of the company 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 the things which he possesseth. And he spake
a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich
man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself,
saying, What shall I do, because I have no room wherein to bestow
my fruits? And he said, This will I do.
I'll pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow
all my fruits and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul,
thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease,
eat, drink, be merry. But God said unto him, Fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall
those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth
up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. I want to talk about a true whorling.
What's a true whorling? A true whorling, you know, they
tell us to come out of the world. Don't be whorling. And I'm going
to tell you what a true whorling is. Now our Lord had emphasized
in this chapter the foolishness of worrying. Look down over here
in verse 6 and 7. He emphasized the foolishness
of worrying. He said, are not five sparrows
sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten for
God? How much attention have you ever paid to sparrows? I
mean, they're all over the place. Lots and lots and lots of sparrows. And God said, if there's five
of them, sold for two farthings, And not one of them, not one
sparrow is forgotten before God. Not one of them. Not one of them. And these said, but even the
hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, ye are more
valued than many sparrows. And so our Lord emphasized the
foolishness of worrying. And yet, you know, he said, the
hairs of your head are numbered, so don't be afraid. In light
of hearing such words of encouragement, it would seem everyone would
say, how blessed, how rich we are that God numbers the hairs
of your head. If he takes care of a sparrow,
how much more are you? And in light of that, you'd think
everybody that heard that said, oh, how rich, how rich we really
are. But one man didn't listen to
him. One man didn't hear what he had to say and wasn't moved
by his words. So the words of our Lord did
not change this man because look what he said here. And he said
in verse 13, in one of the company, one of the company that he was
preaching to here and teaching, one of them, after he had said
that, Sparrows, in the hairs of your head or number, One of
them didn't listen to him. And so in this crowd, in this
company of people, one of them said unto him, Master, speak to my brother that he divide
with me the inheritance. Oh, he didn't ask. He didn't
say, Lord. He didn't say, I've got a problem
with my brother. I've got a problem in my family.
Would you come and help us? No, no. He didn't ask the Lord
for anything. He says, Master, speak to my
brother. No calmness, no humbleness, no humility,
no fear. Master, speak to my brother. This person thought of only one
thing. and that was the inheritance
and he was convinced he was being cheated out of his inheritance
and the law of inheritance is this that if you can read this
in Deuteronomy 18 it says that if a man Deuteronomy 21 that
if a man has two wives And the firstborn son is from a wife
that he ends up despising and hating. And then he has another
wife and he has a son that he dearly, dearly loves. If he hates
his first wife, but that's the firstborn son, he gets a double
portion of the inheritance. And then if a man's got children,
and he has no sons, then his daughter gets the inheritance.
If she dies or they die, then the next in line, you go right
on down the line until you get down the line and they get the
inheritance. Well, this fellow here thought
somebody is going to beat me out of my inheritance. My brother
and me are having problems over this. And why in the world did
he want the Lord Jesus Christ to intervene in this? Well, because
the rabbis often settle matters like this. And he asked the Lord
Jesus Christ to come and settle this issue and naturally he wanted
to settle it in his favor. You come and tell my brother
what a mess he's making out of this and you've ruined my favor. He's trying to beat me out of
my inheritance. And look what our Lord said to him in verse
14. And he said unto him, Man, he
spoke just about as harsh back to him as he did to the Lord.
Man, who made me a judge or a divider
over you? Huh? Who made me a judge or one
to divide what you have over you? Who made me that? Two reasons
why our Lord didn't give him this request. First is there
were authorities to deal with such matters. There were people
that would deal with such things. And our Lord had a work to do
that had nothing to do with the things of the flesh and the things
of this earth, but the things of the heart. Things of the Spirit. Things of God. Eternal things. Not earthly things. Not earthly
inheritance. That's what our Lord, He's talking
about. Eternal inheritance is what we get. This man is talking
about fleshly. And our Lord said, I got a work
to do in the fleshly things. That's not my business. That's
not my business. And oh, He dealt with things
of the heart, things of the spirit. He does here. And the Lord gives
him a solid warning. And He takes this. This is a
true worldling now. And our Lord, He said unto them,
and He talks to all the company now. He's still preaching. He's
still telling all these people this together. He says, now take heed, He said
unto them. Not just this man, unto them. Take heed and beware of covetousness,
for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things
which he possesses. And so our Lord says you be on
guard, beware, be on guard against covetousness. Be on guard against
greed. Be on guard against things that
you know that's only of the earth. It means to thirst for more and
more and more and still more. That's what this covetousness
He's talking about. And He said a man's life does
not consist in what he possesses. Don't be enslaved with greed
and covetousness. Our life is more than what we
possess. Look what he said down here in
verse 22. Our life consists in so much more than what we possess.
