So this morning, let's open the
service with a scripture reading in Luke. Turn with me, if you
would, to Luke chapter 12 and hold your spot. This is,
uh, our text is going to be from this same chapter. Our scripture scripture reading
for the morning begins in Luke chapter 12, starting in verse
22. This is Christ speaking to his
disciples, starting verse 22. He said unto his disciples, therefore,
I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall
eat, neither for the body, what you should put on for life is
more than me. The body is more than Raymond.
Consider the Ravens for they neither sow nor reap, which neither
have storehouse nor barn and God feed at them. How much more
are ye better than the fowls? And which of you, with taking
thought, can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then not be
able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for
the rest? Consider the lilies, how they
grow. They toil not, they spin not. Yet I say unto you that
Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.
If then God so clothed the grass, which is today in the field and
tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more, how much more
will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye
shall eat, what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
For all these things do the nations of the world seek after. Your
father knoweth ye have need of these things. But rather, seek
ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto
you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom, to give you the kingdom. Sell
that ye have, give alms, provide yourself bags which wax not old.
a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approaches,
neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also." We'll end our reading there. Let's
pray together. Our Heavenly Father, what a privilege
it is, what an honor it is to have the right to come before
you, to bow before your throne as children call you our father,
approach you as our father for Christ's sake, for his work.
What a privilege this moment is to be able to approach you,
to come together as a family and worship publicly together. What an honor this is. We thank
you for this. It's not a blessing that you
had to provide, but you saw fit to show grace, to show mercy
and grace to children for Christ's sake, to sinners, for undeserving
sinners, to make them right and worthy as children to come before
your throne for Christ's sake. We're thankful. We're thankful
for him. We're thankful for Christ's work.
We pray for our pastor and for Janet that your will be done. Use this trial according to your
purpose. We're thankful for your purpose.
Give us a heart to hear and to submit to your purpose and to
find comfort in your good purpose for you are good. We pray for
others that are undergoing various trials, whatever that trial may
be. Strengthen, heal, edify as your children need for Christ's
sake. We pray for Eric and Abby as
they travel, that you bless the message you've given to Eric
today and bless that congregation in Danville. Pray that you continue
to be with them going forward as you have in the past. We pray
for ourselves that you continue to be with us. Bless the word,
bless the word even this morning. That the word go forth in power,
that it be your message and that your sheep hear and are comforted. And most importantly, that your
worthy name, your holy name be glorified in this place this
morning. We pray this thankfully in Christ's name and for his
sake alone. Amen. Okay. If you're still there in
loop, Our text is actually back in Luke 12, beginning in verse
13. And let's read a few of those verses together. Again, Luke
12, beginning in verse 13. And one 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, it's his
disciples, he said unto them, take heed, beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 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 where
to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do.
I will 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, and be merry. But God said unto him, thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall
these things be which thou has provided? And that's the title
of this message. Who shall those things be which
thou has provided? So is he that layeth up treasure
for himself. and is not rich toward God. This scripture has been on my
mind for, well, since around the time that Don Fortner passed. I remembered a time, I was thinking
about Don, I remember a time standing in the aisle of his
congregation after a service, it was probably a conference
of some sort, but after service and I was standing there and
I was talking to our brother And I told him something that,
in all of my 19-year-old wisdom, I was planning on doing. And
he listened. And he said, then you're a fool. That's what he said to me. Now,
a few things about that. One, not many people can get
away with that other than Don Fortner. And he didn't say it
mean-spirited. Somehow, he said that to me in
love. And how many people? I don't
know many people. that could look another person in the eyes,
call him a fool, in love. But he did. He did. He said that
to me in love, and he was right. And ultimately, it had to do,
same thing that scripture has to do with, it had to do with
my focus not being anywhere other than Christ. And if our focus
is anywhere other than Christ, anywhere other than Christ, thou
fool. When? I shouldn't say yet. I
should say when. when our focus is anywhere other than Christ.
