Turn back with me in your Bibles,
if you will, to the book of Philippians, the fourth chapter, Philippians
chapter four. Before we read, let us pray. Our Father, we look to you this
morning, we're grateful in your merciful providence that We have
this privilege of gathering in your name. We're thankful for
your word and we're thankful for the fellowship of the saints.
And we ask that we might have that fellowship of the Holy Spirit
this morning and this time together that we might all be blessed
and strengthened in our God. And Father, Thou knowest the
distractions and Thou knowest the various situations that we've
been dealing with in this last week and the problems, our Father,
that we must deal with and face in our lives. And we just ask
for grace continuing, our Father, toward us, abounding toward us,
in the person of your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you
for the deliverances that you've given and the great needs that
you have met in our lives, and we look to you and pray for the
victories that we've long sought for and we've desired. And we
just pray that you'll bless the Word today and use it, remembering
our Father, each one of us, in our trials and afflictions, and
may the Word meet our case this day. Remember, we pray, all of
our loved ones, those that are absent from us, and those that
are in need today, and those that are traveling, be merciful,
O God, unto them, and preserve them for Christ's sake. We pray
in His name. Amen. I want to read verse 11 and 12.
Verse 11 and verse 12. Not that I speak in respect of
want, For I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. Now what I would like to do this
morning is to examine this subject. This subject, the dual confession
of the believer, or what we might call here the believer's paradox,
the dual confession of the Apostle Paul, he tells us that he says,
I am instructed, in verse 12, both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need. The Apostle Paul was a
man who was full and at the same time he was empty. And this is
a paradox. But it is his confession. And
there were times when he felt full and was in reality full,
as he expresses it down here in the 18th verse. But I have
all and abound, I am full. And then he says that he has
received of Epaphroditus the things that were sent from this
church at Philippi, And he says, this that you have sent was an
odor, a sweet smell, a sacrifice, acceptable, well-pleasing unto
God. Now then, this morning, to begin
with, I want us to notice in verse 11, and we want to begin
there because I believe this is where the apostles began,
and I think this is so very important to lay the groundwork of verse
11 before we get into verse 12, where we'll find the main part
of our text here this morning. And then we'll share with you
some other passages of scripture that I believe bear a very definite
connection or have a very definite connection to this text. But in verse 11, he says, not
that I speak in respect of want. Now, the Apostle Paul was a man
who was greatly tried and often found himself in severe need
after the flesh. He was a man that worked with
his own hands and provided his own needs and the needs of those
that followed him on many occasions. He was a tent maker. But he said,
I don't speak in respect of won't here as he makes this statement. He says, because I've learned
in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I've learned to
be content whether I have or whether I have not. I've learned
to be content if I have money, if I don't have money, if I have
means, if I don't have means. If things are well or if they're
not well, I have learned in whatsoever state I am to be content. Now I know that many of us feel
that we might be able to be content in any other of the 49 states
other than the state of Montana. Now, Paul wasn't talking about
a state in the Union, naturally. He was not talking about that.
But you and I have difficulty with this business of contentment,
don't we? Now the reason we do is because
if we are just in the flesh, and as we all are in a body of
flesh, the Bible says that man is never satisfied, the eyes
of man are never satisfied, so we're born with discontentment
in us. Now the scripture says that we
ought not let our conversation be with covetousness. That word conversation there
means our behavior. Let not your behavior be filled
with covetousness. Not only your behavior, but also
your words that you speak. But be content with such things
as you have, for He has said, I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. And we read also in Timothy where
it says that godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought
nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can take
nothing out of it. Now, contentment is a rare jewel. Jeremiah Berthes has a book called
Contentment, a Rare Jewel. And it is indeed a rare thing
to find anybody in this world that has a measure of contentment. that just simply can rest and
are satisfied with where they are, what they have, and their
situations and circumstances that are going on around them.
They find some contentment. Now, the Apostle Paul then, he
said, I've learned this. I've learned contentment. Now,
I was reading one time about a man who was a very wealthy
man, and he had several houses, I guess maybe a dozen different
homes scattered around different places. And about every six months,
he would tear up his family and move from one house to the other.
He kept doing that all the time, disrupting his family and placing
on them severe hardship by just moving them all the time. And
so a friend of his asked him, said, why are you doing this?