And he said unto his disciples, now he's left off the company,
he's talking strictly to his disciples now. Therefore I say
unto you, take no thought for your life. What you shall eat. Neither for the body, what you
gonna put on it. Is the life more than the food you eat? Ain't
life more important than the food you eat? And the body more
than raiment? And oh, that's what he's talking
about here. This body here is going back to the dust. And your
life is more important than what goes in it even. And that's what
our Lord is saying here. And then He gives a parable.
And He spake a parable unto them in verse 16. to drive home the
awfulness, the awfulness of being taken up with this world, and
taken up with the things of this world, and how dangerous it is,
and how awful it is. And he said, I spake a parable
unto them, saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought
forth plenty, plenty. And listen to what he said, what
was wrong with this man being rich? A certain rich man. What was wrong with this man?
The fact that he was rich and successful? Was that his problem?
No. No, no, that wasn't his problem.
Nowhere do you find in the Scriptures that God condemns success or
riches. There's a lot of wealthy men.
Nobody was wealthier than Job. Of all, he was the wealthiest
man in the East. Abraham was incredibly wealthy. He was so
rich, so wealthy Abraham was. Solomon, whoever had gold in
his house like Solomon had in his house. Solomon was an incredibly
wealthy man. Joseph of Arimathea, he was an
incredibly wealthy man. They were all rich. They were
the Lord's children. They were the Lord's people.
They were people that God blessed. And there's nothing wrong with
being rich. No place does God condemn it. But what was wrong
then? Did he get his wealth dishonestly?
No. No, he didn't get it dishonestly.
He worked for it. He toiled for it. He labored
for it. And it was evidence. Look what it said. It brought
forth plentifully. And oh, he said, and he thought
within himself, what shall I do? Because I have no room to bestow
my fruits, He said, this is what I'll do. I'll pull down my bars,
build greater. I'll bestow all my fruits and
my goods. And I'll say to my soul, soul, you've got much goods
laid up for many years. Take your ease. Eat, drink, and
be merry. And it was evident God had blessed his labor and
blessed his ground. God gave him plenty. And what
do you and I have that we didn't receive? What do you and I have
that we didn't receive? Everything we've got, God has
provided for us. If you've had a good job, God
gave you that job. If you've got a nice home, God
blessed you to have that home. If you've got money in the bank,
God blessed you to have that money. And He teaches us to be
stewards of these things. And He teaches us that. But you
know what this man's problem was? He didn't know anything
about himself. didn't know anything at all about
himself. He says here, he talks to himself, and that's what he
said back up there in verse 17. He thought within himself and
he started talking to himself. What am I going to do? What am
I going to do? And he says, talks to himself.
And then he goes down here and says to his soul, he talks to
his soul, say to my soul, He talks to himself. He don't know
anything about himself. He's mortal and he says he has
goods laid up for many years. He don't know he has many years.
He don't know he has many years at all. What did James say? He
said, our life is but a vapor. It appears for a little time
and then it vanishes away. I was 25 years old when I come
into Tennessee and started preaching. Eleanor had long black hair.
Kim was a funny little 13, 14 year old girl. And now, where did this time go? Where did it go? And that's what
this fellow said, I've got many years. Many years. He didn't know a thing in the
world about life, death, nothing. All he was interested in, I got
time, time, and more time. And oh, he didn't know the much
goods. And he didn't know this about
himself. He didn't know that the much
goods in which he rejoiced could never, never satisfy his soul. Never satisfy his soul. He had
much goods for the body, but he didn't have nothing, nothing
for his soul. Wasn't interested in his soul.
