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Lord and.
His heart was strong.
MMM, one drinking water.
For the dinner.
When I was born.
To work.
For a dream. For a dream.
Ask for help.
Our godfather, we are so thankful.
Here this afternoon that we have a blessed quote.
We can look forward to an internally with.
We're so thankful for the teaching and direction that we've been given.
So far this conference.
Now, we don't live our lives in the view of eternity. We've counted the call.
That's now going to come forward. We would continue to have this proper perspective contended before us.
This one also will continue to have our hearts gone out after Price unless it would live a life that is looking view of eternity and not giving to tomorrow.
We just ask these things in the name of Python, the Lord Chief of.
Reading and, uh, Luke chapter 12. Somebody will, uh, help you with where to start.
Brother Byrne, you suggested it. Where should we start?
Oh, you've got.
Well, we kind of discussed up to 1212, but we didn't complete it. Uh.
Luke chapter 12 and verse 12.
For the Holy Ghost, she'll teach you in the same hour what you ought to say.
One of the companies said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divides the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge, or a divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consists of not in the abundance of the things which he possessed. They spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
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 barn from build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, Thou hast much good laid up for many years. Take thy knees, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required to be.
Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. 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 should put on. So life is more than meat, the body is more than Raymond. Consider the Ravens, for they need their sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more are you better than the fowls? And which of you was taking thought can add to a stature of one cubit? If you then be not able to do that thing which is leased, why take ethos? For the rest, consider the lilies, how they grow. They toil not, they spend not. And yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
If then God so close the grass which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things did the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knoweth that you have need of these things. But rather seek ye the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.
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Fear not, little flock.
For it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
Cell that you have and give all provide yourself bags with wax not old. A treasure in the heavens that faileth not where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupted. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
So Bruce, maybe you could give us that outline again? The 1St 4 verses were uh, like hypocrisy.
That's the 1St 4 verses.
And 1St 3 verses the AMPI, the, uh, of the expectation there is that we should not try to be something that we are not. And so he's kind of, we need to be free of hypocrisy. The verses 4 to 12 is, is to be not afraid to speak the truth. We need to be free of the fear of man.
And this is the third covetousness is that.
Yes, that's right, Don FiOS if I was material impress, uh possession. So we need to be free of want, which is reduced covetousness.
The illustration is given of the man who has a barns and he choices down to make more, yet his life is cooperative in each of these plans and showing us how worthless it is to be playing laying up for ourselves on earth treasure when we should be laying up in heaven.
I'd like to ask you a question how you've gone into the, uh, discussion here before we start to speak about chapter 12 verse.
Virtual. Excuse me, I wonder if someone could explain what it means in verses 8:00 and 9:00.
When you talk about the danger of not confessing the Lord before man, we will be denied before God. What? What ways is He, What is He speaking out there?
We have all failed to profess Christ at times and feel bad about it afterwards. I should have brought up the Lord at that time. You know what I'm talking about.
But he says if you fail to confess him before men, you're gonna be denied before the angels have gone. And what does he mean there? Could someone help us with that before we go on with the chapter?
Should we make thought on it, Bruce would be that.
A true child of God doesn't deny the Lord from his heart, does he? Peter certainly denied the Lord in the strongest possible language, but his heart was right, and all it took was one look from the Lord to restore him, or begin the process, I should say, of restoration.
I well remember, uh, in the city of Oxford, England, uh, I happened to have been there a few times. And uh, there's a plaque there on the front St. commemorating three men who were burned at the stake back in 1553 for their faith in Christ. And one of them was a man by the name of Cranmer, who.
Uh, under pressure of persecution, recanted and gave up his faith in Christ and caved in to the then powerful Roman Catholic Church. And after some time he was totally restored in his soul and came forward and very clearly and definitely confessed his faith in Christ and was burned at the stake for it. And so.
I believe that this really refers ultimately to an unbeliever. Uh, but you and I, and I just say this, uh, because it's not the only place in the word of God where we get it.
Sometimes God puts a scripture in which primarily refers to an unbeliever, but which can have an application to you and me as believers. For example, we get one in Philippians chapter 3 where it talks about those whose God is their belly, who mind earthly things and so on, and it says whose end is destruction. Clearly an unbeliever.
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But can we mind earthly things?
We can can't be, Robert, you just spoke about that. Our God can be our belly too. And so I would suggest that for those who take heed to it, there is a warning here that.
I will lose a reward if I fail to confess Christ in this world. Uh, that is not in the same sense as a believer will receive from Christ who denies the Lord, uh, in both in his heart and externally. But, uh, I suggest that a believer can take the application of it in the sense that there will be a loss in the coming day. Does that, does that commend itself?
Yeah, indeed. Yeah, very good.
It's not what's characteristic of a real believer to deny, is it? And I think it's it's true that we could be caught up in a moment of pressure and give in like Peter, but it's not what's characteristic of a believer. We have it also in Second Timothy chapter 2.
