True riches are found not in material possessions but in one's relationship with God, as illustrated by Jesus' parable of the rich fool. This parable, found in Luke 12, depicts a wealthy man who, despite diligent work and God's provision, focuses solely on accumulating more earthly goods for his own comfort, neglecting his soul and his responsibility to others. Jesus warns against covetousness, emphasizing that a person's life is not defined by their possessions but by their spiritual wealth and their standing before God. The sermon concludes by urging listeners to prioritize eternal treasures over temporal ones, lest they, like the rich fool, find their souls unexpectedly required of them with nothing to show for their earthly accumulation.
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Then we turn to the twelfth chapter of Luke for the scripture reading and read the first twenty-one verses, the twelfth chapter of Luke. In the meantime, when they were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, in so much that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light, and that which ye have spoken in the ear and closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear. Fear him which after he is killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him. Are not five sparrows so old for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God. But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Also I say unto you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God. that he that denies me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.
And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man shall be forgiven him. But unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. And when they bring you into the synagogues and under magistrates and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing you shall answer, or what ye shall say. For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say. And one of the companies said unto him, Master, Speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul thou has much goods laid up for many years. Take thy knees, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said in him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself.
and is not rich toward God. I suppose if I, as I began to read this passage, you were wondering if I was going to speak on a parable at all, for it doesn't seem like it at the first of the chapter. And I read the first part for that very purpose. As you followed the reading in those first verses before we got to the parable of the rich fool, you noticed, I'm sure, that Jesus was given very serious teaching. He was speaking against the Pharisees and their false doctrine. He was talking about the care of God. He spoke of the terrible sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
But right in the middle of all of that profound teaching, a certain man speaks up and makes the strange request, Lord, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. This man has missed the whole point. He isn't listening. He's thinking about getting his fair share of an inheritance. Perhaps his father had died and he is the younger brother and he's just afraid that the settlement will not be fair. Speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. Before we come to the main point of the parable of the rich fool, I would like to make another point that I think is interesting and important.
This man was trying to use Jesus Christ, if you please, for a selfish purpose. Speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. Evidently he wasn't much interested in what Jesus was saying. We have no evidence that he was even a believer, but he wanted Jesus to do something for him. I like to say to use Jesus Christ. And I'm afraid today that there are many people who want to use Christianity for some selfish purpose when they have no real desire to become a Christian. There are certain secondary benefits to Christianity.
Christianity will raise the standard of women in any society. It will improve the lot of children. It will help the poor and the afflictive. It will raise the moral standards of a community. But if you try to use Christianity for any one of those purposes, it ceases to be Christianity. You have to be concerned with the main thing, which is to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and be saved. and to use it for any other purpose, I say it ceases to be Christianity.
I think today that in the field of psychiatry, that some try to use Christianity to solve psychological problems when they don't really have any desire to be a Christian. And so instead of dropping a pill into your mouth, they drop a scriptural verse into your mind and hoping that that will solve all your problems. Some people... Embrace Christianity, if you'll pardon the expressions, keep their home from breaking up. The home that prays together stays together. You know that line of reason. Maybe they want some power to quit some habit that's ruining their lives.
I remember one time I was sitting in my office in Memphis, not in Lipscomb, but in Memphis. You know, when I was in Lipscomb, I got all my illustrations used at Memphis. And now from Memphis, I get my illustrations to use down here. It used to be rather a joke at Memphis any time I'd mention Lipscomb. It was sort of a standing joke. That's where I was before I went to Memphis. Well, anyway, this happened at Memphis. I was sitting in my study, and the phone rang, and one of the members said, I have a man here that has a problem of drinking. It's ruining his home. It's ruining his health, his business. And he would like to talk to you about this problem. Well, naturally, I said, bring him by.