And he said, well, I'm trying to find contentment. And his
friend, being very wise, said, well, the next time you move,
move your family, but don't move yourself. Because the problem
is in your heart. That's where the problem is.
Now, beloved, you can never bring circumstances to your heart.
You must face this, and you must face it right now. If you're
ever going to be content, you cannot bring your circumstances
to your heart. You can't do that. You will never
have what your heart craves and desires. And if you think that
eventually, sometime or other, you're going to get everything
you want and you're going to be content, you're just mildly
mistaken. You're mistaken. It isn't going
to work. What you must do is bring your heart to your circumstances. You must bring your heart to
your circumstances and accept your circumstances as they are
and therefore you'll have some contentment in your soul. You
say, well, I don't want to do that. Well, that's natural that
a person does not want to do that. That is natural. That's
the way we are in the flesh. We want to rebel against our
circumstances and we want to try to get more to satisfy our
own covetous and greedy heart. But that's idolatry is what that
is. And if we're going to be content
In this world, we must bring our heart down to our circumstances
and submit ourselves thereto and then we'll have a basis for
contentment. And that's the only way you learn
is by daily practicing bringing your heart to your circumstances.
And I'm sure that if you'll do that and say, well, I'll just
be content with this. I'd like to have another one,
but I'll just be content with the one I have. I would like
for things to be different, but I will accept them just like
they are. And after a while, you will find
growingly a contentment in your heart for such state as you find
yourself in. And then as we come here, to
what Paul says in verse 12, we have this double confession.
And you listen to this. We take note here that he says,
I know how. He says, I know both how to be
abased and I know how to abound. I know how to function on every
level. And he says, everywhere and in
all things, everywhere and in all things, I am instructed both
to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer
need." Now, you've heard the expression, I'm sure, where the
rubber meets the road. You've heard that expression.
Well, the rubber hits the road in where are these differing,
these contrasting confessions are to be made by us. When? To whom am I to say I have
everything and I don't need anything? To whom am I to say that? And
to whom am I to say I don't have anything and I need everything? Now Paul, you see, says that
in every place and in all things I've been instructed." He had
learned that there was a place to say, I'm full, and there's
a place to say, I'm empty. And now, as we said before, a
child of God is both full and he is empty. Now, not just in
physical things, but it also, we're speaking primarily of spiritual
things. A child of God is full spiritually,
and at the same time, he feels himself to be very empty. Now, look by way of illustration
at what I'm saying to the book of Luke chapter 18, if you will. Turn to Luke chapter 18. When
are we to say that I'm full, have need of nothing, and when
am I to say I have everything I don't have anything and I need
everything now here in Luke chapter 18, and this is a very familiar
portion of scripture and Here we have described before us the
Pharisee and the publican or the tax collector in the temple
and I want us to begin here Let's look at verse 10 It says, two
men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and
the other a publican. And the Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men
are. extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican, I fast
twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the
publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much his
eyes into heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful
to me, a sinner. And I tell you, this man went
down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone
that exalted himself shall be abased, and he that humbled himself
shall be exalted." Now, both of these men are supposedly talking
to God. That's what verse 10 tells us
here. Two men went up into the temple
to pray. Both of these men are talking
to God. Now, the Pharisee, in effect, confesses that he is
full and he doesn't need anything. That's what verses 11 and 12
tells us. He said, I've got everything
I need. I don't need anything. I am very well equipped and I
don't need anything. Now the publican says, as it
were, that he is empty. and that he needs everything.