Not concerned for his soul. And that's a sad thing to see
people, see people have so much. And I know some that have so
much and yet they never, never think of their soul. Never think
of their soul. And I'll tell you something else,
he didn't think of others. He didn't know himself. He talked
to himself and he said I've got many years. He said I've got
much goods. I read tonight over in the study
out of Ecclesiastes 5. They that love silver shall never
be satisfied with silver. He that loveth gold shall never
be satisfied with gold. If you love it, he said, a man,
if God blesses him to labor and have and go to bed at night and
say, thank you, Lord, for the labor you gave me and what you
gave me today, that man is blessed in his deed. But then that man
that has great wealth, he'll lay awake at night and worry
about it. And that's what he says here. And I'll tell you
something else about him. He didn't think of others. Totally
selfish. What did it say there in verse
17? He thought within himself. within himself he talks about
self-sufficiency of his own importance. He only knows one will and that
was his own. That's the only thing he is interested
in. Knows no master but his own selfishness. You know how many? I'm going
to tell you, you can count these yourself. In these, what he talks
about here, there's six eyes and four minds. Six eyes and four minds. He never missed anybody but himself. If you ever run across somebody
and all they talk about is I and mine, I and mine, I and mine,
you wouldn't want to be around them very long, would you? If
you know something about the grace of God. I and mine, I and
mine, I and mine. And oh, he never mentioned anybody
else, he never mentioned that there was anybody, except you
reckon there's somebody that has need of help? I've got all
this stuff. Is there any place that I can
take some of this stuff and give it away and share it with others
and be a blessing to others? No, no. He only thought of himself. He doesn't even thank God or
glorify God. He said, I will say to my soul. And look what he says. He said,
look what he says. Soul, verse 19, you have much
goods laid up for many years. Oh, I'm telling you, this selfish,
selfish, selfish. Oh, it's the only thing. He never
said, Lord, I thank you. I bless you. I praise you. He
didn't even have what the world calls today the good Lord to
thank. And I told you I despise people
saying, the good Lord this, the good Lord that. Well, the good
Lord gave me this, the good Lord gave me that. No, it's God. It's the Lord in glory. And oh,
listen, look over in 1 John 2.15. This man is exactly, we're talking
about a worldly person. Worldly person. 1 John 2.15. He doesn't thank God. He's not
interested in God. And oh, he talks to himself. Interested in himself. Now I
talk to myself. And I know some of you talk to
yourself. And I've often said, if I want to
have an intelligent conversation, I've got to talk to myself. But
that's not true. That's not true. But whenever
you start answering yourself, you know you're in trouble. I
remember Floyd all the time, when he'd do something dumb or
stupid, he'd say, Oh, Alan, what have you done? You know, and
I do that, you know, you'll do something say, Oh, DB, what have
you done now? Oh, Donnie, what have you done?
You know, yeah, that's what I mean when you talk to yourself. When
you get aggravated with yourself, that's when you talk to yourself.
Walk in a room and say, oh boy, I come in here for something,
what in the world is it? What is it? What is it? Until
you walk back out of the room, you come back and say, oh, I
know what it is now. You know, we talk to ourselves,
but not like this fella. Not like this fella. Look what
he said here. He's a true worldling. Look what
he said in verse... John said here in verse 15. Love
not the world. Well this fella loved the world.
He loved everything about the world. He loved himself. And
that's the first thing that God said about the last days. Know
ye not in the last days men shall be lovers of their own selves. Proud? Heady, high-minded. And this fellow meets every one
of those, don't he? And look what he says, Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. Well,
this fellow loved his things. He really talked about his things. And if any man loved the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. You notice he never talked
about God, never talked about Christ, never talked about God
blessing him, thanking the Lord for anything. For all that's
in the world is the lust of the flesh. This fellow talked to
himself. He thought within himself. He said to his soul. He's interested
in living many years. He's interested in taking his
ease and eating and drinking and being happy and being married.
That's what he's interested in. And the lust of the eyes. Oh
my, he said, look at all I've got. I've got so many goods stored
up. He said, I'm going to have to, I ain't got no place to put
it all. Go over and tear down them barns,
and I mean double them, triple them, and build them up so big.
And I said, fill them up. Lust of the flesh and the
lust of the eyes. And oh my, you know, when he
looked at everything and he saw, boy, look what I've got. He said,
so prop your feet up. You've got it made. You've got
it made. It's like that old fellow Scott
Richardson said one time, said he had a great big mailbox, you
know, huge mailbox. And he put out on that mailbox
who he was and his name and I mean, right out front, you'd say, Oh,
he won't everybody know he was somebody. had all this property and everything
and he's worked hard and made a big living and had a big place
and he wanted everybody to know how wealthy he was. He retired
and lived I think five or six days after he retired, gone like that. Over in Ecclesiastes 5
and 15 it says, naked, came out from my mother's womb and I shall
return there and not anything that I labored for shall go with
me. You know anybody that's ever
left this world and took anything with them besides the clothes
they had on their back? And that's what he's talking
about here. And this fella, he wasn't interested in that. And
oh, look what he goes on to say here now. The lust of the flesh,
the pride of life. Oh, was he proud? He was proud. Did you ever see anybody prouder
than him? Listen, the pride of life, that's not of the Father,
that's of the world. And the world passes away. And I'll tell you what, I'll
tell you what, the world's passing away for us. Now there's going
to be a time, and it won't be very long, that you and I will
be laying in our beds. And we may be very sick, we may
be in a hospital, we may be somewhere, but this world will start fading
away right out of our eyes. And you won't get up and say,
boy, I want this, I want that, and I want this other thing.
