to do? Here's
what I'll do. I'm going to build bigger barns,
and I'm going to stuff them full. And I'm going to eat and drink
and be merry, because look at what I've accomplished. No humility,
you see. Christ said to His disciples,
if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow Me. Well, let me leave you with this.
He mentions here in verse 21 of Luke 12, He says, So is he
that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. Now
that's what we want. We want to be rich toward God. How can a person be rich toward
God? Let me give you two things. Number
one, live for and in the light of God's glory in Christ. lived
by Christ, lived in Christ, and lived for Christ. For in Him
were blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places."
In Christ Jesus. The riches of His treasure, the
treasure of salvation, the treasure of forgiveness, the treasure
of righteousness, the treasure of being able to stand before
God with confidence, knowing that Christ is my hope. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed and I'm persuaded that He is able, I live in His power,
He is able to keep that which I've committed. I've committed
all my eternal well-being to Christ. To keep that which I've
committed unto Him against that day. That day when my soul is
required of me. I have Christ. I stand before
God forgiven through His blood, justified in His righteousness.
And I can stand before God confidently because I'm not pleading anything
I've done or anything I've gained or have. I plead Christ and Him
crucified and risen again. And then secondly, live for the
good of others. Every time I stand up to preach
a message, I think about this. I think about what are my goals? Well, I want to glorify God.
I want to glorify God. I want to exalt Christ. You can't glorify God without
exalting Christ. And if you exalt Christ, you're
going to glorify God. And then I want to aim towards
the salvation of sinners. That's what I want. If you're
here today and you're not saved, I want you to be saved. Now,
I can't save you. Only God can do that. But I know
He does it through the preaching of the Gospel. Let me tell you
this now. Salvation is not me standing down here and begging
you to walk down this aisle and make a profession. People ask
me why I don't do it. That's not Scripture. You don't
see that in the Bible now. Somebody says, well, we've got
to confess Christ. You confess Him if you never
have before in believer's baptism. That's number one. Come and see
me about that. We'll talk about it. You want
to confess Him in believer's baptism. Believer's baptism is
under the gospel. It's in the water. It's immersion.
Because it is a profession of Christ, whom when He died, I
died. And when He was buried, I was
buried. And when He arose again, I arose again the third day.
He's my hope. And then you confess Him by identifying
with the people of God. You confess Him by witnessing.
But it's not through singing a hundred verses of just as I
am and me begging you to get down here and bringing somebody
down because of the time. Somebody's going to come down
and say somebody don't come down whenever I get out of here. I've
been in those kinds of meetings now. And that's not salvation. But you confess Him before men.
And then in my preaching, I want to edify God's people. I want
to build you up. I don't want to divide you. I
don't want to let you go out of here without pointing you
to Christ and showing you that the assurance of saving faith
can only be found in Him. And I want us to be strengthened
in love, in good works, in the motivation of grace and gratitude,
and in love. And that's what it is to live
for others. And we keep that in our minds by the grace of
God.