He needs that somebody would supply everything for him. And
how desperately true this is in a spiritual sense. And the
Lord Jesus Christ tells us in verse 14 that the man who confessed
that he was empty and needed everything is the one who went
down to his house Justified he was just as if he had never sinned
when he left that temple and went down to his house and the
reason was is because that he confessed that he needed everything
and as the Pharisee prayed he confessed that he didn't need
anything because he was quite adequate in himself So we learned
from this text and it's a very simple thing to deduct that one
man said the right thing at the right time and the other said
the wrong thing. Now both of these men were speaking
to God. And so we come before God, we
are ever to confess ourselves as empty, we're to confess ourselves
as needy, as desperately needy, as poor and needy, if you please,
in need of all things that pertain to life and godliness. Anytime
you come before God, you come to God with an empty cup. You
come before God with your bucket empty. You come before God in
need of everything that God Almighty can give to a poor son of Adam
seeking mercy from God in this world. Now, when we speak to
men concerning God, or when we talk to men concerning God's
dealing with us, even in His providence, we must carefully
guard against telling them that we need something. We must carefully,
we must be very careful lest we leave the wrong opinion that
we need them to help God out in regard to us. We must be very
jealous of the God that we trust, of the God that we believe in,
the God that we depend upon. You see, beloved, God's people
are watched over God's people are a kept people. God's people
are provided for by a loving Father. He has done so in the
eternal covenant. He has made arrangements to accommodate
us in the eternal covenant. And we must be very, very jealous
and careful of our language, careful of our attitude, lest
we leave the impression with the people of this world that
we need the world's help. that we need the world's blessing,
that we need something from men. Now, beloved, listen. I'm saying
that when you come before God, you beg God, you're in need,
you're desperate, and you're poor. But whenever you stand
before men, the confession must always be, I am full. I am content,
I'm satisfied in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm content with the
providence of God. I'm content with God's way, God's
will, God's doing, and God's blessing upon my life. I'm content,
I'm satisfied. Now that must be our approach
before the world. Now this is very clearly brought
out in the book of Genesis chapter 14. And if you will there, turn
with me quickly and we'll just show you. I want to show you
about our father Abraham. Our father Abraham was a faithful
man and we're called the children of Abraham because he was a man
of faith and all God's children, they live by faith, they walk
by faith, and they obey God as he reveals himself to them. But
here in this 14th chapter of the book of Genesis, we find
where that lot Abraham's nephew has gotten himself into some
trouble. There's been an army of men that
have come down and invaded Sodom, and they've taken Lot and all
of his goods and his family, and they've just simply raided
Sodom and took all of the goods away. And so Abraham, he had
quite a lot of servants, and so we're told in verse 14, when
Abraham heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his
trained servants born in his own house, 318, and he pursued
them unto Dan. And we're told that he brought
back, in verse 16, all the goods and also brought again his brother
Lot and his goods, and the women also, and the people." Well,
the king of Sodom, he was of course very pleased and he wanted
to accommodate and to, if he could, bless Abraham. And then
in verse 18, it mentions Melchizedek, king of Salem. And he brought
forth bread and wine. He was the priest of the Most
High God. And he blessed Abraham. Blessed be Abraham of the Most
High God, he said, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed
be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into
thine hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
And the king of Sodom said unto Abraham, Give me the persons,
and you take the goods to thyself. And Abram, in verse 22, said
to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up mine hand unto the
Lord, the Most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth,
that I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that
I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldst
say, I have made Abram rich. Now listen to me, my friend.
Abraham said, I've swore to God, I will take anything from you.
Any of your good, you keep them. I don't need them. I have the
Lord. God is a possessor of heaven and earth. He can do anything
He wants to do. He can provide for me any way
He wants to provide for me. And the world can either curse
me or bless me. And if God has blessed me, the
world can't do anything about it. And if God Almighty puts
His hand upon me in affliction and triumph and brings me into
poverty, there isn't anybody that can deliver me. Nobody will
have a heart to deliver me out of it. It's in the Lord's hands
to do with me as He will. Now beloved, listen, we need
to understand this. We need to understand that God
is on the throne and that He's made arrangements to accommodate
our needs and to undertake for us, and the world cannot do anything
to bless or curse us. We must trust in the Lord. And
then also, I think this has to be considered, and that is our
position in the Lord Jesus Christ. God's people positionally are
full in Christ. Now, I can't preach on something
like this without discussing this with you. In John 1 and
16 it says, and of His fullness, have all we received and grace
for grace. What that means is that God's
people have received the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
say, is there fullness in Christ? Listen to the Word of God, Ephesians
1 and 23. It says, He is the fullness of
Him that filleth all in all. Christ is the fullness of Him
that filleth all in all. And the scripture said, For it
pleased the Father, in Colossians 1 and 19, that in Him should
all fullness dwell. In Jesus Christ all fullness
dwells, for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We're told in Colossians 2 and
verse 9. And it says, And you're complete
in Him, because all fullness dwells in Him, ye are complete
in Him. You are full too in the Lord
Jesus Christ, which is the head of all principality and power. And so God's people are full
positionally in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're provided
for, kept, and sustained in this world by a God who has made an
eternal covenant with their surety and their representative, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now look with me, if you will,
back to the 11th chapter of the book of Luke. Luke chapter 11.