Pretty clear. It says if we deny him, he also will deny us. So it's characteristic of a of a person who's an unbeliever.
Let me put there to exercise.
Edward Dennett says that's absolute.
Apostrophe.
In his book on First Timothy, page 31.
But it's put there for our exercise too.
It's good to remember if we read the beginning of that first, that you quoted Brother Bob, it says that if we suffer, we shall also reign with him. So there is a special place of honor given to one who will suffer with Christ and for Christ. So it's something that is, uh, we select, you might say, by grace and sovereignty of God. We choose to identify ourselves with him.
But he.
A little bit further on, it says in verse 13, if we believe not yet he abideth faithfully cannot deny himself. So if we really are believers.
He may have to deny us a reward at the end of the, uh, at the judgment seat of Christ. He's not gonna be able to reward us for denying him the opportunity to give us the reward. So when he speaks to the judgment seat of Christ, he speaks of loss because there will be loss at the judgment state of Christ, not loss of our eternal salvation that's securing Christ, but there will be loss of that which he can reward for. And I believe that's the principle we learn here and that the principle is that everything in our life has a consequence.
Whether we're it's an unbeliever, the the end result, of course, is the lake of fire to be completely denied by the Lord and taken at the great white throne and cast into the lake of fire. But for the believers, there's going to be a denial of that which he can reward for everything has a consequence in your life and mind. It may be a consequence for good. It may be a consequence for bad. And he's writing up the people today.
He's keeping a record, brethren, of those things that He can reward for. So it's like those in the end of Malachi, they spake off in one to another. There was a real testimony as they encouraged one another and spoke of the Lord. And what was the result? A book of remembrance was written before him for those that thought upon it, thought upon His name. And so there was faithfulness there. They honored His name, and He made a jotting of that in His book of remembrance. And that's what He's doing today.
So I really believe that's the overriding principle we learn here from this portion. And I say it again, and I think it's a serious thing for us to consider as believers that everything we do in our lives has a consequence for good or for. I'll just say this too, that well, we, a true believer will never deny the Lord from his heart or in his heart. He can do it out of fear. And I think that was part of the problem with Peter and even the other disciples.
Because they all forsook them and fled. Why? Well, no doubt they were afraid. They were afraid that as the Lord Jesus was taken, they were going to end up in the same, with the same consequences. And so often, like Kramer, who was mentioned, there was a fear. And I say that because before he takes this up, we took up at length in the last Reading meeting the subject of fear and not being afraid. But if you and I become afraid.
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Of the enemy, if we become afraid of those around us and what they might do to us, whether it's just a reproach or physical persecution, we're gonna deny him in certain situations. Brother Vernon and I were talking about this at the dinner table and we're saying, you know, it's, it's like the man who went off to, uh, the, uh, the army. And when he came back they said, well, what happened when they found out you were a believer? I said they never found out.
Well, the Lord couldn't reward him for a faithful testimony amongst his fellow fellow soldiers. He was a true believer, but out of fear of reproach from his fellow soldiers, he decided he wouldn't confess the name of Christ openly. So our brethren, may the Lord give us the courage that's needed. Again. What? What consequences are there in the Western world? We don't fear the headhunters. We don't fear to be taken out and shot at dawn.
By a tribunal or something like that. Uh, may the Lord give us the courage then to confess Him and to know that He values it so much that He confesses us before the Father.
Why does he bring in right after that? Why does he bring in this, uh, forgiveness of, uh, no forgiveness of the Spirit of God?
Why is that brought in?
He says, And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man shall be forgiven him, but unto him the blasted against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven that connection.
Is it not the rejection of the gospel of the grace of God? The Spirit of God brings Christ before the soul, brings Christ before the conscience of man, and presents Christ as the source of all blessing, as the Spirit of God that weighs upon the conscience and presents the only remedy for sin. And the sin against the Holy Ghost is really to reject Christ and reject the strivings of the Spirit in connection with Christ offered as the Savior of sinners, and to blasphemy against that holy Name, and to reject Him.
Is really to be damned for eternity?
Really what we have in the beginning of the book of Acts, the Jews were not condemned because they crucified the law. Now understand what I mean by that? It was certainly a condemnation of character of man, the ultimate condemnation of man and his character. But the testimony in the book of Acts, we have the testimony of the Holy Spirit. And if you look at the end of Act 7 where Stephen before he's modded, we find that they rejected.
Also nationally, the testimony of the Holy Spirit. So the sin against the Holy Ghost was really a national thing, really brought upon them by the leaders of in Israel, because they had, as you say, the testimony of the sun as he walked here in this world. They rejected that. They set it across. We have no king but Caesar. But then they sent a messenger after him saying we will not have this man to reign over us.
