I heard a story a long time ago
about a young preacher who came from the seminary in Louisville
down to Lexington. He wasn't from the South, but
he had gone to one of the churches in Lexington and preaching in
view of a call, as they say. And he got up and preached his
first Sunday after arriving there and preached on the evils of
tobacco. And he worked it over. This old
deacon came up to him, new pastor, and he didn't want to get too
far out of order. He said, Brother Pastor, I don't
mean to interfere in your business and don't mean to tell you how
you ought to preach or what, but did you happen to notice
as you drove into Lexington moving in here, those tall green plants
in the fields all over here? He said, yeah, what is that?
He said, that's Kentucky Burley, some of the finest tobacco in
the world. And a goodly portion of your salary is going to come
from folks who raise that stuff. As far as you, I'd be careful
how I talked about that. He said, well, I'll take that
into consideration. The next Sunday, he got up and preached
on the evils of alcohol and worked it over. He worked it over. And this same old deacon, he
came up to him real apologetic. He said, Brother Pastor, I don't
mean to interfere, but he said, Did you happen to notice? You
did come through Bardstown, coming down here, didn't you? He said,
yeah. Did you happen to notice big, tall, tall, gray buildings,
look kind of bleak? He said, yeah. He said, those
are aging houses. That's where they age, and the
finest sipping whiskey in the world, they call it Kentucky
bourbon. And a good portion of your salary
is going to come from fellows who work in that stuff. And he
said, well, thank you. So next Sunday? He preached on
the evils of gambling. And man, he worked that over.
That same deacon came up. He was real apologetic. And he
said, Brother Pastor, did you happen to notice around Lexington
here these large, beautiful barns and nice fields and have a horse
in this field, a horse in that one? He said, yeah, I saw those
pastures. Looked like they was empty to
me. He said, Pastor, those are paddocks. He said, those aren't just horses,
those are the finest race horses in the world. You might have
heard about the Kentucky Derby. Sometimes folks have been known
to bet a little on that. And a good portion of your salary
is going to be coming from fellows who work with those horses. I
advise you, I'd be careful. And that fellow said, I can't
preach here on alcohol, can't preach on tobacco, can't preach
on gambling. What can I preach on? Old Deacon
scratched his chin. He said, won't you preach on
them witch doctors down in Africa? They ain't one in 1,000 miles
of here. And that's the kind of preaching
we generally prefer, the kind that doesn't come within 1,000
miles of home. I have a word from God for your
heart and my heart. Take heed and beware. covetousness Take heed and beware of covetousness
Take heed and beware of covetousness For a man's life This is going
to shock the britches off of you Nobody believes it It's contrary
to everything you've been raised to understand about life. A man's
life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Turn with me to Luke chapter
12. We have before us in verses 13
through 21 the parable of the rich fool. It is a parable that sets before
us a striking example of man's readiness to mix wealth and godliness
as though the two were one. We are told that a certain hearer
of our Lord asked him to assist him about his temporal affairs. Let's look together at verses
13 through 21, Luke chapter 12. Here is a man who wanted what
God had not given him, but had given to his brother. Now that's
what covetousness is. You can phrase it any way you
want to. It's covetousness. He wanted what he didn't have.
He wanted what he didn't possess. He wanted that which God had
given to someone else. God calls it covetousness. Look
at verse 13. And one of the company said to
him, master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance
with me. This man probably had some vague
idea, at least, that the Lord Jesus claimed to be Messiah,
that he was coming to set up a kingdom in this world wherein
he would reign, as the prophets had said he would. He certainly
regarded our Savior as a rabbi, that is, as a respected teacher
of the law, a respected teacher of religion. And therefore, he
sought the master's help He wanted him to secure an earthly inheritance
for him. He tried to get the Son of God
to cater to his covetousness. Now, you talk about an indictment
against the religion of our age. That's what the religion of the
age is all about. It is trying to get the Son of
God to cater to our covetousness. This man tried to get the Lord
of glory to do for him that which he had his heart set upon. His
heart was consumed with greed, greed for this present perishing
world and that which he perceived to be its wealth. There was a
wiser man than he. Back in Psalm 73, a man after
God's own heart, this man David. who found covetousness in his
soul. He found covetousness in his
heart, and he was horrified by it. He said, my feet were almost
gone, my steps had well and I slipped. I was envious at the prosperity
of the wicked. I looked out there and saw that
ungodly man and his wealth. But David was as rich as he was.
