The Rich Fool - Are we greedy for riches?

Well if you would take your Bible and turn to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, we're going to be in verses 13 to 21. Now tonight we have before us the second of our wisdom parables. We studied our first wisdom parable the Wednesday night before thanksgiving. So it's been a couple of weeks. And that parable was the parable of the wise and the foolish virgins from Matthew 25. Now if you missed that message, I know it is on the church website. And I say this from time to time, if you ever need my notes or any of those things to help you, I'll be glad to help you.

I encourage you to be a good student of what we studied together and especially if you missed something that we have studied together. Now remember what the parable, this parable that we have studied was all about. Within the teaching of that parable we saw that some were ready for the second coming of Jesus. They were the wise ones. And we saw that some were not ready for the second coming of Jesus. They were the foolish ones. Both the wise and the foolish were illustrated by those wise virgins and those foolish virgins. And of course we learned and we studied a lot in that parable.

But we saw that the major point of that parable is about being ready for the return of Christ. The major point of the parable teaches us that the wise person is truly ready. They're truly prepared for the return of Christ. But the foolish one is not prepared. They are not ready. Now tonight we have another parable that is considered to be in the category of the wisdom parables. But this parable is different from the parable that we have just studied in two ways. First of all there is no clear contrast in this particular parable that we'll study tonight. And then second there is no teaching on wisdom.

If there is any teaching on wisdom it is at the end of the parable where Jesus kind of hints at or alludes to wise living. And I'll get to that at the end of the message. But it will be easy for us to see what this parable is all about. It will be easy for us to see that this entire parable is about foolishness. Simply this parable is about the foolishness of being engrossed with and getting and keeping worldly riches. Now just like with our study with the wise and the foolish virgins I will pose a question at the end when I give you the title. So let's read the verses. I want us to start in verse 13.

We'll read them all and then we'll go back and look at them again when we divide the verses. Someone in the crowd said to him, this is to Jesus, teacher, the King James says master tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, man or mister who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you. And he said to them, take care and be on your guard against the all covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully or abundantly. And he thought to himself, what shall I do? For I have nowhere to store up my crops.

And he said, I will do this. I will tear down my barns and I'll build bigger ones or bigger barns. And there I will store all of my grain and all of my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul. The way of saying that is I will say to myself, self, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared whose will they be. So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. Now the setting of the story is really easy for us to see.

Jesus was teaching like he did quite often and someone in the crowd abruptly interrupted him. Now this someone is not named. He brought a family problem to Jesus and he wanted Jesus to give some type of a judgment, if you'll notice, in his favor. This someone blurted out to Jesus, my brother has refused to divide our inheritance. Will you tell him to divide and to share our inheritance with me? And we can see that Jesus was abrupt right back by telling him that he was not a judge in Israel. Essentially, Jesus was telling this someone that he was out of place in bringing this problem to him.

Jesus was telling him that it was not his responsibility and he would not be his judge. But it's interesting. Jesus uses this situation as a teaching opportunity. He abruptly pivots to give a much needed warning. He warns against a sinful heart attitude that can be a big problem in the life. And that sinful heart attitude is being engrossed with the desire to get more and more earthly riches at the expense of heavenly riches or riches towards God. Now this is how I want to approach this teaching. I want us to divide the verses and the verses are giving all of these events to us.

And of course I'm going to make some application as we wade through the verses. And in the conclusion, just like last week, I'm going to offer up some practical lessons or practical teaching. So number one, I want us to see the scene. This is in verses 13 to 14. I want us to see the scene here. Finally we have already seen the scene. We have already taken a look at what was happening here. But I want to touch on this a little bit more and I want to give us a little more. Jesus had been teaching the crowds when these things took place. In verses 1 to 12, Jesus had taught the crowds things concerning false religion.