And our Lord here, in this 11th chapter of Luke, is instructing
He's instructing us regarding prayer in this chapter, and this
was the matter in hand in Luke 18, you remember. One succeeded,
the publicans succeeded, and the Pharisee did not succeed. And here, the Lord deals with
this matter here of prayer again. This is the parable of the unfortunate
friend. And let me try to apply this
parable, if I can, to the subject of the paradoxical confession
of the believer. In verse 5, let us read here
this verse. And he said unto them, Which
of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight,
and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves? Now, as we look
at this scripture here, the parable draws, I think, a picture of
ourselves. Now, this first friend here in
verse 5, And I think we can do this without being too fanciful
in our minds, but I believe this, what I'm telling you here is
true, and I'd like for you to listen to what I'm saying. This
first friend here, I think, is God the Father. Which of you
shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight? God
the Father is this friend that we shall go to at midnight. He is that one that we go to. Now, in the matter of prayer,
we see this man, he says in verse 6, he come to this friend and
he said, Friend, you lend me three loaves. Lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine in his journey
has come to me and I have nothing to set before him. Now, when
you and I come before God the Father, here's the lesson. And
I'm trying to enforce what I said earlier. When we come before
God, we come like the publican, and we come, in this prayer before
God, we come with an empty cupboard always. An empty cupboard. We come with a bare cupboard.
We come with nothing at all. when we come before God. We never
come before God with the attitude, well, Lord, you bless me if you
want to. If you don't want to, I don't
need it anyway. Whatever you want to do, do it.
I'll get by one way or the other. No, the people of God Listen
to me. In the characters here of this
parable, I want you to notice this application. Here, the believer
always finds himself, and it seems to me to be true, of all
the poor, afflicted, tried people of God living in this world,
that they always find themselves at a desperate hour, at midnight
if you please, in need. Do you, are you able to identify
with that? At a desperate hour, we find
ourselves in need. It's midnight! And here we are
to go to this friend. Have you ever cried to God at
midnight? Have you ever cried to God in
the middle of the night? Lord, I'm poor and needy. Lord,
In desperate circumstances, I need that you would intervene for
me. All our resources have dried up and we have nowhere else to
turn but unto Almighty God. We come to you, O Father. Lend
us three loaves. Lend us three loaves. We're desperate. Now, this is when we do our real
praying. And that is whenever avenue of
hope and help disappears and only God remains. I don't know
whether you can identify with that or not, but that's when
we do our real prayer. Whenever we come to the end of
our tether, the end of the rope, and we don't have anywhere to
go except unto the living God, and we cry to Him. Then this
friend here in verse 6, now you get this. He says, For a friend
of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to
set before him. Now, you listen carefully to
what I say here. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
coming to us in the circumstances and the people who cross our
paths in various ways, in different times and degrees of needs, and
presents themselves to us. So the Lord Jesus presents himself
to us in many faces, and many characters, in many places, and
at different times. Christ is presenting himself
to us in the faces and in the lives of the people that cross
our path. Now look at something here. And this man said, this friend
of mine has come. The Lord has sent somebody to
us and this individual is in need. They have a desperate need,
a spiritual need. They may have a material need,
a physical need, I don't know. But anyway, they have a desperate
need and they have come to us. And this is the Lord Jesus Christ
as He appears before us and the man says, I have nothing to set
before Him. I have nothing. Here He is. And
listen, we often feel this. I do especially. Because as I
stand before you and look you in the face here, week after
week, this is a place where God's people are to be fed. And I'm
to set the table, and God help me, I have nothing, I have nothing
to set before you. I have nothing with which to
feed you. I have nothing. A friend has come, and the door
has opened, and the friend has come in, and the friend is expecting
something. God has sent them here, and he
sent them here to sit down and to receive something. And I have
nothing to set before them. I have nothing to give. Oh, listen,
you say, Preacher, you preached last week. I mean, well, that
doesn't mean I'll preach this week. You say you've done alright
in different times, but that doesn't mean that I'll have anything
now. God must lend me three loaves, or I won't have anything to set
before you. I'll not be able to meet your