I don't believe that was fulfilled at the cross. The messenger after him was culminated in the stoning of Steven. That was the message after him saying we will not have this man to reign over us. Because it was really the leaders there in Act 7, the religious leaders that sealed the final condemnation, so to speak, of the nation of Israel. And that's why in the first seven chapters of Acts, the gospel only goes out to the Jews.
Because they hadn't sinned against the Holy Ghost yet. But when they stoned Stephen, a man full of a Holy Ghost, a man who spoke in the power of the Spirit, as it tells us there then, as it were the Lord who was standing on the threshold of heaven waiting to come back and bless the nation. I believe if they had received that testimony at that point, so to speak, the Lord sat down. And when Paul later writes to the Hebrew believers, he doesn't write of the Lord Jesus standing on the threshold of heaven.
He writes of the Lord Jesus seated at the right hand of God four times in the book of Hebrews as the resource for individuals who have now stepped outside of the guilty nation by receiving the gospel of the grace of God, by receiving the Lord Jesus as their Savior. And I think it's helpful to understand that because people struggle. I've had people struggle with sinning against the Holy Ghost. Maybe I've sinned against the Holy Ghost.
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Maybe I've blasphemed against the Holy Ghost and there's no chance for me to get saved. But really, the sin against the Holy Ghost was a national sin, I say, propagated by the leaders of Israel. And while God will take the nation up again on the grounds of pure sovereign grace when Zion is addressed in the coming day, yet at that time He had nothing more for that nation. They rejected the sun. They rejected the witness of the sun and the power of the Holy Spirit.
And God said the Lord sat down, uh, on the right hand of God, he will rise up and bless them in the coming day, but on a completely different ground. What do you think Bruce does that tremendous self? Very.
Is the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost in Luke 12 The same as blasphemy and Holy Ghost in Matthew 12?
I'm thinking of is Matthew 12 and verse 31 and.
And this is when they attributed the works of the Spirit of God manifested in their absolute perfection in the Son of God. And those works that the Lord Jesus did were attributed to Bales above. Matthew 123031 Wherefore I send you. All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh the word against the Son of man, and shall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaketh against.
The Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven him neither in this world.
Neither in the world to come.
As yet, back in verse 28, this the Lord Jesus and the power, the perfect demonstration of the power of the Spirit of God, cast out demons and they said that's the power of the devil, not the power of the Spirit of God. That seems to be a little bit of a different aspect than what our brother is saying, and maybe we could have some clarity on that.
Well, I would suggest, Bill, that it's, it's the same in one sense, but the emphasis is different in loop. Uh, in Matthew's Gospel, as we know, we get more of a dispensational view of things for the particular emphasis on Israel. And in the coming day, we know that the gospel of the Kingdom will be preached and there will be those, sad to say, uh, during the tribulation and in the world to come, which is the Millennium.
Who will attribute the work of the Spirit of God to the devil and who will blasphemy against him in that way? And the Lord says there was no forgiveness for that here in Luke, which as we said earlier, is really more of an introduction to Paul's ministry. It doesn't bring all that in. It doesn't mean that Israel was any less guilty for ascribing the miracles of the Lord to the power of Satan. But I believe it has a broader application here as we've been bringing out.
So if we go on here from verse 13, we find, as Brother Bruce was mentioning, a serious warning against being taken up with the things of this world and with covetousness.
And of course, it was ultimately not a good thing if in fact one brother was taking all of the inheritance by whatever means and not being ready to share with his brother. And, uh, that has been an ongoing difficulty, uh, probably since, uh, man has been on this earth, the world has a say. You never really know someone until you have to share an inheritance with them. And, uh.
Sad to say, there's a lot of truth in that, even among believers. But uh, it's striking here to see how the Lord Jesus.
In his time on earth was not here as a judge and arbiter of these problems, as the rightful king. Had he been accepted, that would have been a legitimate cause for him to take up. But no, he doesn't take it up. He's the rejected 1. And So what does he do? He points out to them. Just what is the general theme of this chapter, I believe.
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That everything down here is temporal and the Lord would seek to turn our eyes to that which is eternal. And, uh, So what a, what a telling story this is. I believe you exemplified it this morning, Bruce. You're a man. All these wonderful plans, which from the human side looks so good and he's cut off right in the middle of it. And someone else.
Gets to enjoy what he had taken the trouble to put together.
In verse 15, Lord gives a warning of covetousness, doesn't He? He says take heed and beware of covetousness.
So it's something that creeps up on us. It's not something that, umm, we fall into, so to speak, immediately, but it's, uh, something that grows and, uh, and the heart becomes engaged with things, uh, very subtly. And then it becomes overcome by, uh, a characteristic. And so there are people that are characteristic, uh, characterized by covetousness. And it could be cars, it could be homes, it could be electronics. It doesn't matter what it is, but it's what displaces.