Well, the man came in. He was a little bit intoxicated, but not enough that he couldn't understand what I was saying. And so I said to him, do you want to become a Christian, and so on, and witness to him? He had absolutely no desire to become a Christian. No sense of need of receiving Christ as his Savior. He wanted to quit drinking. And he said, I heard that you would have the answer. I said, friend, I don't have that answer. If you want to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and be saved from all sin, he'll give you power to quit drinking. But if you don't receive him as your Savior, I have no magic formula. He wanted to use Christianity to save himself from that wicked habit, but not to become a Christian.
I don't want to belittle any great leader of our country, but back after World War II, General MacArthur issued the call for missionaries to come to Japan. He says there's a vacuum here. They've lost confidence in the emperor. And so send missionaries. And everybody thought that MacArthur was a Christian. I'm not saying he wasn't, but I want to tell you what happened later. Send missionaries to Japan. Later on, I read a start statement by General MacArthur in which he said, what I wanted to do. was to so take the best elements of Christianity and the best elements of the native religions of Japan and so combine them that it wouldn't make any difference whether you were a Shintoist or a Christian.
Well, that doesn't sound like Christianity to me. To take the best elements, the moral side of it, it ceases to be Christianity, doesn't it? Now, Christianity will solve those other problems, but you cannot... solve the problems apart from the main issue. And so this man, Lord, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance. Well, first Jesus declined the offer. He said, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? Now a judge is one that settled the case, I understand, a divider is one that put it into effect. Now Jesus did not mean by that that he would not someday be the judge of all men.
Indeed he will be. But what he meant was he did not come to this earth to settle petty arguments. He didn't come to supplant the civil courts. It wasn't his business to go into things like that. And so he declined the offer. But he sensed in this man a dangerous attitude. He was coveted. He was afraid he wasn't going to get his fair share. And so to him, Primarily he addressed the parable of the rich fool. Now there's nothing really difficult in this parable. The ground of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly.
And he had a conference with himself. What shall I do? I have so much produce, I don't know where to put it. He said, I have the solution. I'll pull down these barns and build greater. And then I'll say to my soul, soul you have much goods laid up for many days. drink, take your ease, be merry. But that night the verdict went forth from heaven. This night thy soul shall be required of thee. And then the question, whose shall those things be that you have accumulated? I say the parable is not difficult. It contains no strange words.
The teaching is obvious. And it summarized both at the beginning and the end at verse fifteen. He spoke this unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the thing that he possesses. And of course, many people think that that is exactly the case, that your life does consist in how much you possess. And then the twenty-first verse, So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. But I would like to analyze this parable and draw some lessons from it. First of all, I would ask the question, what was this man's sin, this rich man?
Well, first of all, it was not in being rich. It's not a sin to be rich. It's no particular virtue to be poor. A poor man can be just as covetous as a rich man. And some of the richest men have been the most generous and the most used of God. I think of Abraham, who was wealthy and flocks and herds, and yet he gained the title, The Friend of God. I think of R.G. Laterno, who took his mechanical genius and made a fortune, but he used it in the service of God. He cleared the forests of Africa and built hospitals and schools.
He used that money for the glory of God. I had the privilege all the way through seminary to work for three brothers in Dallas, Texas, the Mitchell brothers, Christians, and they ran a Christian company. I think of the Crowell family who did so much for the Moody Bible Institute, and our main building is named after Mr. Crowell. It's no sin to be rich, and I personally am not of the opinion that God requires every rich man to get rid of all of his riches. want some to keep it and use it to the glory of God. Secondly, the man's sin was not diligent work and foresight.
It's no sin to work hard and take thought for the morrow. In fact, Colossians three twenty-three says, Whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men. If you're going to be a businessman, why not be the best there is? Make money and use it for the glory of God. Why do anything haphazardly? That verse of Scripture that says, Take no thought for the mora, I'm sure you all know is not a good translation. All of us have to take thought for the mora. The real meaning is don't be anxious about the mora, and that's entirely different. Certainly we can take thought for the mora and make plans and have a reasonable amount of forethought for our welfare.