need. And oh, how we should cry to God. every day of our lives
as we go out into the world, as we go into the workplace,
as we go out into the street, as we go into various places,
and people, they come before us, we talk to them, we visit
with them, and oh, it should be the cry of my heart, lend
me three loaves! Give me something! I have nothing
to sit before these people! Now, beloved, this is our attitude
in prayer. Always, I'm empty. I don't have
anything. I desperately need something
to set before these people, these friends that have come unto me. Now, we say that today. I said
it yesterday. And I have to say it again tomorrow. I have nothing to set before
you. Lord, lend me three loaves. Now then, notice this is not
a one-time confession that I make or that you make. It must be
persisted in. It must be our continual plea
and prayer, Oh God, I'm empty. Oh God, I'm empty. Now, I notice
this because this prayer here and the success of it is not
based upon relationship. It's not based upon friendship. The success of this prayer here
is based on in asking, Lord, I am desperately poor. I am as
poor as I can be. There isn't anything I have nothing
to draw from. All the resources is gone if
I ever had any. I'm in desperate need. I cannot,
I cannot provide for my friends. I cannot provide for those that
you've sent before me. I'm in desperate need. And because
of the shamelessness in asking, this prayer was successful. And
that's the reason. He said, not because he's friend.
I won't get up and give it to him because he's my friend. The
only reason why I get up and give it to him is because he
worries me. He will not leave me alone. He
demands that I lend him three loaves. This man is desperately
in need to have something to give and to share with others. And he's empty. He's poor, he's
needy, and I've got to have it and only God can give it to me.
The Lord said, I'll give it to him. I'll give it to him because
of his shamelessness in asking. Now, how many of us know anything
about this? How many of us know anything
about this confession? I have nothing to set before
you. I have nothing. How many of us
know anything about this importunity? This shamelessness. Lord, I wouldn't
beg any man for anything. But Lord, I'll beg you. And I'll
stay here until you give it. You're a God that's able to give
it. And if I stay here until my last breath is drawn, I'll
beg you, I'll beg you, I am shameless when it comes to begging Almighty
God. I'll beg him for it. I will. And that's exactly the kind of
prayer that succeeds, beloved. That's the basis on which God
is moved to do things for his people. They will not let him
go. They must have what they need. And they'll continue to cry for
it. And God said, I'll give it to
him. This man, he's going to keep on. He's not going to let
this thing go. He's a poor preacher. He don't
have any education and he doesn't have anything to say. And if
he gets up, I'll leave him to himself. He falls flat on his
face. He has no confidence in his own
ability and he just keeps asking me for three loaves and I'll
give them to him. I'll give them to him because
he just keeps on begging for them. Now, beloved, that's what
it's all about. We're empty before God. We're
empty. And that's where the confession
has got to be made. If you're going to get anything
from God, you must come empty. And if you come full, He'll send
you away empty. He'll send you away. It's only
as you come as you feel your desperate need. Now there's another
side to this coin. And that is thinking, and I gotta
deal with this too, thinking that we have something when we
don't have. Just turn over, if you will,
to one more chapter here in the book of Luke. One more chapter
in the book of Luke here. And we read here in this chapter,
I think we can find ourself maybe here in the mirror of this text.
Luke 12 here in verse 16. Just look at this. And he spake
a parable unto them, saying the ground of a certain rich man
brought forth plentifully. Now here's the parable. Excuse
me, this man described here is called the rich fool. It's the
parable of the rich fool. Now verse 12, it says that, or
not verse 12 here, I wrote the wrong, Here in verse 16 it is, it says,
the ground of this certain rich man he brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself,
saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room to bestow
my fruits. Now you don't have to be a farmer
to enter into this description here, this portion of the Word
of God. Any profession will do, doctor, lawyer, chief cook, bottle
washer, Indian chief, whatever here. This man made some mistakes
and I want to point them out to you. This man had the idea
that he had something when he didn't have anything and he lived
like he had something and he made four mistakes. And I want
to point them out to you because this is so important that we
see this in our connection. Number one here, and we're all
in danger of making these same mistakes. Now this man, first
of all, he made the mistake of, he mistook his bank book for
his Bible. He was mistaken in that that
he looked at his bank book and said, everything is good with
me. Just listen to what he said.