The heart displaces Christ in the heart. And so as Apostle John says, uh, covetousness is idolatry. I think maybe that's the Apostle Paul that says that in Ephesians. And John says beware of idolatry or flee idolatry. So the Lord Jesus says beware of covetousness. It's something that just creeps up and we don't notice it and then we're overcome by it.
So the man that was complaining about his brother was as guilty as his brother that didn't want to share the inheritance.
It, uh, shows how those things creep into the heart. And it's so important that last part of verse 15. A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesses. Material things occupy such a major.
Part in our lives. And I must say, brethren, those of us who've had the privilege of going to visit our brethren in countries that are poor so often find that the measure of joy in the things of God is great. Greatly. It's a lot greater in those countries because they're not so occupied with material things. It's not what we have. That's not what life is about.
Its relationships first of all with our God and Savior Jesus Christ and then with all the others as well to have.
If you might have much, you might have little. How long is that gonna be for?
A few short years and you will leave it all behind. It's it's tragic. I I like to read it in the new translation because it gives a little different focus and it's quite something to meditate on. It says for it is not because a man is in abundance that his life.
Is in his possession.
So people think that because they have abundance of possessions that their life is in their possessions. And so he gives that, uh, parable of that man that had so much and right in the middle of it, he's called away and leaves it all behind. Oh, brethren, Lord, help us to be delivered. I honestly believe rather than that material things.
Don't have to hinder us in our spiritual lives, but I have to confess for myself and I do believe it is a major problem in the United States of America, North America, that it does have a negative effect on our spiritual lives.
Ken, I've told the story before, but I I was so tremendously impressed one time in the Dominican Republic.
Uh, dear old brother who had so little, he was very poor. His house consisted of sticks stuck in the ground for the walls with the appropriate place for the doors, the banana leaf roof. You had to sit, situate yourself carefully because the roof leaked when it rained and we went in there.
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In Columbia, Canada and I were invited for a meal and the only place to sit was.
At the table, there was no other place to sit in the house. And we sat down there and that dear old brother got his Bible out and opened it up at the head of the table. He didn't have any nice house to talk about, didn't have any nice car. But he opened that book and I can still remember the joy that radiated from that black face. I thought he was reading. I learned later that he didn't know how to read.
He was quoted from memory those things that were engraved on his heart. The enjoyment of it, it's just so impressive. I just put my head down and said, Lord, please help me not to be so deceived by material things that I miss out in the enjoyment that there is with this dear brother.
Lord help us, brother, and I would only add to what you say, Bob, if I could. And that is that, as you say, there is a solemn warning for those in abundance. But the way the J&D translation reads shows us that we don't, and I believe it's accurate.
We don't have to be in abundance to be taken up with material things.
Those of us that have been occasionally in poor countries have seen some more taken up with something very, very simple there than someone over here who lives in a house that's worth $500,000 and yet just, well, that's the house I live in. That's where it costs in this area to have a house and uses it for the Lord. So we can't hide behind poverty to say that covetousness.
Can't overtake us. I believe that's the thought. But I agree 100% with you, Bob, that the access to material things and the means of acquiring them certainly presents a greater temptation in Western countries than it does in many other parts of the world. And a believer is is told specifically to provide for his own house. And if he doesn't, he's worse than an infidel and is denied the faith and so.
We have to be occupied with material things that don't deny that. The point is, brethren, let's be simple in our living habits. Still remember Brother Lundin saying the characteristic of Pilgrim life is simplicity? Oh, that's a beautiful thing to think about. When you think about our Lord Jesus, what did he possess when he passed through this world? It's not wrong to have things.
But he was almost had almost nothing when it came to supplying the needs of others. He was always had the answer for them. But he didn't have a house. He didn't have even an animal to ride on to fulfill the scriptures. He had to borrow Adobe and the fall of a donkey. And I sometimes think, why was it that? Why was it that the Lord Jesus didn't have?
Anything down here except the clothes on his back. And I have come to think, brethren, that he came from the Father's house and as he passed through this world, there was nothing that corresponded to that house. And so he just basically wasn't really interested. It wasn't that it was prohibited. And oh brother, may the Lord help us to focus on what's beyond this. Life is way to breathe.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
Paul says that we ought to possess as though we possess not.
And so we have a light touch upon what we have. I think one of the older brothers that I never met used to say that Christianity, as Christians, we ought to be distributors, not accumulators. It's a question of what we set our heart on too, isn't it? Because it says in SEC First Timothy 6 say that will be rich. They fall into divers temptation. They Pierce themselves through with many sorrows. And so we see in Scripture a number of individuals.
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That God gave wealth to and position, you see Daniel, Nehemiah, different ones, but they didn't set their heart on it. God put them in that position. Joseph, God brought him from the dungeon and put him in a position of wealth and and so on and power. And we see those individuals, how they use that for God's glory and for the blessing of souls at the time. And brethren, we're thankful for those that God has given means to.
