- 00:03
- Open your Bibles to Luke 12, 17, please. We're going to go back just a little bit.
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- We'll pick it up in the middle of his parable. And he thought within himself, saying, what shall
- 00:38
- I do? Because I have no room to bestow my fruits.
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- This man put a lot of emphasis on the word
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- I. He had a bad case, verge of perpendicular -itis.
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- What shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits.
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- And he said, this I will do. I will pull down my barns and build a grater.
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- And there will I bestow all of my fruits and goods.
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- And I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years.
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- Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. The way of the world.
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- In Haggai 1 .6, we have these words. You have sown much and bring in little.
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- You eat, but you have not enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drink.
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- You clothe ye, but there is none warm.
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- And he that earneth wages careth wages to put into a bag with holes.
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- But God said unto him, thou fool. God called him a fool.
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- This night thy soul will be required of thee. Then who shall those things be that you have provided?
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- There's three questions for which we will be responsible to God.
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- First, how much did you make? Second, how did you make it?
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- And third, how did you use it? Twenty -one, so is he that layeth up treasures for himself, and is not rich toward God.
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- This man had gathered all of his treasure on earth, but had stored none in heaven.
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- The same idea is expressed in this epitaph. Here lies John Racket in his wooden jacket.
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- He kept neither horses nor mules. He lived like a hawk, died like a dog, left all his money to fools.
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- Our Lord called this man in the parable a fool. But notice what kind of a man he was.
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- All outward appearances indicate that he was a good man. He was a law -abiding citizen.
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- He was a good neighbor. He was a fine family man. He was above suspicion.
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- He was living the good life in suburbia in the best residential area of the city.
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- He was not a wicked man or a member of the mafia. He was not in crooked politics.
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- He was not engaged in a shady business. He was not an alcoholic or a keeper of women on the side.
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- This man seemed to be all right. Yet our Lord called him a fool.
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- Now, why? Why did
- 05:09
- God call him a fool? Virg, we all know people like this, don't we?
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- They're good people, as the world judges good. But they're a fool.
- 05:41
- And 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 shall put on it.
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- David turned to Matthew 6 .34, will you please? Now, we should live by that.
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- The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.
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- Self -consuming care, the opposite of trust. This will, as the
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- Greeks say, tear you to pieces. You think about yourself only.
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- Since God gave us life and body, it must follow he will give us food for the life and clothes for the body.
- 06:56
- I'm reminded of a little poem. I had a little tea party this afternoon at three.
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- It was a very small, three guests in all, just I, myself, and me.
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- Myself ate all the sandwiches while I drank up the tea. It was also
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- I who ate the pie and passed the cake to me. This is the way people live.
- 07:33
- The parable of the rich fool is one of the most pungent paragraphs in the word of God.
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- Yes. I, myself, and me.
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- Well, the Lord said eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
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- That's what he said. That's the problem. That's what makes a man a fool, to think of himself only.
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- If you live as though this life is all there is, and you live just for self, and as though there is nothing beyond death, you're a fool.
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- 24. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them.
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- How much more are ye better than the fowls? Jesus did not keep the law by keeping the law.
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- Now, hear me. Jesus did not keep the law by keeping the law.
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- Russell, what's that mean? How is it that Jesus did not keep the law by keeping the law?
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- Well, someone help him out. It was...
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- Yes. I don't know who said that. It was by walking in perfect love with the
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- Father, and he kept the law. Now, shall these birds that neither work nor store get their living?
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- Then shall we who do both not have a living?
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- 25. And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?
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- I'm pretty much who I am. I'd like to be taller, but I'm not.
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- I'm glad I'm not shorter, and I am. If we have resigned our height and length of days to God, why should it be any harder to refer all things to him?
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- Why is that harder, David? Yes. Well, we have assigned our height and our length of days to God.
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- Why should it be any harder to refer all things to him? That's right.
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- You come ready -made, and you can't change it. Have you noticed the strong judgment that is pronounced upon the rich in the last days?
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- James 5 -1 describes it. Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
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- Riches have become a curse. Our great nation thought that the almighty dollar would solve the problem of the world, and we're in a bigger mess than ever.
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- We're arguing now about should we keep in God we trust on our silver dollar.
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- Well, I think we ought to take it off. It's hypocritical anyhow. We trust in the dollar, not
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- God. If you then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
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- Consider the lilies, how they grow. They toil not, they spin not, and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
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- That brings me to say that all of nature is a parable.
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- Think about it. If then God so clothes the grass which is today in the field and tomorrow cast in the oven, how much more will he clothe you,
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- O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what you shall eat, nor what you shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
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- Let your mind not be continually perplexed between hope and fear, and you just wander back and forth.
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- For all things do the nations of the world seek after, and your
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- Father knoweth that you have need of these things. Our Father made the need.
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- He will certainly make the supply. I need to stop here.
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- Start with 31, David. All right, is there a word from anyone?