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'll pull down my barns and build
greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods, and
I'll say to my soul, so thou hast much goods laid up for many
years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. So this
man, he had determined that temporal blessings had to do with the
welfare and the condition of his soul. Supposing, as 1 Timothy
6 and 5 says, that gain is godliness. He supposed that if he was wealthy
and rich, that meant that everything was well between him and God. He says, I'm in pretty good shape.
We measure spiritual things, you see, by temporal things.
That's the day in which we're living. And the religious world,
they do this all the time. They measure God's blessing upon
them by the six B's. And here are the six B's, and
is this not true? Now listen to me. Men measure
God's blessing upon them by what they have. And the six B's are
number one, buildings, number two, bodies, number three, baptisms,
number four, budgets, number five, buses, and number six,
busyness. You know, if you don't have something
going on every night, you're not doing anything in religion.
You've got to be busy. This people around here have
been blessed and been delivered from a whole lot in that that
they have learned some truth of God. And these six things,
they don't bother us too much. There's some things that do interest
us and concern us, but these six B's are not what's driving
us. We don't have much of any of
these, but we're getting along by the grace of God and feel
that God's blessing is upon us. But when a man looks at his bank
book and says, listen, I'm as good as anybody. And that old
poor fellow over there, he doesn't have nothing. He doesn't have
anything. He's so poor he can't buy a pound
of hamburger. He's so poor he can't do this.
He can't do that. He can't even pay attention.
This man's in awful shape, and I'm better than he is. I've got
to be better than he is. Because if he was a godly man,
and if he had God's blessing on him, he wouldn't be poor.
There is no truth in that. Supposing that gain is godliness
from such Paul said withdraw yourself You get away from a
man that thinks that way that man is mistaken his bank book
for his Bible That's what he's done, and that's a horrible mistake
Now the second thing and the second mistake that he made he
mistook his soul for his body, and they're not the same They're
not the same he said He said, I'm going to pull down my barns
and we'll be a grater. And he said, I'll say to my soul,
thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease,
eat, drink, and be merry. That's what he said to his soul.
He mistook his soul for his body. And listen, you can be in good
health physically, but have the deadly cancer of sin in you. And let me say this, you may
be sick outwardly, The sickest last was at the rich man's gate,
but healthy inwardly. And what a man must do is see
to it that he's healthy inwardly, that his soul is healthy. And
this man made the mistake of saying, well, this, you know,
my soul and body. He said, I've got all these goods
laid up for many years. He said that to his soul. And
that's wrong. Now the third mistake he made
was this, in verses 19 and 20 again, he was confused about
time and eternity. He said, I'll say to my soul,
thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease,
eat, drink, and be merry. Now he was about ready to leave
time and go into timeless eternity. He said, I'm ready to leave this
world. But he said, I have much laid up for many years. Everything's
all right with me. I've got a whole lot laid up. I've got provisions made. I mean,
there's some security down the road for me. And that's what
his attention was giving. You see, this man thought he
had something when he didn't have anything. Because God said,
he said, thou fool, this night, in verse 20, thy soul shall be
required of thee. I'm going to call you out of
this world tonight. And you said, well, there's my
future right there. There's my eternity in them barns. Much goods laid up for many years. That's my eternity. That's all
I've got. That's what I've got. God said,
I'm going to take you out of here. Now the fourth mistake,
and I think this is the greatest mistake of all, We find in the
language here, verse 18, and he said, this will I do. This I will do. This is the language of a God. Now, beloved, we can be confused
about a lot of things, but God help us not to be confused about
this. This man, he mistook himself
for God. He said, this will I do. He didn't say anything about
if God wills, I'll do it. If the Lord will allow it, I'll
do it. If God will suffer me to do it,
I will do it. No, no, no, no, no such things. This will I do. I'll build, I'll
tear down my old barn. I'll build me greater barns.