You see, covetousness didn't always have to do with the amount
of money he got in the bank. He was envious at that man's
family. His children's eyes all bugged
out with fatness. He didn't have to worry about
whether or not his sons were coming home Father's Day. They were always
there. They all sat around the table. They were all with him
all the time. And David said, I was envious at the prosperity
of that man who did not know God. David was horrified. But this man thought it was just
natural. How many there are just like
him. Multitudes incessantly plan and scheme about the things of
time. And they do so, like this man
did, even under the preaching of the gospel. Our Lord was here
preaching the gospel. This fellow's thinking about
how he's going to get his brother's inheritance. He's dealing with the things
of eternity. This man's thinking about how he's going to get his
brother's money. This man's listening to the Son of God deal with things
concerning his soul, and he's thinking about things concerning
his wallet. Look at verse 14. Here is a man who tried to get
Jehovah's righteous servant involved in the affairs of state. He said
to him, Who made me a judge or a divider over you? Our Lord
could not have responded with a more negative statement than
this. This man comes to the Son of
God and says, Lord, you tell my brother, you tell him, and
you get involved in this, tell him to divide the inheritance
with me. And our Lord said, I am not here to be a judge or a divider
of such things. He speaks in the most negative
way possible. It would be a good thing if every
gospel preacher would imitate our master's conduct in this. Let us walk in his steps. The
less preachers have to do with secular things, the better. I can't state this enough. It
has become fairly common in our day folks to suggest a preacher
needs to go to work, he needs to do this, he needs to provide
for himself. Preachers in our day have decided that the gospel
is not worth entire commitment, entire consecration, entire devotion,
that they must, after all, look after the affairs of their lives
and divide their time and their attention. Our Lord said, who
made me a judge or a divider? A divider of such things. In
other words, he said, I'm not about to get involved in this. Gospel preacher has no business
involving himself in secular affairs at all. At all. Every time I state anything about
politics, I think, you idiot, you stated too much. Nobody who
hears my voice and knows my name ought to have any idea I even
have a thought about it. Gospel preachers have no business
being involved in such things. Such matters are just drivel
compared to our responsibilities, just drivel. When the preacher
of the gospel undertakes any work. Now listen to me. Listen
to me. When the preacher of the gospel
undertakes any work other than the work of the gospel, the master
work suffers always. The master's work is that which
suffers. Man engages in business. Let's suppose I go out tomorrow
and decide to get a job. I think I might still get one.
I'm required to go to work with you tomorrow morning, David.
I've got a job now. And since I've got a job, I decided
I'd extend my credit a little bit and have back to work. And
the man says, you've got to go here, go there. Do this, do that. I've got to get up and go in
with Mr. Peterson every morning. Come
home tired, wore out. Kindly read the scriptures a
little bit, jot down some thoughts, come up here and rattle off to
you something I haven't studied and prepared, and speak to you
with no conviction, with no stirring of soul, with no burden in my
heart. And your souls, the cause of
Christ, and the gospel of God's grace is that which is abused,
not my work. Not my work. When a preacher
is taken away from the work of the gospel, He has lowered everything
he professes to hold dear. God's servants must be men of
one thing, of one thing. And that one thing is the gospel
of Christ, nothing else. Let them confine themselves exclusively
so that we do that for which deacons were ordained to start
with, that we may give ourselves wholly to these things and not
depart from them. All right, thirdly, look at verse
15. Here is a man who was very covetous. He said unto him, the Lord Jesus
speak to you now, Take heed and beware of covetousness for a
man's life. Doesn't it seem ridiculous that
he had to say that? Well, I know a man's life doesn't
consist in his house and his cars and his boats and his toys. I know that. A man's life doesn't
consist in how much money he's got. Why everybody knows that?
Do they now? A man's life consisteth not in
the abundance of things which he possesseth. And they spoke
a parable unto them, saying, the ground of a certain rich
man brought forth plentifully. Got an acre of ground here, an
acre of ground there, an acre of ground there. Everywhere I
sowed my seed, it just yielded bumper crops. What am I going to do with all
this food? What am I going to do with all this treasure?" Brought
forth bountifully. And he thought within himself,
saying. The word here implies more than just a passing thought.
He's, man, I've got this thing. I'm responsible for it. I'm responsible
for it? Well, I've got all this corn.
I've got all this grain. I've got all this cattle. I've
got all these mouths to feed, all these things to take care
of. And it was on his mind, and he thought, and he planned, and
he schemed 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'll pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow
all my fruits and all my goods." Now, let's look at this man.
He looked upon all that he possessed as his. My fruits, my barns, my goods. He thought constantly upon his
treasure. Where a man's treasure is, there
will his heart be also. His treasure, his fruit, his
goods, his barns, his fields, they were the things that consumed
his thoughts and consumed his mind. He looked upon his wealth, thy fruit. Boy, I worked hard for this.
And I'm a smart fellow. And I figured out how to plant
the fields just right. I figured out what mixture of
fertilizer to use. I figured out which seeds would
produce the best. I figured out what would grow best on which
hillside and which valley. And I planned this thing out.