He warned all of them about the danger of hypocritical false religion. And in the middle of that teaching, this someone, he's not named, he's a man, but he abruptly interrupts Jesus with a family problem. There was a dispute over a family inheritance and he wanted Jesus to bring about a judgment in his favor. One commentator that I read speculated that this someone's brother may have been in the crowd when he said all this. No, we don't know, but it's okay to speculate in that manner. But we need to see something here. Although he abruptly interrupted Jesus, his request was not that unusual.

It was disrespectful, but yet it wasn't that disrespectful. First of all, he did call him teacher. The King James uses the word master. In calling Jesus a teacher, he was ascribing to him a certain amount of respect. And then second, it was not unusual for Jewish teachers and rabbis and leaders in that day to mediate in religious and family and civil affairs. So although this someone did interrupt Jesus, he was not entirely disrespectful. But we need to see something else. Jesus refused to get involved in the matter. And Jesus was just as abrupt in his response. It's interesting how Jesus addressed this someone.

This word man here in verse 14, it would be the equivalent of our word, mister or friend. Jesus was basically saying something just like this. I'm putting this in my words. He was basically saying, mister, who appointed me to be the one to straighten out your family problems? So this scene here, it's not that out of place. Yes, this someone abruptly interrupted Jesus, but this was not terribly out of place, although it was kind of abrupt. And Jesus took a stand and he refused to get involved in a family problem that involved money. Oh, I really like how Leon Morris describes this position Jesus took.

Morris said that Jesus came to bring men to God, not to bring property to men. Now why is it important to grasp the scene? Why is it important to get the setting? I've taught you that context is king. It's because Jesus did not teach these things in a vacuum. These things didn't come out of the blue. He taught what he taught within a particular context and the context has a great bearing on the teaching. And we need to see the teaching and the context because we have a lot to learn from both. And get this, a part of this context was the greed of the Jewish religious leaders.

In verses 1-12, Jesus was warning against the false hypocritical religion of the Jews. Well here in verses 13-21, Jesus was warning against the greed and the materialism of the religious leaders. What about our context? I said that context can teach us something. And actually this context right here can teach us a lot. In our day, are there people in churches and even religious leaders that are greedy for money and material possessions? Is that a sin that can be in the pews of our churches and in the hearts of our people? Even in the hearts of leaders in the church, can this be a problem that can be a problem for us in our day?

The answer is yes. So understanding that context can really apply to us in our day. But then number 2, I want us to see the sermon. Now I didn't read the verses which dealt with the scene, but I want to read the verse that deals with the sermon. That is verse 15. Notice the man had already interrupted and Jesus had pivoted abruptly and he said, "Mr. who in the world made me judge for you?" And notice he said to them, verse 15, "Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Now here we have a very short sermon in response to these events.

Now I'm going to pause here. I'm going to ask you to do me a favor. Do not tell my wife that he taught a very short sermon. I think you see where I'm going. But notice this is one verse and it is a very short sermon. Jesus takes advantage of the situation not to make a judgment on this man's situation but to make a judgment on this man's sin. Jesus looked past his situation to the sin that lay behind it all. Now you might say, "Pastor, we do not know if this man was in sin." Now we don't know anything about this someone. And you could say, "Pastor, we don't know if this someone was in sin." Well that is true.

We can't say for a fact that this man was in sin, maybe his brother was in sin. But we can know that sin was at the heart of this situation because Jesus is addressing a sin that is at the heart of this situation. You see? Now in Jesus' response or this sermon, I want us to look at a few details. First who he addresses. At the beginning of verse 15 it says that Jesus addressed them. Simply this is all inclusive language here. This includes all who were listening not just the one who brought the problem to Jesus in the first place. So Jesus is addressing all who were there listening and the one who brought the problem.

And then second what he commands. Here we need to see a couple of words in this first phrase of verse 15. And notice how the different translations use different language here. The New American Standard says, "Beware and be on your guard." The King James says, "Take heed and beware." The English Standard says, "Take care and be on your guard." Now we need to look at these two different words. First this word, "Beware." This word, "Take heed." This word, "Take care." This is a key word here. This means to look. This means to observe. This means to perceive and to recognize.