We have to, lest we become a burden to others. No, the man's sin wasn't that he was rich. It wasn't that he worked hard and took foresight. Neither was his sin gross wickedness. We don't find that this man was a great sinner. He was not a drunkard. We don't read that he was immoral. He wasn't dishonest. He owed his success to two things, diligent work and the goodness of God, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. What then was his sin? I'll tell you what it was.
He had a two-fold sin. Toward God and toward his fellow man, toward God he was a practical atheist. You notice I said a practical atheist. We used to hear that there are not very many atheists in the world. Today, of course, we have a whole nation that's based on atheism. But I suppose that most people are not intellectual atheists. That is, if you would sit them down and say, is there a God, they would say, why certainly? Anyone in his right mind knows there's a God. They would be an intellectual. They would not be an atheist.
But practically they are. And that simply means that they live as though there were no God. They never take God into consideration. They never pray. They don't express any gratitude. They don't take him into counsel as to what they should do. If you would prove to them that there wasn't any God, it wouldn't change their way of living one bit. I have a sister who is a Christian, but she made the mistake of marrying an unsafe person. He's been good to her through the years. He hasn't mistreated her. He's more or less let her go her way.
He is simply not interested. If you had proved to my brother-in-law that there is no God, it wouldn't change his way of living one bit. He never goes to church. He doesn't pray. He doesn't read the Bible. He lives as though there were no God. What good is it to believe that there is a God and then to live as though there were none? In fact, it would probably be better, wouldn't it, if you really believed there were no God. You'd have a better chance than the day of judgment, it seems to me. And you know, of course, that the theology of our day or the passing fad was the God is Dead movement.
And the reason that movement went over so well is that in cases of most people, God was dead. And so they had no trouble adopting the philosophy. In their practical life, he might as well have been. Yes, I say toward God, he was a practical atheist. Toward his fellow man with the second sin, he had a total disregard. Did you ever notice that the summary of the law of Moses was, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, thy soul, thy mind, thy strength.
And the second is likened to it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. If a man does not love God, he will not love his neighbor. They're inseparable. The summary of the first table of the law, thou shalt love the Lord thy God. The summary of the second table, thou shalt love thy neighbor. What shall I do, said the rich man? I don't have any place to put my goods. Mr. Rich man, I'll tell you where to put those goods. Put them on the table of that poor widow down the street that doesn't have enough. Put them out in that orphanage to feed those hungry children. Give it to those poor people that are hungry. That's where you can put your good.
But you see, that never entered his mind, did it? And so he says, What can I do? Well, I'll build greater barns, bigger storehouses, and then I'll say to my soul, You have much goods laid up for many days. You've got it made. Eat, drink, and be merry. I would like to look next. at three fatal mistakes that this rich man made. Three mistakes. First of all, he thought he could feed his soul on the grain of the field. Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm sure he wasn't stupid, but that's what he said, wasn't it?
Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years. Soul, eat, drink, and be merry. Perhaps he's using the word soul to represent his whole person, but I'm just taking the word soul. In other words, he lived on the level of the beast, didn't he? That's all he thought of, eating, drinking. My father-in-law, who I had hoped would be with us this week, and I'm regretting every moment that he isn't because he would have loved it here. He's up in his eighties now, but he has a farm in western Oklahoma. And among other things, he raises pigs.
And I've been out to look at those pigs. If you give a pig a comfortable place to sleep and enough to eat and drink, he's happy. That's all he wants. But you know, my friend, a person that's not on that level. He's made in the image of God, and he cannot be satisfied with those things. It reminds me in the scripture of what is said of Esau. He was a profane person. Profane doesn't mean he used profanity. It means he never got his eyes above the material. He couldn't see beyond the temporal.