And look what my labor has gotten me. Never acknowledging that
it's God who gives men wealth or keeps it from them. It's God
who sends the sunshine and the rain. And the fruit of the field
is his, no matter how much you sweat over it. And all your sweating
can't raise one grain of corn if God doesn't give you the water
and the sunshine, not one grain. And he was a very generous fellow.
Oh, he was very generous. He took all his goods. and bestowed them in his barns. I'll pull down my barns. I need
bigger barns. And barns in these days, generally,
generally barns in this Eastern civilization in these days were
not like these big barns we have all around Kentucky hillsides.
No, no, no, no. These barns were really big holes
in the ground. I love the way it's described
here. I'll pull down my barns, I'll pull those things, why those
insignificant little holes that I've been using all my life,
I'll pull them down and I'll take all my goods and bestow
them in a big hole in the ground. Oh, how like us this man is. In response to this man's Request
that the Lord persuade his brother to divide his inheritance. Our
master says, take heed and beware of covetousness. Now let me speak to you, my brothers
and sisters. To you, my sons and daughters. To you, young and old. Nothing,
are you listening to me now? Josh, get this. Get it now. Nothing
is more dangerous to our souls than covetousness. Nothing more secreted away, but
nothing more dangerous. No evil in our hearts to which
we are more prone. No evil that is more dangerous.
It was covetousness which cast the angels down when they fell. Because they were not content
with their first estate, they coveted something better. It
was covetousness that drove Adam and Eve from the garden. Because
they were not satisfied with what God had given them, he gave
them everything. Everything, except one tree,
of which he said, here is a symbol of my authority and my dominion. And Adam said, I'll have that
too. And covetousness drove him from the garden and brought misery
to our race. It is covetousness ever since
the fall that is the constant cause of misery and unhappiness
in the world. War, strife, family feuds, division. Name me one that wasn't caused
in one way or another over covetousness. Name me one. Name me one. Strife between friends, strife
between brethren, little children growing up. I won't. And we still behave like two-year-old
toddlers. I won't. And if I can't get you
to give it to me, I'll shove you down and take it. I won't. I won't. Covetousness. And I'll get it no matter what
it costs. I won't. God give me grace to be content
with such things as I have. I wrote down here, covetousness
is an ardent desire for what we don't have. I was being nice,
Larry. It's desiring what we don't have.
It's wanting what God hasn't given us. It's covetousness. God, give me grace to be content. content with what I have. That
means if what I possess is taken away, no matter how it's taken
away, there's a good reason for it. That means if I have a little,
it would be bad for me to have much. That's what it means. That means if my circumstances
change radically tomorrow, I ought to be content. God did it. God did it. Oh, I would to God
I could say with honesty, I have learned in whatever state I am
therewith to be content. If I confidently trusted God's
wisdom, I could. If I confidently trusted His
goodness, I could. If I confidently trusted His
providence, I could. Bobby Estes, we ought always
to seek grace, to be content just the way things are as God's
ordered them. Content. Idolatry comes in many packages,
wears a lot of names. But none is more deceitful, none
is more dangerous, none is more destructive than covetousness.
Covetousness. is desiring things of the world. It is an undue affection and
attachment for the riches and pleasures and comforts of this
world. Oh, what men sacrifice to get
stuff. Got a house that's paid for,
family doing fine. But you know, if I take another
job, I'd go over there and I could buy that house. And everybody
know I got some money now. I got a name now. But everybody
going to look at that. I got a house. Look what my kids can
point to and say, that's where we live, up on that hill. Now
I got this house. Oh, I'm so thankful the Lord
gave me this house. Oh, the Lord been so good to
me. And now I'm going to have to
miss every service. Maybe once or twice a week I
can go. Maybe once or twice a month I can go. Maybe once or twice
a year I can go. But I got to work, pay for this house. God
gave it to me. Covetousness. Covetousness. What fools they are who love
and seek this world. The fashion of this world passeth
away. Get a good grip on it. Squeeze
it tight. Hold it fast. And the tighter
you hold it, The faster it slips away, it's like trying to hold
a handful of sand. Squeeze it tight and watch it
go away. God inscribed these words on
my heart, take heed and beware of covetousness. You see, nothing
is more likely to ruin our souls than covetousness, which is idolatry. Nothing will more effectually
keep a person from faith in Christ than covetousness, which is idolatry. Nothing is more likely to turn
the hearts of men away from Christ and the gospel of his grace than
covetousness, which is idolatry. The care of this world and the
deceitfulness of riches choke out the word. A preacher, how do we avoid this
thing that's so ingrained in us, so much a part of our nature? Set your affection on things
above. Not on things on this earth. Seek the grace of God. Honor
Him. using what he's put in your hands
for his glory, being generous in his cause, being generous