And then the second word, this second word, "guard." The King James says, "Beware." The English Standard says, "Be on your guard." This means to look out for something, to really take note of something. And this also means to avoid something even to run from something. So with that language notice what Jesus was saying. He was commanding all of those who were listening to be perceptive and to recognize things carefully. And He was commanding them to take care, to avoid, and to run from something.

He was saying, "Beware, be on guard, be ready to avoid, and be ready to run from something." You know this reminds me of an experience I had quite a few years ago. When I was in student ministry, I was serving in the life of the church. We had a visitation program. And one night I went out on visitation with two or three teenagers in my car. And we drove up to a house and right on the porch there was a sign that said, "Beware of the dog." And on the porch there was the dog. And I was driving my wife's little brown Toyota Camry. I had some guys in the car.

So I got out and I said, "Look guys, I'll show you how to do this." And I got out and I talked to the dog and I talked to the dog. And the dog was wagging his tail and I got around in front of the car. Between the car and the porch, well the "Beware of the dog" sign came into play because the dog got real mean real quick. And before I knew it, I was on top of my car. So what's the moral of the story? I should have read the sign. And look, I had to beware of the dog and I had to avoid the dog and run from the dog. And look, that really fits what Jesus was saying. So Jesus was commanding those listening to beware.

He's saying, "Be on guard, to be on guard and be ready to avoid and be ready to run from something." But from what? Is he talking about a dog? What is he calling them to run from or beware of? Well that leads us to the third observation, what this command pertains to, greed or covetousness. And that is easy to see no matter what translation we may have. The English Standard says, "Take care and be on your guard against covetousness." The New American says, "Beware and be on your guard against every form of greed." The King James uses the word covetousness.

And this greed or covetousness, it doesn't matter what word you use, it's easy to understand. This speaks of a strong desire to get and to keep more and more physical possessions. This speaks of a desire to get more and more physical possessions regardless of one's needs and even regardless of other people. And look, right here is a tremendous lesson. We need to see the depth and the danger of greed and covetousness. And we all need to see this more than we know. The sin of greed can be a cover over a greater sin. And that is the sin of idolatry. Yes, idolatry. Greed can be a sinful covering for the greater sin of idolatry.

Those that fall into the sin of greed are actually making money and material possessions. They're God, little gee. Those things have become their idol. So we need to see this command to beware and to run. It doesn't pertain to a dog, it pertains to greed and covetousness. And then fourth, how He explains the purpose of the command. Jesus says, and I'm paraphrasing, guard yourselves and keep free from greed and covetousness. That's easy to see. He says, run from that greed, run from any form of covetousness.

And then He goes on to explain the ultimate purpose of the command, which is to keep those sins from ruining the true purpose and the true meaning of life. Now notice what Jesus says. Look at your copy of God's Word in verse 15. I'm going to paraphrase the beginning of the verse. Look at your copy. He says, guard yourselves and keep free from greed and covetousness. Run from greed, run from covetousness. Now look, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of His possessions. Now to truly see what Jesus is saying, we need to see some more words here too specifically. First this word abundance. This means to have an overflow.

This speaks of having more than enough. I think all of us are in the same boat here. We all had an abundance of food this Thanksgiving. Didn't we not? And if we're honest, we all ate an abundance of food this Thanksgiving. But second this word life. This word for life here is not the word for physical life. This word refers to spiritual life, eternal life. This speaks of true, meaningful, purposeful life. And understanding the meaning of those words enabled us to see what Jesus is saying. He was explaining and He is explaining that the purpose of the command is to lead those listening to life.

He is saying that true, satisfying life, a fulfilled life, a life that is full of true peace, true joy, hope, it's full of fulfillment. It cannot be gotten from physical things, things of the world no matter how much one may get. So Jesus explains the purpose of the command. The command is meant to protect that which can only come from God, a truly fulfilled life which is filled with joy, peace, hope, and lasting fulfillment and satisfaction. So with this command, a short sermon, there's a lot. Now I'm going to read the verse in the Amplified. That's a paraphrase. Sometimes I do that.