You'll say, just another hour, another day, just a little more
time to say something to somebody. So what you're going to do, if
you're going to love, love now, if you're going to give, give
now, if you're going to be kind, Kind and tender hearted, do it
now. If you're going to forgive anybody, do it now. Whatever
it does, that's why I say, that's why I said, this world passes
away and everything that anybody ever looked at after, it's going
to go too. Anything you ever wanted in this
life, it's going to end up not having any taste to it, not having
any desire for it. If you ever had this feeling,
you know, that you just didn't care about, you didn't care if
you had, you just get to the place where absolutely nothing
hardly means nothing to you when you just get so, you know, just,
just, you don't care what happens. And that's what he says, the
lust of the flesh. But now listen to this, but he that doeth the
will of God, you know what he does? He lives on and on and
on and on and on. Even after the world's gone,
He's living on and on and on. So back over here in our text,
this man, this wealthy man here, this rich man, he doesn't consider eternity.
He don't consider having a hope laid up in heaven. And let me
show you another scripture over in Psalm 68, 19. This is the
way in Psalm 68, 19. Talking about worldliness. Oh, this is what we do. This
is what we desire to do. This is it for us. That's why David said, I'll be
satisfied when I awaken your likeness. I want to behold the
king and his beauty. And look what he said here in
Psalm 68, verse 19. Blessed be the Lord who daily,
daily loads us with benefits. You get up tomorrow morning,
God will load your little wagon for you. He will give you just
exactly what you need for that day. And it's beneficial. It's a benefit. And it goes on to say, even the
God of our salvation. We're going to get up tomorrow
and you know what we're going to do? God is going to put in our
hands and in our lives what we need for that day and it's going
to be beneficial. It'll be a benefit. Just the fact that you wake up
and you even thank a God, that's a benefit. God that you wake
up and have a cup of coffee and sit down outside and thank the
Lord, that's a benefit. And then on, the Lord exposes
the secrets of this, the secret thoughts of men and women. And
even the schemes of the world. And that's what our Lord, He
knew all about His thoughts. He said, oh listen. He thought within Himself. And
our Lord know to all His words and thought within Himself. He
knows everything that this man thought, knows everything this
man said. This will I do, he thought within
himself, I'll say to myself. He thought all his thoughts and
all of his words. And then look what he said. In
verse 20. God said something to him. And
God's gonna say, God's gonna, everybody's gonna, one of these
days we're all got to meet God. And I've done met Him. And I'll
tell you something, for believers, we've done met God. We met him
in Christ. So I'm not afraid of facing God
in the judgment and in eternity. Joe Terrell, somebody told me
that Joe Terrell started out his message. He says the safest
place, and you know we need our sins gone, we need a hiding place
from the devil, we need a hiding place for sin, we need a hiding
place from neglect, but he says you know where we need salvation
from more than any place else, we need a place to hide from
God. And where are you going to hide from God at? You can't
find a home to do it. You can't do it in religion.
You can't do it in the church. You can't do it in Catholic.
You can't do it. The only place that you can be safe in God is
in God in Christ. Because I mean sinners took care
of there. Devils took care of there. Flashes
took care of there. And God Himself reconciled us
through His blessed Son. So God's gonna say to us one
of these days, and you know what He'll say to His people? Come
up hither. O thou good and faithful servant,
come in here. And then He said, we'll rest from
our labors, but this fellow, look what God said to him. God
said unto him, God spoke to him. And you know what God said to
him? Called him a fool. If God calls a man a fool, do
you know what kind of human being he's gotta be for God himself
to say, you're a fool? Now we call people foolish all
the time. We call ourselves, say, boy, that's the foolishest
thing, that's the dumbest thing I've ever done. We'll say that
term, but for God to say it, Thou fool you know what it means
here without mind or sense or understanding That's what he
said it. You don't have any mind. You
don't have any sense. You don't have any understanding
That's what it means here, and then look what he said to him
fool this night I Mean he just got through sin and You've got so many goods laid
out for so many years, take it easy, drink, be merry. Pour me another drink, honey,
I'm having a good time. That's what he said. And God
says to him, your soul's required of you. This night, thy soul. Thy soul. And what he's telling us
is there's a separate existence between where the soul is and
the body is. He didn't say this night is your
body required of you. This night is your life required
of you. This night is your soul. God made man a living soul. He made a body and that man didn't
have any life until God put a soul in him. And we're living souls
inhabiting dying bodies, fleshly bodies. And there's a separate
existence where the soul is and where the body is. And they'll
all be united one of these days, but that's another time and another
place. And then look what he says, then You keep talking about your years
and your wealth and how much time you got left. Then, then,
then, all these things you're bragging about. Who they going
to have then? Who's going to get them then?