in his interest, hoarding nothing but seeking rather to use it
for Christ's sake. True happiness comes not from
wealth. Real peace you can never buy. The contentment that you long
for, is in Christ who sits on high. Did you get that? True happiness comes not from wealth. Real peace
you can never buy. The contentment that you long
for is in Christ who sits on high. Here is a man who speaks to his
soul, but oh, how sad it is to hear him speak. He speaks to
his immortal soul. To his soul. To his soul. And he said, soul,
thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease,
eat, drink, and be merry. Someone I read this afternoon,
I've forgotten who, said, if this man had only the sense of
a hog, what other thing could he have said? for many years. Look here. My
soul wrote now everything's all right. Look at verse 20. Here's a man that God Almighty
calls a fool. But God said unto him, thou fool. It's not the same word used in
Matthew 7 where our Lord tells us, call no man fool. Don't let
any man say to his brother, you fool. That word means senseless
and godless. This word simply means ignorant,
brainless, senseless, without a clue. A man with nothing at
all in his head. Senseless. You fool. You fool. You fool. This night thy soul
shall be required of thee. Now rejoice in your barge. Now rejoice in your wallet. Now
rejoice in your secured retirement. Now rejoice in all that you've
labored for. Who shall these things be which
thou hast provided? It is not wealth or power or
property or prosperity in any way that is evil. Abraham was
a wealthy, prosperous, powerful man. He was the friend of God. David was a wealthy, powerful,
prosperous man. He was a man after God's own
heart. Solomon was a man to whom God gave wisdom such as no other
man. Never was a man more wealthy, prosperous, and powerful. It
is not that which is evil, but the love of it. Setting your hearts on it, grabbing
it. Now here's a question for my
soul and a question for yours. Read verse 20. God said to him,
thou 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. Here's my question. I'll speak
to my soul. You speak to yours. Not as a
fool, but as wise. Are you rich toward God? Rich toward God. If you are, nothing else matters. And if you aren't, nothing else
matters. Are you rich toward God? Oh,
but you can't say things don't matter. I wish I could say it in such a
way that burn in your heart and echo in your soul 24 hours a
day from now to the last day that you draw your last breath
on this earth. Nothing matters but Christ. Nothing matters but eternity.
Nothing! Nothing! Get that lined out and
everything else is lined out. Oh, blessed are they who are
rich toward God. Therefore, our Lord says, take
no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink
or wherewithal shall we be clothed. Now, that doesn't mean don't
ever think about such things. That's impossible. The word is
give no anxious thought to it. Don't set these things in your
heart. Don't concern yourself about
where you're going to get shelter for your body. Do you reckon
your Heavenly Father is going to leave you out in the winter?
Don't concern yourself about whether or not you're going to
be able to eat tomorrow. You reckon your Heavenly Father is
not going to feed you? Don't concern yourself about any of
those things that are necessary for life. Don't even be concerned
about it. For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. That's what that fellow over
there lives for. That's what that fellow over there lives
for. That's what your mama and daddy lived all their lives for.
That's what your brothers and sisters lived for. Let them have
it. Let them have it. That's all
they've got. And read the 73rd Psalm, find
out it's just God fattening them up for the slaughter. But seek
ye first the kingdom of God. Seek constantly, Lindsay Campbell,
to bow to Jesus Christ your Lord and His righteousness. Seek to
be found in Him. trusting his blood and his righteousness. And all these things, your food
and your shelter and your clothing, God will take care of them. God
will take care of them. I'd be plumb upset with my daughter
to this day. I mean, she's married to a man
who's much more able to provide for her than I've ever been able
to. But I'd be plumb upset with her. I mean, she'd know I was
upset. I wouldn't have it. If she questioned
whether or not I'd give her anything I've got that she might need,
I'd be embarrassed. I'd consider it to be a reproach
to myself. I'd consider it to be an assault
on my very character for her to even imagine such a thing.
And yet we live as though our Heavenly Father will not provide
for us everything we need. Take heed and beware of covetousness. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. O God, keep me from loving this
world, any part of it. For you're dead and your life
is hid with Christ in God. Oh, he who is rich toward God,
he's rich indeed. Christ is our portion. He is
our treasure. He is our wealth. That man who is rich toward God
has treasure that's incorruptible. His bank is a bank that never
breaks. His inheritance will never fade
away. Man can't deprive him of it.
Death can't snatch it out of his hands. In fact, all things
are his already, life and death, things present and things to
come. All things, for he is Christ and Christ is God. And the best
of it's this. The best of it's this. What we now have is nothing compared to what we
shall have. Nothing compared to what we shall
have. Take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of things which he possesseth. Amen.