And the Amplified just piles the language up and it's very accurate. Notice what the verse says in the Amplified. Jesus says, "Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness, the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more, for a man's life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance of that which is over and above his needs." Now here we must ask how this applies to us. And honestly we all need the Holy Spirit to apply this teaching according to our particular need. The Holy Spirit's help because the application and the implications are so great, so varied, and so needed.

And look, we can't make the mistake of thinking this only applies to rich people. Poor people and those who have very little by comparison can be some of the most greedy and covetous people who stand on two feet. This reminds me of a guy I worked with years ago. I mean he came from nothing. He couldn't control that. He came from a very rough upbringing and he didn't have much. But over a period of time I noticed that he was a snob. Yeah, he was a snob. He snobbed those who had more than he did when he grew up, who had more than he did in life. And he had a very deep, greedy heart for more and more and more things, although he was very poor.

So we can't make the mistake of thinking that this only applies to rich people. And look, I think we need to see this command is very, very serious. This is a call to beware of the mean dog of greed that will attack us and destroy us truly. And this is a call to beware of the poisonous snake of greed. When it bites us, it can kill us. And if we are bitten by the poisonous snake of greed and it is left unattended, well, it will kill us. From time to time I'll tell you all stories of my upbringing. Many of you know that I had a grandfather I was real close to. Spent a lot of time with.

I think I walked every corner and every piece of ground that he owned on that 450 acres. But my grandfather was a very eccentric man. And one of his eccentric habits was this. He did not believe in killing rattlesnakes. He believed in catching them. He wore red wing lace-up boots and he would take the string out of his boot.

And he said, "What you do is you take a small stick and you just kind of beat on that rattlesnake's head and you get him kind of stunted and then you take your boot, shoe string and you put it around a bigger stick and you put it around his neck." And he said, "Oh, don't ever put it in the sock and put it on your back." But the story gets worse. He would keep them in a cage and feed them. And he kept them in the basement of the house. I'm not making it up. And he would feed them.

I think the last big snake he had, I remember he caught a rat and put it in there in the cage with the snake and it was kind of getting cooled and the snake was wanting to hibernate and the rat killed the snake. But you know those were real, live, poisonous snakes. If you were bit by that snake, it could kill you. Now what am I trying to show you? Feed it and covetousness is as dangerous as a snake and is dangerous as a dog. And the last lesson is this.

We must see that true life, a life that is filled with joy, peace, satisfaction, hope and fulfillment, that life can only come from a life with God and it can only be maintained by getting those things from God and not from the world. Now I'm going to give you an assignment. One verse. Verse 15 is rather short. Read it, meditate on it, memorize it. And look, pray and ask God to apply this verse to you according to your need. You seek after the application and look to the Spirit to apply it because the need here is so great, it is so varied and it is much needed. And if you notice, we haven't gotten to the parable. So number three, the story.

The story or the parable. And we see this starting in verse 16 on down to verse 20. Let's read that portion. "And he told them a parable saying, 'The land of a rich man produced plentifully or abundantly. And he thought to himself, 'What shall I do? For I have nowhere to store up my crops.' And he said, 'I will do this. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones. And there I will store up my grain and notice not just my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for me years.

Relax, eat, drink, and be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool, this night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'" Now here in verses 16 to 20 we have the actual parable finally. Jesus had just commanded them not to be greedy for material possessions and such. And here in this parable he illustrates the sheer foolishness of seeking true satisfaction through physical riches. Just like we've seen at other times, here Jesus uses a simple story that all of those listening would have understood totally.