Thou fool. And again, Don somehow said that
to me with kindness. So this text has been on my mind
for a while and I believe there's a lot of good instruction here
waiting for us. When Christ begins telling this
parable, he's speaking to a huge gathering of people and he's
been giving the crowd reproof. The crowd, the Pharisees, the
scribes, He's been giving them reproof all in different ways,
but all for this same one thing, the same one thing. They've all
been putting something between themselves and Christ. Whatever
that something is, they've been putting something between themselves
and Christ. And Christ has been reproving them for it. Look back
in chapter 11, probably one page back in verse 29. Christ is reproving the people
as a whole. This is the whole crowd. He's
reproving the people as a whole. for seeking a sign instead of
seeking Christ. Look there in chapter 11 verse
29. And when the people were gathered thick together, he began
to say, this is an evil generation. They seek a sign. There shall
no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas, the prophet. He's
rebuking the crowd. And later in the chapter, crisis
is rebuking the Pharisees again for the same thing, for focusing
on something other than Christ, for focusing on the show. the
ritual, the show of holiness, the things that they did. They
were focusing on the act of holiness instead of on Christ who is holy,
Christ who is our holiness. They're focusing on their holiness
instead. Look there in the same chapter,
chapter 11, verse 37. And as he spake, a certain Pharisee
besought him to dine with him. And he went in and sat down to
meet. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not
first washed before dinner. The Lord said unto him, Now do
ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but
your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did
not he that made that which is without make that which is within
also? But rather give alms of such things as ye have. And behold,
all things are clean unto you. But woe unto you, Pharisees,
for ye tithe mint and rue, all manner of herbs. You tithe on
the little things. You take care of the little things,
the show. Pass over judgment in the love of God. These ought
ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you,
Pharisees, for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogue, and greetings
in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you are graves which appear not, and the men
that walk over them are not aware of them." So he's reproving the
Pharisees, again, for focusing on that show. whatever it is,
for focusing on that before Christ, for seeing this before Christ.
And finally, he's reproving the lawyers, the scribes, the very
next verse, starting in verse 45, and they're putting their
knowledge and their interpretation of the law in front of Christ.
All of this is comfort in anything. Our nature will do it. Comfort in anything other than
Christ. That's peace where there is no
peace. So Christ is reproving them for it, for putting their
knowledge and interpretation of the law in front of Christ.
Starting in verse 45, then he answered one of the lawyers,
the scribes, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest
us also? He said, woe unto you also, ye
lawyers, for you laid men with burdens grievous to be born,
and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.
Woe unto you, for you build sepulchers of the prophets, and your fathers
killed them. So he's reproving the crowd,
the Pharisees, the scribes, and this in and of itself could be
a message just on the deep depravity of our human nature. There's no denying it. The absolute
lost depravity of our human nature, helpless. Christ is the issue. Christ is the entire issue. Christ
is all. Christ is everything. Christ
is everything. And anything between us and Christ, Christ is reproving
here. And left to ourselves, we've
shown over our history that we will grab hold of anything except
Christ. And we can pause here, and we
can consider this same reproof, just as the lawyers and the scribes
and the whole crowd sat and considered. we can, I can closely consider
this, this same reproof when, when we put anything between
ourselves and Christ, that so much as shifts our focus that
we take peace from, we're actually not just focusing on this other
thing. Cause that sounds too light.
We're focusing here and then we're focusing on Christ or we're
seeing Christ through this other. No, what we're actually doing
is looking at this instead, instead of Christ. whatever that thing
is. Again, the scribes were well-studied. That's a good thing. We should
be well-versed in the scriptures. That's a good thing, but they
put that knowledge in front of Christ. Anything except Christ, and we
should be listening to that ourselves, too. We focus on anything other
than Christ. We're actually focusing on something instead of Christ.
I worked with a guy, I don't know, 10 or so years ago, who
played basketball with Pistol Pete Maravich. Some of you recognize
the name. Pistol Pete was probably the
best college basketball player ever. Averaged 44 points a game
for LSU in college. The guy was amazing. And my friend
bragged that he held him to 40, the game that he played against
them. He said he watched Pistol Pete do it. He said this is why
he was so good. He could look you in the eyes
and focus on you and also focus on the basket. at the exact same
time. He had something with his eyes
where he could fully focus on two things separately at the
same time. He said, so he looked at me and smiled and shot it
right over my head and made it. Pistol Pete could focus on two
things at the exact same time. We can't. We can't. And that's what Christ is saying
here. Christ has reproved the crowd. He's reproved the Pharisees. He's reproved the scribes. And look at their two different
responses. Two responses here. One is here again in chapter
11, look in verse 53. This is the Pharisees response
to the reproof. As he said these things unto them, the scribes
and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently to provoke him
to speak of many things, laying weight for him, seeking to catch
something out of his mouth that they might accuse him. They were
trying to trip him up. They didn't take the reproof.