Much of the ministry that's for sale on the back, uh, shelves here, that was written in the 1800s. It was the result of God raising up wealthy men and women who provided resources and trust funds to print that material. And some of those trust funds are still providing material today. Good solid Christ exalting ministry for us. Lady Power Support opened her home so that they could have.
A Bible conferences there and prophetic truth was brought out and so on.
And so we don't want to despise the mercies that God has given us or given any other believer. But I say again, it's a question of the heart. What are we setting our heart on? Brother Robert was telling us about Moses and he esteemed the riches of Christ more than the treasures of Egypt. And any of us who've been to Egypt know what the treasures of Egypt were. Go through the Cairo Museum, tour some of the tombs of the kings and and the ancient sites. Egypt was not a base nation in those days. It was a glorious nation.
It was the center of the world, so to speak, in that way. But he saw something beyond the physical treasures of Egypt. He was being prepared as the the son of Pharaoh's daughter, not the son of Pharaoh. Pharaoh's the raw side of the world. Pharaoh's daughter's the nice side of the world. And so he gave all that up. Was he ever disappointed? Not for one moment. When you talk to Moses another day and say, Are you sorry you gave up?
Being the son of Pharaoh's daughter and all that you enjoyed there, they'll say, look, first of all, I stood on the land on the Mount of Transfiguration. I did get into the land eventually.
I stood on the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord Jesus and now look at what we're sharing together.
The glory we're sharing and the inheritance we have with Christ and as he, as he reigns over this world and so on. No, brethren, if we give up anything for Christ in this world, we're going to wonder why we didn't give up more. Another little story. I remember visiting a brother who had a large family in one of these poor countries we have the opportunity to go to. We sat down in this home and they struggled. They, they really struggled.
To keep their family together financially. We sat down in this home. I sat on a chair. I wondered if it was going to hold me. And the first thing he said is let's talk about Christ. Wasn't anything else to talk about. Couldn't talk about something new. He just got let's talk about Christ. We had a wonderful time. Your father-in-law, Robert. I remember one time we were visiting on one of those islands. There was a sister. She knew we were coming that morning to see her. You ever saw her home? It was a one room little clot board house with a thatched roof.
She was sweeping her front step and at the top of her lungs she was singing I have Christ what want I more when you when you experience something like that, it does something to your soul and like Bob says, it makes you realize the value that we place on material things brethren is far more than they're really worth and remember the things that we have in a material way God-given us. They are they're not our own. They're only loan to us. We're to be stewards, good stewards of what he has given to us what we have that is our own.
Are the spiritual blessings that are given to us that we're going to enjoy for eternity, But He's just committed to us for a little time. Those temporal things, may we use them for His glory.
In Leviticus in connection with the year of Jubilee.
Things All the land is mine.
And I remember as the year of Jubilee came, the price got pretty low. Remember Clarence Lundig's savings price?
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What are we doing?
The Lord never had the best in this world, did He?
He never had the best and umm, it's a privilege. I believe in this world as we live through it to not strive for the best. I just, uh, have an underlined in my vial, maybe you have it in yours, but uh, in this next little story about the rich man, he said.
And then I have underlined, But God said, he said. But God said.
And there's two different perspectives, Mann and his wealth and his prosperity, what he says and what he sees.
But God said, and so the end of it all is going to be his perspective. And so let's, uh, uh, what we have, may we hold it lightly and have a sense of having to give an account of how we held what we had.
And that is really the point here, isn't it? Humanly speaking, there was nothing wrong with having a good crop. In fact, in Israel that was a mark of God's favor. And if he were going to have a good crop and keep it, a larger barn might be a very reasonable decision to make. It was the leaving God out of all his calculations and all his plans that was a real problem. And so we know, and I have known and still do, rather than have been successful in business.
And who have used what they had for the Lord, who have managed their business wise, wisely. But at the same time, the Lord was always 1St. And we can look back even to those in past generations perhaps, who weren't gathered to the Lord's name. Some here may know the story, but we still use His products today. Products that bear the name of Colgate. Colgate.
You can still buy Colgate toothpaste.
William Colgate, who founded the Colgate Company, was an immigrant from England, came over with his family at the age of 12 in 1795, and 11 years later founded the Colgate Company. And it's a very interesting story that when he first had the need to hire an accountant, the accountant came to him and said, I've, I've got a question here. I don't understand one thing he said there's.
There's a column here called God's Column, and 110th of all the receipts right from day one have gone into this column. What's all that about? William Colgate said. That's God's part of the prophets, and you see two of them God has never cheated to.
There was a man of God. He was never, as far as I know, gathered to the Lord's name, but he was a believer and the Lord prospered his business, but he lived for the Lord. He believed in giving the Lord his part right off the top. And I just mentioned that as as a story of how God has worked in hearts of successful businessmen. And there's nothing wrong with that or what this man did. But he had no place for God in his thoughts, no heart for the Lord at all, no thought even of.