All those listening would have understood this agricultural story and they would have understood a rich farmer even though none of them were probably rich. Actually, they were all probably very poor by comparison. But notice what Jesus says here. It tells a story about a rich farmer who had this super abundant harvest. And because of his overabundance he sought to tear down his barns and to build bigger barns to store up his overflow of both grain and goods. Let me read verses 16 to 17.

And he told them a parable, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store up my crops?'" What a question. Was he in sin? At that point, was he in sin? Was the rich man in sin? Does Jesus say that he was in sin? Does he imply that he was in sin at that point? No. In no way does he say he is in sin. But if we continue in the verses, we will see when and where this sin was actually sin. Instead of looking to God and thinks, he looks to self and to self-sufficiency.

Instead of thanking God and expressing even more dependence on God, because that's where all of this came from, he looked inward to self. Simply this super abundance proved what was in his heart all along, and that was self. That was self-sufficiency and selfishness. And he demonstrates or proves this in two ways. First he repeatedly says what he would do. He says, "I, I, I," over and over and over, does he not? And second, he stores up his abundance for self. He says that because of his super abundance that he would store up all that he has, and what does he say?

"I'm going to relax, I'm going to eat, I'm going to sleep, and I'm going to be married." It is easy to see that this man was drowning in self. He was drowning in self-sufficiency and selfishness. Simply the super abundance that came into this rich farmer's life proved what was in his heart all along. His heart was full of self, self-sufficiency and selfishness. In the opposite should have been the case. The super abundance which came from God should have produced more dependence on God, more thankfulness to God, and a desire not to be more selfish, but a desire to be more selfless.

John MacArthur describes this man by saying, and I'm quoting, "This miserly decision was nothing but blatant unabashed hedonism." Hedonism, yes, he was a hedonist. But let's read verses 16 to 20. You'll see where it changes. Or excuse me, verses 18 to 20. And he said, "I will do this. I will tear down my barns and I'll build bigger barns, and there I will store up all of my grain and all of my goods, and I will say to my soul or to myself, 'Soul, self, you have ample goods laid up for many, many years. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool.

This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' But there's more in the parable. Just when this man was about to enjoy his earthly retirement, things take an unexpected turn. Just when he thought he was finally going to really be able to enjoy life, his life was taken by God." Now notice three facts from verse 20. First God called him a fool. This word describes someone who is without good sense. This word describes someone who is without knowledge or without truth. And applied here, Jesus was saying this man was foolish because he had no need for God. He had self. He didn't need God.

He did not need God. And because he had no need for God, Jesus called him a fool. Now there's a lesson here. Listen. The definition of the greatest of all fools. Now Proverbs gives us many different fools. But the definition of the greatest of all fools is the one who says that he does not need God. And let me give you a portrait of the biggest fools, and that would be the evolutionists. Think about all of those men who have PhDs, who teach in the most prestigious of institutions, but yet they say there is no God. They say that man evolved. What they're doing is saying this. He'd have no need of God, and the scriptures call them fools.

But then second, at God's command, his soul was required. This speaks of death, but more. This speaks of death and the fact that he would die and immediately be required to give an account before God. We see this also taught in Hebrews, chapter 9, where it says that man is appointed once to die and to face the judgment. And the lesson here is this. Death does not come by accident. Death does not come when our bodies wear out. Oh, we might die in an accident, and we might die because our bodies wear out, but actually death comes when God says so. There is a day of death appointed for every man who has ever lived and will live.

And then third, at this man's death, all that he had accumulated, all that he had stored up was given to someone else. Yes, his super abundance belonged to someone else after he died, even the great barns that he built. You know the lesson here is this. Personal. 450 acres of trees. I mentioned my granddad earlier. He owned 450 acres full of trees. His pride and joy was his farm and his trees. But after he passed away, I watched that which belonged to him, went down to my mother and her two sisters, and his precious trees were cut down, put on trucks, and hauled away. It didn't belong to him anymore.