And therefore he came in from the field that day faint. And Jacob said, I'll give you this mess of potty for your birthright. Well, the birthright had spiritual privileges connected with it. But Esau didn't care anything about that. He's hungry. And so he sells the birthright. Later on, he tried to steal the blessing. Don't say Jacob tried to steal it. Esau tried to steal it. Okay? After Jacob had that birthright, he had a right to the blessing, didn't he? I admit he got it by a devious method, but he had a right to it. And after Isaac had blessed Jacob, Remember, Esau came in and said, Don't you have a blessing for me, my father?
Well, he meant a material blessing, not a spiritual blessing. But it says he couldn't get his father to change his mind. He found no place of repentance. That doesn't mean he couldn't repent. He couldn't change the situation. Though he thought it carefully with tears, he couldn't reverse it. So you have much goods laid up for many years. A certain man was visiting in a place once, and every turn somebody was praying. They always bowed their head at the meals, and he said, Isn't there someplace around here where I can eat and not have to have somebody return thanks?
And the host said, Yes, but that's out with the pigs. Dr. Ironside was in a restaurant once and he bowed his head to thank God for the food. And the fellow sitting across, what in the world are you doing? He said, Dr. Ironside said, I'm thanking God for the food. The man said, I eat all I can get and thank nobody. Well, that's this rich man. Secondly, not only did he say he could feed his soul with that, but he considered his soul his own. I will say to my soul, Now somebody once reminded me that didn't Mary say the same thing, my soul doth rejoice in God, yes, but I think this man said it in a different way.
I will say to my soul. See, he didn't recognize that God had any claims upon his soul, my soul. Everybody belongs to God by virtue of creation, do they not? And if for no other reason we're obligated to him as our creator, that's what Paul said to the Athenians in the seventeenth chapter of Acts. And then, of course, when we learn that Jesus Christ died for us, then we have an obligation in that area, too. But the third error he made, he counted upon that which no man can be sure of. So thou hast much goods laid up for many years, many years.
There's always two things that can happen to a person in the realm of the material. First of all, the material can get away from you. And many people learned that through their sorrow back in the Great Depression, didn't they? In about twenty-nine, the stock market crashed. But suppose that a person could make his material things so secure that they couldn't possibly get away from him. Well, there's always the possibility that he could be taken from them. And that's precisely, of course, what happened to this man. And so I say he made three mistakes. He limited himself to this world.
Eat, drink. He said, My soul. And then he counted upon that which no man can be sure of. But then I want to point out three more things. Three ways in which God's estimate of this man differed from his. He had a certain opinion of himself and his situation. God had quite a different opinion. The first of these is this. I'm sure that this man thought he was very wise, don't you? Oh, I can just see him as he retired that night. He said, wife, we got it made. We've done it again.
We've got all of these barns full of grain. We've got so much money in the bank. If we don't make a penny the rest of our lives, we have nothing to worry about. And how he was congratulating himself. Have you ever noticed how wise the people of this world are? They think they're so very wise. God said, thou fool. Now the Scripture says we're not supposed to call people fools, but God has a right to. Thou fool. Did you ever stop to think how utterly foolish it is to live for this life only and then to launch out into a Christless eternity?
How can intelligent people do that? If you had seventy-five years to live, you knew it, and you made provision for the first sixty-five and completely forgot the last ten, you could hardly be called wise, could you? Suppose you're going to live a thousand years and you make provision for the first nine hundred. You say, you're foolish. But my friend, if we're going to live at the best, not more than a hundred years, and then we're going to be somewhere for eternity. How in the world could anyone be called wise who wouldn't make some provision for that ceaseless period ahead?
If there's the faintest possibility that there might be a life after death, it's worthy of investigation, is it not? And sometimes as I read the accounts of the death of these people that have lived for this life only, and they launch out into an eternity of darkness forever, I just shudder within myself, don't you? And then I say another mistake, and this sort of overlaps what I said before that I want to enlarge upon it a little bit. He counted upon many years. God said this night, your soul is required of.
Soul, you have much good laid up for many years this night. The scripture says, Boast not thyself as tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. What is your life? It's like a vapor, appears for a little while, and vanishes away. Well, everybody in their right mind knows this. We see people today and tomorrow they're in eternity. We just had a beloved colleague at the Institute who fell during the Christmas holidays or a little before and broke his leg. They put him in a hospital.