They were just working to discredit him instead. What of the crowd? Our Lord had that same reproof
for them as well. And how did they respond here
in very next verse in verse 12 or chapter 12, verse one, this
is how the crowd responded. In the meantime, when there were
gathered together an innumerable multitude of people in so much
that they trod one upon the other, the crowd actually got bigger.
They came more after the reproof they heard and more came, more
came. Lord, give us Christ to respond
that way, to hear and accept reproof. Don't you want a heart? I want a heart. Don't you want
a heart that trusts and accepts our Lord just as children, as
children should. Don't you want a heart like that,
that just trusts him? Hasn't he at least earned at least that
from us? I mean, haven't we seen in the
scriptures time and time and time again how faithful our Lord
is And haven't we seen it, haven't we lived it time and time and
time again to see how faithful our Lord is? Don't we, I want
a heart that accepts the reproof and comes to the Lord as the
crowd did. Well, that's what the crowd did. And that's not, the Pharisees
fought against the reproof. And then we would too, except
the Lord restrained us. But here the crowd, the crowd
is listening. And that brings us, now we're
to our text here in chapter 12. So the Lord's speaking to this
crowd that has taken reproof and now they're coming, if you
will, for the evening message. They're coming to him and the
Lord's speaking to a crowd that's just trampling over. They trod
one upon the other. This huge crowd pressing toward
him to listen. Again, that brings us to our
text here in Luke 12, beginning in verse 13. And we have three
points in our remainder of time here through our text. Three
points that we'll see between verses 13 and 21. Number one,
Christ is all. And we've already said that.
Christ is all. Christ is everything. And anything between us and Christ
is an idol. That's number one. Number two,
the work of my hands can never be enough. It can never be enough.
And number three, who is, who, who is that's in our, in, in,
uh, chapter or in verse 21, it ends with, uh, being rich toward
God, who's rich towards God. What's that mean? Who is rich
toward God? So those are our, our, our three
points. Christ is all the work of my hands can never be enough.
And what is it to be rich toward God? I want to be rich toward
God. So number one, Christ is all Christ is everything. And
anything between us and Christ is an idol. We've seen the Lord's
reproof for the Pharisees and of the scribes and of the crowd
earlier. And here he's starting to speak
directly to his disciples in front of the crowd, but he's,
he's addressing his disciples. And he says in verse 15, he said
unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness for man's life
consists of not in the abundance of things, which he possesses.
Beware of covetousness. And again, he's talking to believers
here, but beware of covetousness. Beware of wanting something that's
not yours, that's not your right, that's not your possession, that's
not yours. Beware of something that, beware of wanting something
that's not yours. And beware of becoming focused
on anything that's not Christ. And inevitably, you read that,
so you're saying I can just ignore my job and I can just not pay
my mortgage, and of course not, that's silly. Be aware, right? We're in the world, not of the
world. We be aware of our responsibilities that are here in the world. We
don't, we don't focus on them. We don't covet them. We don't,
we certainly don't. Unfortunately we do. Don't put,
I'm talking to you, don't put them before Christ, not even
for a second before Christ. Beware of, beware of covetousness.
We're prone to it. Beware of covetousness. Beware
of focusing on anything that's not Christ. And spiritually,
God help us from ever wanting anything, quote unquote, more
than Christ, more than Christ. Psalm 16, five says, the Lord
is my portion. The Lord is the portion of my
inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. The
Lord is our portion. That's our portion. Beware of
covetousness. We don't seek more. That there
could be, but we don't seek more. We must beware of coveting, of
wanting more than Christ. And not more such as there is
nothing more, something better than Christ. I certainly don't
mean that. What I mean is we must keep ourselves from being
drawn to anything other than Christ. in addition to Christ. May the Lord keep us from drawing
our peace, the peace for our souls. That's what the man said
here. You know, later in our same text,
he said to his soul, soul, take thy rest. Boy, if we can take
our peace for our souls from anything other than Christ. Beware
of covetousness, Jonathan. Beware of covetousness. Anything
other than Christ, we can keep our souls from drawing peace
from anything other than Christ. The Lord and the Lord alone is
my portion. Christ is all, Christ is everything.