What lay beyond this light? And that was the serious harm in what he did. And that's another point. Good point, isn't it? Let us eat and eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. And that's really the spirit of the age, brethren, isn't it? Living for the moment. Everybody's just living for the moment. You pull a credit card out and you, you Max it out, but you're not thinking about the day of reckoning when there's going, you're going to have to start paying back on it. And interest is accumulating at an alarming rate.
You can buy things on time so easy today. The spirit of the ages, Live for the moment are sometimes told. I travel with uh, Air Canada is my main carrier and their frequent flyer program is called Aeroplan, and their slogan is Live for the Moment. Now I realize that's just a worldly slogan to get people to fly and to accumulate air miles and enjoy some of the perks of Air Canada and the Star Alliance.
Airline network. But it really does sum up the spirit of of the age, doesn't it? Living for the moment. Now, brethren, as believers, whether we realize it or not, we can get caught up in the spirit of the age, perhaps without even realizing it. And so it's a warning, isn't it? Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. He said he was just living for the moment, not thinking of God, as Bill said, not thinking of each of eternity.
00:50:13
Now, of course, for a believer, every one of us are going to end up in the Father's house eventually. You know what lives for the moment. He chose the well watered plain of Jordan. He chose that which was for present advantage and he lived as it were just for time and for the moment. Now we know we're going to see lot another day. But he had a lost life. He had no little if any fruit for God in in his life. He had a lot of sorrow in his family and he lived for the day.
When he saw it all burned up and destroyed.
Because, Brother, everything we accumulate down here, Peter tells us, is reserved under fire. It's going to pass away. It's not our own. It's not what we're going to have for eternity. And I was thinking when Brother Gordon was speaking too, about the day of the the year of Jubilee, again, what placed the value on the things that the children of Israel bought and sold was the nearness of the year of Jubilee. Because when the Jubilee came, as was said, they had to give it all back.
And so in other words, if a man bought a field in the 49th year, he obviously didn't pay much for it because he was only going to be in possession of it for one year, and then it had to be returned to its original owner. Rather than our jubilee is about to break, the Lord Jesus is about to come. And if you and I can keep that before our souls, it's going to place a proper perspective and a proper value on the things that we have down here. Again, we don't despise those mercies that he's given us, but we need to place a value on them in light of eternity.
The love of money.
Is the root of all evil. Heard that so many times. Man of the world will quote that misquote. It managed to reduce about 3-4 days ago. He said, you know that uh, money is the root of all evil. And I said, well that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says the love of money is the root of all you.
That sin is not a sin of Richmond, only many a poor man to be accused of having the love of money, wanting it, never getting it, but wanting it, lusting after and all the rest of it. This man asked a question here when he had excess for 17. He said what should I do? Why didn't he ask God what he should do with his excess?
Had he done that, the answer would have been given to him in verse 33.
So to have to give home and provide yourself safe, it's Black's not old, a treasure in the heavens that feel it's not where no thief approaches, neither moth crops. Put it into the service of the Lord.
Hmm.
So if I have much down here, is it right, Bruce, that I will be held more responsible whether I use it for the Lord or not? Indeed.
And that's where it hits US here in Western countries, I believe, because if we have more, I believe the Lord expects us to use it for him. And we get that principle, don't we? That it's in the 21St chapter of this same gospel that to whom, uh, men have committed much of them? Will they expect I'm not quoting it accurately. Expect the more. And it's the same principle with God, isn't it?
And so if God gives us more, he expects more. You get that same principle in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, the man with five talents was.
To, uh, and did render more than the man with two and the man with one. So I believe there's a solemn responsibility on us if God just does choose to give us more of what this world has. It's a far greater responsibility, isn't it?
I think we might say, too, that.
And a great danger in this country, I think, is that data, financial irresponsibility. Uh, there's so much grasping after these things, which is really covetousness, isn't it? And living beyond our needs. That's a great scourge in this country and a great scourge among Christians that is covetousness is that verse says in first Timothy, umm, the, the love of money is a root of all evil. In other words, the love of money can be a root.
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It's not just the love of money as the root of all evil, but it's a root of all evil.
Rich, poor and indifferent. And so financial irresponsibility is also a type of coverage, isn't it? Living beyond the means the Lord has given to us. And that's a real scourge in this country.
There was a man that was speaking one time in conference and he was talking about someone who was going to give him $1,000,000 and he said, well, if I had $1,000,000, I'd give $100,000 to the Lord and.
We looked at and said I'm not so sure.
Your question is, how are you faithful with it? Do we hold it with an open hand? Do we? Do we hold it as consumers? We're not the real owner. And so often we think in our minds, well, if the Lord gave me this, I would be faithful. And that's backwards.
The Lord is distracted when he guarded him into US.
$100,000 so lost 20 grand for it to get the place up.