Who's going to have them? Then who shall these things be?
Oh my. I'll tell you something, beloved.
You know what we have? If you have grace, you have Christ,
you have love, you have faith, you have understanding, you have
righteousness, you have justification, you have the things of God, the
things of Christ, you have wealth beyond measure. Wealth beyond
measure. And that's what our Lord said
here in verse 21. So I'll tell you all the things that you've
got, who you're going to be providing for. You know, I'll give you
an illustration just from my own experience. Mary left lots
and lots and lots of things behind. Room full of clothes. Closets
and drawers full of things. She never took anything with
her but what she picked out to put in her casket. She even wore
a wig in her casket because she didn't have any hair. She never
took nothing with her. And whatever we do, we're absolutely
taking nothing with us. And boy, that's a hard lesson
for us to learn, ain't it? That's a hard lesson to learn.
But I'm going to do the same thing. I'm going to leave the
closet full of clothes. I'm going to leave a rocking
chair on the porch. And we're all going to do that.
And that's why he says in verse 21, So is he that layeth up treasure
for himself, that's the way he is, your soul is going to be
required of you, and is not rich toward God. How can you be rich
toward God? We can't do anything to provide
any riches to pay him. So how are we going to be rich
toward God? Well, I'm going to tell you how. I'm going to show
you how. Look over in 1 Corinthians chapter
1. And I'll lay this thing up. Oh, my. Oh, to be rich toward God. Look
in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 4. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 4. I thank my God always on your
behalf. Now boy, this is what, that fellow
is talking to himself about what all he's got. Paul said here,
I thank my God always on your behalf, for you. And for the
grace which God has given you by Jesus Christ. Now listen to
this, that in everything you are enriched by Him. And you
know what that word enriched means? made wealthy. That in
everything you are made wealthy by Him. You can talk about Him. If you've got knowledge, He's
the one who gave it to you. All the wealth and wisdom of
God is in the Lord Jesus Christ, and anything we've got, it comes
from Him. You are made wealthy by Him. And I'll tell you what, He goes
on to say in verse 6, even the testimony of Christ is confirmed
in you. Oh my! We're wealthy, made wealthy
in Christ. And look what he said down in
verse 8. Said, Lord Jesus Christ shall confirm you unto the end
that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's pretty wealthy, ain't
it? Oh my, let me show you one more
in Ephesians chapter 2. And then I'll quit. Oh, let's
let our mind, our conversation be taken up with the things of
God and Christ. Enjoy your life. Enjoy your life. Enjoy what God's given you. Enjoy
it. Take it and use it and enjoy
it and go places and do things. There's nothing wrong with having
things. Nothing wrong with it. But all
we just know we got them and we use them and reach toward
God. Look what he said here in Ephesians
2.7. Now this is talking about eternity.
That in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace. His kindness toward us through
Jesus. Exceeding. That means it just goes on and
on and on. Exceeding riches of His grace. Oh my. So where do we get our
riches at? in Christ, made wealthy in Christ. And in the ages to come when
we get into eternity, He's just going to spend eternity teaching
us about the riches of His grace and kindness towards us through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? Ah, no world is for me. God keep me, don't let me be
like that. Oh, please, please, please. Wealthy in Christ, rich in Christ.
Rich in God, because all the wealth of God's in Christ. Our blessed, blessed Savior,
our Lord and our God. Oh, you're so wondrously kind,
so wondrously gracious, so wondrously patient. And oh Lord, you've
made us so wondrously rich, wealthy. We even have an inheritance.
Lord, you told us we have an inheritance laid up for us in
heaven. That's incorruptible. It's undefiled. That'll never fade away. It's
reserved for us there. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for all
the riches that we have in you. Riches of grace, riches of glory. Oh, blessed be your holy name.
Lord, help us rejoice in you. find all our comfort and strength
from you. God bless these saints of God,
these dear children of God. Thank you for the fellowship
we've had, the enjoyment we have of one another. Thank you for
these loving mothers, kind, gracious mothers and grandmothers, women
and men of grace. These women has taught well,
lived well, lived to your glory, lived and loved and taught manifest
to the love and grace of Christ in their homes, in their children,
and in the church. God, we thank you for them. Blessed
be your name. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. There is a name I love
to hear. I love to sing his word. It sounds like music in my ear,
the sweetest name on earth. That's the best line in the whole
thing.