Anything between us and Christ is an idol. Number two, the work
of my hands can never be enough. Look there in verse 16. 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 where
to bestow my fruits. Do you notice how many times
he says, I and my? What shall I do, because I have no room
where to bestow my fruits? And he said, this will I do.
I will pull down my barns, and I'll build greater. There will
I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I'll say to my soul,
soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine
ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. Here is a man whose land had
produced much fruit, much fruit, so much that this man's main
concern, this was his worry. His worry was, I don't have enough
space to store it all. That was his worry. His land
had produced so much, he just didn't even have a place to store
it all. He had done very well, but like us all, his words reveal
his heart. And listen to those verses again
in your mind. His words reveal his heart. His entire focus was on his own
work, was on his own fruits, the works of his hands. And even
with all that abundance, his soul still isn't satisfied. It
can't be. It can't ever be satisfied by
the work of our hands. And that just reveals again our
own nature. The Lord's using this parable to warn his disciples.
He's warning us of this sinful nature that's within us. It doesn't
leave us. Sinful nature's right there.
It doesn't leave us. He's warning us of this sinful
nature that's within us. Beware of covetousness in this
world. Beware of being consumed with the work of your hands.
Most of all, beware of that spirit invading your worship. Don't
look to the fruits of your hands. We can't look to the fruits of
our hands and think, I've done enough. Don't tell your soul,
soul, take thine ease. We've done enough. the storehouses of our good works.
We've done enough. Of course, I would say that if
you and I are sitting around thinking about our good deeds,
and we see storehouses full, then we don't have a correct
view of our good deeds. But if we do, and we think of our storehouses
full of these good works, again, we don't have a right view of
our own works. Beware of covetousness. Beware of the fruits of your
hands. And the fruits here, this gentleman reminds me of the fruits
that Cain brought. for his sacrifice, right? What
the Lord, he told Cain, Cain brought a fruit of the ground
and offering unto the Lord. And I imagine it was spectacular,
the work of his hands. And I bet that sacrifice was
stunningly beautiful. And I imagine it took Cain a
lot of time and effort and sweat. And he brought the fruits of
his hands before the Lord. Cain believed in the Lord. or
at least he believed that the Lord existed, but he believed
he had a right to approach unto the Lord based on those fruits
of his hands, based on his own merit. Lord said, but unto Cain
and to his offering, the Lord had not respect. The Lord said
unto Cain, because Cain's countenance fell and Cain was wroth. The
Lord said unto Cain, Cain, why are you wroth? Why is your countenance
fallen? If thou doest well, won't thou be accepted? If the sacrifice
is right, if the sacrifice is Christ, will we not be accepted? We will be accepted. Based on
the authority of the word, sacrifice of Christ is accepted. All the
storehouses, all the world full of so-called good works, tear
down the storehouses and build more. It can never be enough
to come before God. God didn't accept Cain's offering.
And you'll notice that scripture says, God had not respect unto
Cain. or his offering, God had not
respect unto Cain because God had not respect unto his offering.
Because he didn't accept his offering, he didn't accept Cain.
But thou doest well, shall they not be accepted? Well, what is
it to do well? And here in our text, that's
what we're getting to. What is it to do well? What is it to
be rich toward God? I want to be rich toward God.