It is longer, you give the time, it's not sometimes.
So that's a good point, because our hearts are tricky, aren't they? And sometimes, as Brother Matt has just said, we can say, well, if I had more, I could do more for the Lord. But if the Lord wanted us to do more, he'd give us more.
And so the man who had the pounds or the talent, it wasn't a question of how much they had, it was a question of how faithful they were with what God had entrusted to them. And so don't sit and say, well, if I had more, I could do more to propagate the Lord's work, or I could go here and there and encourage the brethren and that kind of thing. No, do what he has for you. Use the resources. I just want to echo what Matt said because I think it's very, it's very good. And it's another form of covetousness.
And it seems like a good motive, but I have heard of those who have really strove after more with the thought that they could do more for the Lord. When they got more, it only LED them astray. And they ended up not only not using it for the Lord in the way they first had thought they would, but they used it in a way that was actually dishonoring to to the Lord. So rather than these things are very practical and they're very serious if God puts a dollar in your hand.
Realize that, say it's from him, it's temporarily loaned to you and use that dollar. If he gives you a three room bungalow, use it. If he gives you A7 room mansion, use it. And everything we have, we ought to be exercised to use it for the Lord's glory, our car, our home, our dollar, whatever it is. And then, and I know it's not so much society, but even our time, our energy.
These are all things that are entrusted to us, not to covet after more of them, but to use what He has given us. Isn't that what we have in Luke 16? Just reading in verse 11? If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammoth, that is the things to do with this world, Mammon being a Aramaic word for riches, for treasure, who will commit you, your trust, the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man, for things that we have are not our own, who shall give you that which is your own? So we are to be faithful stewards in the material things that we have received.
The The unjust Jewish is commended here because he sacrificed the presence for the future.
Mm-hmm. MMM.
And in our chapter you notice it says the ground of a certain rich man.
He didn't bring it forth, the ground brought it forth, but he took it as being hit.
And when we give, it's not 10% like has been mentioned. It's all sometimes find in Latin America. They, uh, speak a lot about tithing and 10% belongs to God. But, uh.
01:00:03
Israelite could say that 10% for God, 90% for me, but if the New Testament we have to say we practice tithing, we're robbing God 90%. It's all his and so we're responsible to use it all As for him.
Yes, thank you, Bob. And I didn't mean in telling that story about William Colgate to imply that 10% was all we should give. Uh, so that's, that's a good comment.
You're bought with the price being not the servants of men.
We belong to another. I think it's your father-in-law used to say it had a little expression that the day that I got saved, I gave up my right to choose. I gave up my right to choose. I gave my rights to another to choose for me. So this man, he wanted the fruit. He had a real appreciation for the fruit of a cursed earth. But when it came to the fruit of eternal things, he had no interest. And so he says in verse 21, so is he that latest up treasure for himself.
I find it a help personally, not to seek after the best of what this world has. It's necessary perhaps to have a vehicle. It's necessary to have clothes. But I can share some, if you'll forgive me for a personal experience. Very recently in Brazil and I was wearing these shoes and I had uh, umm, I think, uh, very common clothes. But I was ashamed of myself as I sat in the home.
Of a brother we had almost nothing in his home.
And I was dressed better than anyone else in that home, but I didn't think I was really well dressed. The next visit, I went in my jeans and, uh, some tennis shoes and that sort of thing. I'm not suggesting that we should come into the meetings address that way. We need to show reverence for the Lord, but there are those that, uh, have an appreciation for the things of God and have nothing, have very little in this world's goods. And so many, we actually strive for those things. And it, you may say that this is, uh, umm.
Really not applicable to us. Well, it is, I know, I know of uh, more than one brother, a young brother graduated, got a very good job, very good position and he had a, he has a job that is very well paying. He bought himself a very modest house. He's married, has little family and I went to visit him for the first time that I went to visit him several years ago and I said, brother, why do you, I know you have a better income than this and uh.
You've chosen to live in the, uh, this kind of a home and so on. Why do you live this way? He says, I wanna do a work among these people, a work of God for God. And I would rather live like they live than to live in prosperity. And God is blessed is exercise. It's personal. It's not just for people in South America.
One more first in that connection, we won't turn to it, but in Agar's prophecy in the 30th chapter of Proverbs, in the eighth verse of that chapter, he says, give me neither poverty nor riches. In other words, he wanted just enough to get through and do what the Lord wanted him to do. Riches could perhaps make us complacent. Poverty could make us bitter. But he says, Lord, just give me, give me what I need. And that's a good prayer for us, isn't it, To get that the Lord would give us what we need to provide for our family.
You know, the Lord hasn't asked us to live like they live in some poorer countries. We couldn't with climate and and it, it wouldn't be a good testimony if I had a house in Smith Falls like some of the Adobe Facts Group houses I visited in March in the southern tip of Guyana. It wouldn't be a good PO. It wouldn't be a good testimony. I couldn't be a testimony to my neighbors. We, we need to operate within the society in which God has placed us. But he gives us, he will give us the resources then if we prayerfully seek his faith.