I'll say to my soul, you're just, everything's just all right with
you. See this man thought he had to he mistook himself from
God. I will this will I do now I want you to turn with me. We'll
hurry on the conclusion here to the book of Revelation Turn
to the book of Revelation. It's chapter 3 and I want you
to look at verse 17 and 18 and this is the message of our Lord
to the church of the a lot of sins and It's written to us I
believe and I want you to see this Christ is issuing here a
criticism for their confession and Listen to what they're saying
because thou sayest in verse 17. I am rich and increased with
goods and have need of nothing and He says and you know not
that you're wretched and that you're miserable, and that you're
poor, and that you're blind, and that you're naked. Now, as
we said, our Lord here is issuing this criticism. Now, not many
people are bold enough, brassy enough, and not many people have
the audacity to confess before God, I am rich and increased
with goods, and I have need of nothing. Now there's not too
many people you're gonna find that's gonna go before God like
that, like that Pharisee did. But listen to me, listen to me,
but there are many and subtle ways by which we confess what
our Lord here accuses this congregation of. Many and subtle ways. You know, we can just kinda act
like that we just simply can get by. That we're on top. That we just simply, you know,
we just don't need nobody. We don't need nobody. And not
only we don't need nobody, but we just simply, we can just fare
quite well and get along quite well ourselves. Now, like I say,
not too many people are brassy enough to come before God and
say, I'm rich, increased with goods, and I have need of nothing.
But this this part of us that just conveys that. Now beloved,
this is what our Lord is criticizing here. Now we believers confess,
we confess really both of these things. We are rich in Christ.
and we have need of nothing in Him. But in and of ourself we
are wretched, miserable, poor, and blind, and naked. Is that
not true? Okay, but we must with great
caution learn, as we said earlier, where and to whom these things
are to be confessed. To a waiting, watching world,
we say that Jesus Christ is all, I need nothing. But before a
precious Redeemer were ever to confess, and this I want to establish
and drive home, to be wretched, miserable, poor, and blind. Now
the cure for this confession, what I would say the wrong confession,
is found in verse 18 in Revelation 3 here. Listen to it. He says,
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. that thou
mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be a clothe,
and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thy
eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. This is my counsel
to you, the Lord Jesus said. Now this buying here that he's
talking about is without money and without price, Isaiah chapter
51 and verse one, and it's without wealth or work. This buying,
it's by faith, it's by coming to Christ. You're not buying
anything with, as we said, with money, price, wealth, or work.
Now he says, I counsel you to buy gold. Now this gold here
represents the riches of God's grace, the grace of God in Christ,
and all those rich blessings that come to our souls through
the favor of God Almighty. And the white ring, what can
this be but that blessed wedding garment, the garment of salvation,
that garment that clothes our naked souls before God, that
garment that dresses us up, that garment in which we shall be
presented before God in that day. Now this wedding garment
is that righteousness of Christ that's provided by God for us
in the gospel. And then he said, anoint thine
eyes with eyesalve that we might see, that you might see. Now this eyesalve here I believe
it is the truth of God applied by the Holy Spirit to our hearts
which enables us to approach and come before God as the publican
did and not as the Pharisee did. Because the Pharisee was blind. He was blind as a bat. All he
could see was what he was about and all his busyness and his
activity and he was blind as to what he was by nature. And
if you get this eye salve on you, the Word of God applied
by the power of the Holy Spirit, it'll strip you and bring you
to where your confession will always be before God. I am wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, and naked. apart from the blessed Lord Jesus
Christ in and through the gospel of His grace. I am in this state,
this is my state, unless God undertakes and puts me in His
Son and blesses me with these blessings, I am indeed in an
awful and miserable state. And I hope that you will be able
to apply this to your heart. Now listen to me, the double
confession of the believer, empty but at the same time he is full.
He is full of sin, yet righteous before God in Christ. He is weak,
yet in Christ he can do all things. through Christ, which strengthens
him. He is a saint, and he's a sinner at the same time. He
is the son of Adam, and he's also a son of God at the same
time. He knows poverty, yet he confesses
riches in Christ. Listen, he's dead, yet he is
alive. He is wounded, but he's healed
also in the Lord Jesus. He's fallen, but he's been raised
in Christ. He is poor, yet he makes many
rich. It's a strange paradox, isn't
it? It really is. But beloved, this double confession
is a confession that we always got to make. And I hope this
morning that we've been able to tell you where you got to
make this confession. The right one before God and
the right one before men. May the Lord add his blessing.
I've had many distractions this week. It's a miracle of God that
I was able to come here this morning and preach to you at
all. But may the Lord add his blessing and give to you this
morning something from this that you can take with you and learn
in your life. May God bless it. Father, thank
you for your word.