Look in verse 20, Luke 12, verse 20. But God said unto him, thou
fool, that man that brought his works before the Lord, found
comfort for his soul in what he had done, and not in Christ,
thou fool. This night thy soul shall be
required of thee. Then who shall these things be
which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure
for himself and is not rich toward God. Who shall these things be
which thou hast provided, which thou hast provided? When this
man's soul came before the Lord Almighty, before the Lord Almighty,
what did Isaiah say? I saw the Lord high and lifted
up and his throne, his train filled the temple. The cherubims
flew and they covered their eyes and they covered their feet and
they cried, holy, holy, holy. What a terrible sight for a sinner. With what? With what? What did this man stand before
that, before the Lord Almighty? What did he stand with in his
hands? Psalm 130, verse three says,
if thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Have
you ever had to stand in a legal sense in this world before a
judge or a police officer? Don't raise your hands. I'll
raise my hand. You ever had to stand before someone guilty? Stand for someone guilty. Takes the strength out of your
legs. It's hard to physically stand, let alone have a right
standing. I'm not even getting to that yet. But to physically
stand when you're guilty takes the strength right out of your
legs. I know a man who got caught shoplifting when he was a kid,
got caught red-handed. And the store owner called in
the police, and the kid sat there in the office. And all the kid
said was two words, I'm guilty. That was it. Didn't fight it,
didn't make an excuse, nothing. I'm guilty. And the store owner
and the police were so surprised to actually hear somebody say
that. Because they never hear that. The store owner was so
surprised to actually hear somebody admit it, he just let the kid
go, scot-free. That's not mercy. That's not
mercy. That's justice unfulfilled. That's
justice unsatisfied. You could say that's justice
perverted. That's a store owner giving a kid a break. And I'm
not saying the store owner shouldn't have given the kid a break. Maybe
the kid lost. Not the point. But that's not
that's not the biblical definition of mercy. That's justice being
overlooked, letting that kid go scot free. But it's not mercy
before the Lord Almighty. Oh, Lord, if you mark iniquities,
who shall stand? Who shall have? A right standing. The right to stand before our
Lord and say what outside of Christ, who shall stand if you
count iniquities? Who shall even be able to stand? Outside of
Christ, we don't have a right to stand. We don't have a defense
to stand on. Our strength would just melt away in his presence
as a guilty sinner who just, oh Lord, who shall stand? Isn't
that what the scriptures say too? When Lord comes, the men
outside of Christ, they won't stand. They'll call on the mountains
to fall on them and hide them rather than stand. Who shall
stand? The man in this parable stripped of all of his fruits,
stripped of all of his good works, stripped of all the false peace
that just earlier in the day he had felt, right? He told his
soul, soul, take thy knees. Just earlier in the day, he had
found such peace in. Now he's before the Lord and
the Lord calls him, thou fool. Yeah, I was really struck when
we had kids. I listened to all kinds of things. It's tough. You want to communicate correctly
with the kids and so often, They do something, and I see all my
worst traits in them, right? All my worst traits. I see on
full display the traits I try to hide. I see on full display
with my kids. And I'll see them do something,
and I really wish, you idiot. So I remember reading all these
verses to say, well, no, no, no. Criticize the action. not
the child. So you don't say, oh, you're
stupid. You might say, oh, that was a stupid thing to do. You're
criticizing the action, not the child. Not so here with our text. Lord didn't say that was a foolish
thought. No, he said, no, thou fool, because that's correct. Look over in Proverbs with me.
We have time to see these. Look at a few other, and we'll
just look through Proverbs, of times that that the scriptures
use the word fool. Thou fool. I'm sorry, Proverbs chapter 10. Proverbs is a big book. I can't
just tell you to turn to Proverbs, right? Proverbs chapter 10, beginning
in verse eight. And we'll just look at a few
of these verses here in a couple of chapters. Thou fool. Proverbs
chapter 10. Uh, starting in verse eight,
the wise in heart will receive commandments, but a prating fool
shall fall. Verse 18, he that hide of hatred
with lying lips and he that utter at the slander is a fool over
in chapter 12, one page over in verse 15. I've got this underlined
in my Bible. I remember having a conversation
with our brother, Dan. about some things are just addressed.
Some scriptures are just addressed directly to you, right? When
the scriptures say, you men love your wives, that's addressed
to me. When the scriptures tell women
what to do, that's not addressed to me, right? This one I have underlined.
This one's addressed to me. The way of a fool is right in
his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. Over in
chapter 17, Two more here in chapter 17 verse
10, a reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes
into a fool. You can't, can't even beat it
into a fool. And finally, at the end of that
chapter 17 in verse 28, even a fool when he holdeth his piece
is counted wise. He that shut his lips is a steam
demand of understanding. Why is it? Back to the Lord calling
this man, thou fool, not thou foolish, thou fool. Why is it
that when we open our mouths, we reveal ourselves to be fools?