To live and be a testimony in where he placed us. I was reading just this week of Robert Chapman, that great man of God in the 1800s, it was referred to as the apostle of love. They said he didn't just preach love, he he lived it. But he chose, he was a man of wealth and physician, but he chose to live amongst the poor of London because he wanted to be able to minister to his poor brother and to preach the gospel to the poor.
He, he, he realized God had given him something to do and he lived in a way and in a meet with a means that was acceptable where he where he was at the time. So we need to be exercised, brethren. Where has God placed us? He hasn't placed us in poorer, poor country, hasn't placed us in the tropics where you can live in a bamboo house. No, he, he gives us common sense and wisdom in that regard too.
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But the question is, are we seeking to live beyond our means? Are we seeking something He hasn't given us? And I just bring us back to what we said earlier, brethren, it's a question of the heart. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also? Are our hearts attracted to Christ and what is ahead and the true riches, or our hearts occupied with this world and what we can accumulate for the moment?
Gonna make another comment here too before we leave this section, but in verse 19.
The end of the verse that says this is what the rich man says take sign E eat, drink and be merry. Not just things, is it but there's a danger and pleasure seeking isn't there in this country particularly takes on eat, eat, drink and be merry. It says in the in the first Timothy speaking about somebody who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. And I think that's a scourge too in this country, isn't it particularly the danger of pleasure speaking now I don't say we don't.
We are thankful for mercy's of course we are, but we need to keep things in perspective and I think sometimes there's a great danger that we are seeking pleasure and let's be honest with ourselves and and and the Lord that that we don't make pleasure in our object. At the beginning of the church period, the disciples that says being let go, they went on to their own company. I think there's a real safety of finding our social life and our.
Uh, desire for fellowship among those who are believers, those that are gathered to the Lord's name and, uh, to make the assembly a, a center and a focus of our lives being let go. They went under their own company. And So what the world does is go after pleasure. They don't have that kind of fellowship. They don't have the, uh, spiritual food for their souls. And so they have an emptiness and they're trying to fill that emptiness, that darkness.
But the believer can be found in fellowship with those of his own company.
But that doesn't mean we don't enjoy a little re relaxation once in a while and take our children out for a hike or maybe to the beach. And I know Eric didn't mean that there are those little times of relaxation that he gives us. But I often think of the disciples. When John the Baptist was beheaded, they came to tell the Lord about it and he drew them into a desert place to rest a while. And we sometimes stop there with the story.
But they really didn't get a rest because the next thing you know, 12 disciples, 12 men are distributing food to thousands of people. Didn't sound like much of a rest to me. Because what the Lord was teaching is that this is not the Sabbath. When the Lord was here, there were many reasons he gave for healing on the Sabbath day, he said. But the best one perhaps is my Father too, and I work. The Lord was not here for a rest. The only time you read of him sleeping is on a boreal pillow and a boral boat for a few moments.
And he still didn't get much of a rest. They woke him in the storm and said, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And so he was not here for a rest. And brethren, we're not here for ease. Yes, there are those times and our children need diversion and so on. And those times we can relax a little bit and and whatever. But brethren, there's plenty of work for us to do. The disciples, the Lord had more work for the disciples to do. And so in Mark's gospel particularly, they go from one busy service a non and forthwith and straightway from one busy activity.
So much it says they didn't even have time to eat. I'm not saying we should shouldn't take time to eat and take care of our the natural, but the principle is brethren, we're not here for ease. We're here to serve the Lord for his glory. This is the working time and the verse that they and I take great comfort in. Is there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God? It's not here, but there is a wonderful rest awaiting for those that seek to follow and serve the Lord now.
3746 in the appendix.
That I am undescribed to be who follows her and wait to see.
01:10:41
My God.
It must be made.
My spirit.
Life.
Enjoy our world.
My new hair.
I pray for the beginning.
Look like my name.
Good. Thanks.
Our God and Father, we thank You for the opportunity that has been honored this afternoon to sit under the sound of Thy word, and we feel rebuked. We feel that Thou has said something to us this afternoon with regard to the pursuit of life here in this world.
And we trust that each one of us will exercise about our pursuits.
Our focus may be centered upon Thy Son, the Lord Jesus.
01:15:00
And we use our energy and our time and our money are increased to further His cause in this world.
Help us to not be like this rich man. We've only had a focus upon things in this world and lost it all. Help us to use our time, our God, for the glory of Thy Son in some way. So we just thank you now for the fellowship that we've enjoyed together. We asked each for a blessing. And as we continue these meetings, we thank you for the privilege of being here. We give you our thanks to the neighbor, thy Son, and Lord Jesus.
Amen.