Nobody considered it to be serious. They put him in traction. They said, you'll be here six weeks and then we'll put a cast on it. When the six weeks was over, he was going to be carried to the room to have the cast. He called his wife and said, I'll call you just as soon as the cast is on, and I'm back in my room. It'll be around eleven o'clock. Around eleven o'clock, the phone rang. She picked it up, confidently, expecting to hear the voice of her husband. It was a doctor who said, come quickly. Your husband is gone. A blood clot had broken loose. It struck his heart, and he was in eternity. I wonder what happened that night when the rich man retired.
Did he hear a voice this night, thy soul is required of him? Probably not. But when he made his plans, there went forth a decree from heaven, this night thy soul is required of thee. If you would read this in the Greek Testament, I think you would find that it doesn't say exactly that. It says this night, They require thy soul of thee, does it not? They. Who is the they? Who is it? This night they require thy soul of thee. The Godhead, the demons, someone has said, let's leave it in its awful obscurity.
Just leave it. They require it. And I imagine that the decree went forth from God. this is the time. And possibly a pain hits the man in the heart and he calls his wife and he's gone. In this life, you know people can make excuses. And if you are in the Lord's work and you preach on Sunday and then you visit on Monday, you become a collector of excuses. I visited a man once. Some of my friends here would know him. And I entered his house and immediately he began to excuse himself why he didn't go to church, why he wasn't a Christian or so and so.
He said, I work hard all the week. I have to have some relaxation on Sunday. He said, I don't have an easy time like you preachers. Get up there thirty minutes on Sunday morning and he said, I have to work for a living. I hadn't asked for any explanation. I just walked in the door. He felt obligated to defend himself. He said, I have to have some relaxation on Sunday. I have to go fishing and so on. Well, you know, people can make excuses in this life, and the preacher will accept them. But when that call goes forth from heaven, this night your soul is required of you. There's no excuses. That call is always answered. Yes, he thought he was very wise.
He counted on many years. But finally, in disconnection, He planned to feed on these goods that he had collected. So, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take thy needs, eat, drink, and be merry. He planned on using those goods, didn't he? But God said, the Lord said, Who shall those things be which you have provided? Who will get those things that you have given your very soul for? Well, you know who will get them. That distant relative that hated the old man, he'll come in for his share. That ungrateful nephew that wouldn't speak to him, he'll suddenly become a close friend.
And isn't it sad? Isn't it tragic to give your very life and soul to lay up material goods and then let them fall to somebody else? I had an uncle... I'm told, I'm sure I had the uncle, but I'm told the story, that lived in western Oklahoma, where they have white-faced cattle, and he got an insatiable desire to get another section of land. And they tell me that on his very deathbed, with his last dying breath, he was scheming how to get another section of land. And he passed out, as far as we know, into a crisis of eternity.
When I was in Lipscomb, in the Panhandle of Texas, a certain man from that community was in the hospital in Amarillo. Now, up in the Panhandle of Texas to drive a hundred miles to see somebody is nothing. If you've ever known the wide open spaces of Texas Panhandle. In fact, if you don't have a thousand acres of land, you don't have any land. A thousand acres is just your backyard and something. But this brother was in Amarilla about a hundred and thirty-five miles away, and they wanted me to go visit him. Well, naturally I did. And as I sought entrance to his room, he would not let me in.
He said, I don't want to talk to that preacher. He said, if I talked to him five minutes, I'd be a nervous wreck. But as I was leaving the hospital to go home, he sent word to me, would I please try to collect fifteen dollars from a certain friend in Lipscomb that owed him this money. My friend, that was on a Saturday. The following Tuesday they called on me to preach his funeral. He was dying of cancer. Wouldn't talk to me about eternity. He wanted to collect fifteen dollars. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of things that he possesses.