Matthew 12 verses 33 and 34 says, either make the tree good and
his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt
for the tree is known by his fruit. Oh, generation of vipers,
how can ye being evil speak good things? for out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. That's why when I open my mouth,
I sound a fool. Just as that, as our Lord told
that man, thou fool says foolish things because he's got a foolish
nature. That's why, because he's a fool that, that, that foolish,
foolish nature. And that word abundance for out
of the abundance of the heart, the abundance of the heart, the
mouth speaketh abundance of the heart. Do you remember that in
our text back here in Luke? Up in verse 15, we talk about
the abundance of the heart. Up in verse 15, it says, at the
end, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth. So who shall stand before the
Lord? Who shall stand before the Lord? Is it in my abundance
of things? That's what this man had, right?
An abundance of things. My good deeds, my good intentions. Hey, my heart was in the right
place. My good life, respected in the community. you know, help
point things in the right direction, a good life. These are all stripped
away. Lord says, who shall those things
be? Who shall these things be? Which
thou has provided. Who shall these things be? Which
thou has provided. They're unclean and unworthy to even bring into
the Lord's presence. Who shall these things be? Which
thou has provided. Shall I bring my heart? Shall I stand before
the Lord because my heart was in the right place? Out of the
abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh and reveals me to be
a fool. So I'm going to bring this foolish
heart. Folks, this is, this is what we do. My friends, this
is, this is our nature. This is our, our sinfulness.
This is our rebellion against Christ. This is what we do left
to ourselves. This is always what we do. Thou
fool shall bring my heart before the Lord. Thou fool who shall
stand before the Lord who is rich toward God. He who has nothing,
nothing, but Christ, he who has nothing, but Christ has everything
before God. In God's presence, he who has
nothing but Christ has everything before God. He who has been made
to cling to Christ and Christ alone, he has everything before
God. Who's rich? Who's rich before
God? He who has Christ before God. That's who's rich. He who
has Christ's righteousness. Christ's righteousness, not my
unclean works. Christ's blood and sacrifice
on the cross. Because justice for my sin, remember
the store owner letting that kid go? Aw, you should go ahead.
No. Justice for my sin, because my
sin can't be overlooked. It can't be swept under the rug. My soul's sin demands must be
dealt with. Justice must be served. Christ's
blood sacrifice on the cross. Who's rich before God? He who
has Christ's righteousness. He who has Christ's sacrifice
on the cross before God. Christ's blood sacrifice on the
cross. He who has Christ formed in him,
because Christ had birthed a new nature, that new nature that
loves God and his word from the new heart, the mouth will praise
the Lord and confess Christ. He who has Christ made unto him
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. That's pretty rich. Wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, redemption. He who has that in Christ is
certainly rich before God. He has a right standing before
God. In Christ, there's no lack. There's no lack of anything.
There's no lack of anything. So we look to him. And in closing,
flip over to Matthew with me. Matthew chapter six. I'm going to read back over here
in Luke and verse 21 there. is he that layeth up, thou fool,
right? That's he that layeth up treasure
for himself, and is not rich toward God. Now over in Matthew
6, verses 20 and 21, but lay up for yourselves treasure in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves
do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also. There will our heart be also. Even now we, we look to Christ
and, and I, we've heard our pastor say so many times about the,
the, the children that were bitten by the serpents. They were told
to look at that brazen serpent. Didn't say, see him. Even if
you can't see him, right? We, we, we look to Christ. Even
now we look, we look and we pray that the Lord give us eyes to
see because if, if we see him, Why would our eyes ever wander
to anything else? Why would our eyes ever wander
to anything other than Christ? If we see him, why would our
eyes ever wander? But they do. And we're warned. Christ himself warns us. He'd
beware of covetousness. We don't look to anything but
Christ. Be rich toward God, right? Because Christ is all. Let's close in prayer together. Our Father, we pray that the
scripture be open to our hearts and that you send your spirit
and bless us during this time. Put your word in our hearts that
we may worship and rejoice in your name and walk in the light
that you've given us. Father, let us seek Christ. Give us eyes to see only Christ
and ears to hear only Christ. in a heart that loves only Christ. Give us, give us faith to, to
believe and trust and rest in only Christ. Father, forgive
us our sinfulness. We pray this thankfully in Christ's
name for his sake. Amen.