So is everyone that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. I want us to imagine at this time that we have two men. On this hand over here we have a man who is rich in the things of this world that does not know the Lord. And so I would ask the man, Sir, what are your riches? Well, he says, I own this and that. I have stock and bonds. I have accounts in so many banks. I have a burial plot already picked out. In fact, my casket has been collected. If I would not make another penny, I have it made.
Yes, sir, I understand that. But tell me, what do you have beyond the grave? And he drops his eyes and says nothing. Another person here, perhaps a missionary, a worker in the Lord's field. And I say, what are your riches? Well, he says, I have something in this life. I have a modest home, a car. I have reasonable savings. But he says, my treasures are on the other side. My Savior's there. I have loved ones there. I have a place prepared. I find which is really wise. Which is really wise.
But before I leave this, I imagine that everyone in this room is a Christian, and you say, well, that doesn't apply to me. I am saved. But I want to say one final thing, and I hope no one will misunderstand me. I would not for a minute say that it's wrong to have a savings account. I think it's only common sense to look forward to old age and make some provision for it. We don't want to be a burden to other people. But is it not possible sometimes for Christian people to fall into the error of the world and to think that possibly a man's life does consist in the things that he possesses?
Isn't it possible a little bit for a Christian to get his eyes off of Christ and spend a little too much time with the things of this world? You know we sing that song, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, Look Full in His Wonderful Face. and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Take my silver and my gold, not a mite that I would hold. But do we really practice it? With eternity's values in view, we say. I knew a man once who was a very wealthy man.
I imagine his income was fifty thousand dollars a year. He had about a thousand acres of wheat land in the Texas Panhandle. A missionary came through that neighborhood and was soliciting funds for the mission field. This man made a pledge of fifty dollars a month for five years. Now fifty dollars a month for five years is three thousand dollars, isn't it? He could have given that money and never missed it. Sometime later I was talking to the man and I mentioned something about this pledge and he said, oh, I had to drop it. He said it was completely unreasonable.
He said, I must have been carried away with emotion. I happened to know that that man took his Cadillac that was two years old and traded it in on a new one and wrote a check for eighteen hundred dollars cash. He told me that he went to a furniture store and brought twelve hundred dollars worth of furniture that he could not use and stored it in a warehouse. Add the two together and you get three thousand dollars, just exactly the amount of his pledge. And I can just see him Sunday morning, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim. I'm afraid they didn't. I remember once in another place when the church was trying to engage us in a building program, and of course we needed money for the building, and a certain family very active in the church at that time, but when it came time, just about the time we were going to put some money into this building, they saw fit to completely refurnish their whole house.
When their old furniture was perfectly good, Anyone in this room would be proud to have it. They got rid of all of it and refurnished the whole thing and had absolutely nothing for the Lord's work. I'm not condemning anyone. I say, I'm just putting these things for it. Sometimes it's easy to pass this on to the unsaved, isn't it? And say, yes, I can see how foolish they are. But let's ask ourselves, let's not fall into this mistake. Beware of covetousness, for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of things that he possess.
So is he that layers up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. And remember what Jesus said, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Our Father, we thank you for the privilege to study thy word together. Oh, Father, preserve us from this error of materialism deep down in our hearts. We know the fallacy of it, the folly of it. And yet, as one has well said, there's a constant struggle within our hearts between the temporal and the eternal. And the temporal always has a certain advantage because its presence and its visible are the things that are worthwhile are invisible and eternal.
But our Father, someday we're going to pass from this brief scene and we're going to stand before thee in judgment. And may we not make the mistake of thinking that a man's life consists in the abundance of things that he possesses. Father, if there's some unsaved here, may they see the fallacy of their way to live this little brief span of life and then to launch out into a Christless eternity. How could anyone that does that be considered wise in any sense of the word? Far better to be an imbecile on the streets of the city than to be a lost person.
How blessed, Father, as we go from this room and the service that will follow that it might be to our prophet in Jesus' name. Amen.