So within this story, this parable, Jesus illustrates, he describes the one who looks to the abundance of possessions and wealth for peace, joy, and true fulfillment in life. And Jesus actually reveals them to be a fool. And he describes what happens to this fool. He stands before God for how he has used his riches, and he leaves those riches behind for someone else to enjoy. Now an application, I want us to think about a few things here. And honestly, this is going to stir up probably more questions. And stirring up questions is good.

First question, how many people do we look up to and even emulate, but in reality they're just like this man? Let me repeat that. How many people do we look up to even emulate? Maybe people in our family, maybe someone we work with. How many people do we look up to and even emulate, but actually they're just like this man? And how many people look like wise men and wise women to us, but Jesus actually calls them a fool? A couple more questions. Is it a sin to save money? Read Proverbs. Is it a sin to have plenty? Read Proverbs. Is it a sin to be rich? Read Proverbs, but I'll give you a more specific place to read.

Read what Paul said to Timothy in the letter, 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. See what Paul says about being rich. And those are legitimate questions. This kind of teaching, this kind of a parable, when we dig into these kind of things we start thinking like this. Is it a sin to save? Is it a sin to have plenty? And is it a sin to be rich? I'm not going to give you the answers. And look, the problem is not in having plenty, being rich and even saving. The problem is in how you view your riches. The problem is in looking to those things for true peace, true joy, true hope, true security and satisfaction in life.

The problem is in having those things and possessing those things selfishly, not being thankful to God for those things, trusting in those riches and not using those riches for good and as God would direct you. Number four, the application of it all. Really and truly Jesus gives the application of it all in verse 21 and this will be rather short. Look at verse 21. "So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and it is not rich towards God." Now if you don't get all of the other verses, verse 21 won't mean anything. Here's the application of the teaching. It's really two-sided. It's really simple.

First, the one who is greedy for material possessions and they are looking for joy, peace, hope, satisfaction and true fulfillment in those things, Jesus says they're a fool. And then second, the one who is rich towards God is the wise man. By implication or insinuation, Jesus is saying that the wise man is the one who is rich towards God. And my question for us is this, are we rich towards God? I can't answer that. You probably can't answer that. We must study and understand what being rich towards God truly is. The problem is we probably do not know what being rich towards God truly is.

Now just like when we studied the wise and the foolish virgins a couple of weeks ago, I want to move away from the verses and I want to give seven lessons that will help us. Now these lessons don't come from Montgomery Boyce. These lessons come from another commentator, Albert Barnes, and I've altered them some. I've changed them up. But he did inspire them. I copied certain things he said. It's a little bit of him and a little bit of me. But I think these will help us and help wrap this up for us. And these will be rather quick. First, the first lesson, sinful people are often very successful and prosperous in life.

There are even many, many wicked, very ungodly people in life that are super successful, super wealthy, and very prosperous. Now question, where does all that come from? Their hard work, their ability, their education, what they inherited? We could go down the list. Ultimately that all comes from God. Ultimately it all comes from God. Scholars would call it common grace. Those are graces from God that are even bestowed upon wicked, lost people. And then second, having riches, wealth, properties, and such, all these things always bring a greater load of care, a greater load of worry, and a greater load of responsibility. Let me say that again.

Having wealth, properties, and riches, those things always bring a greater load of care, sometimes worry and responsibility. I was listening one day to John MacArthur. I wished I noted where it was. It could have been in a Q&A at a conference. I'm not sure where it was, but oh, I remember it. He told the story in the life of his church there was a wealthy man who had some stock in an oil business. And he said that man gave it to him. He said the man said, "I can't handle it. It worries me. It bothers me.

I'm going to give it to you." And MacArthur made a joke and said, "Well, you're going to give me your problem." And he said, "You know, he had that oil stock and it would go up and go down. It would go up and down." And he said he would look at it all the time. And he came to a place where he said that just worried him. It bothered him. It was too burdensome. He said, "I just got rid of it." He said, "I couldn't handle it." You see? Having more was worrisome and burdensome for him. But then he told the story of W.A. Criswell, W.A. Criswell was the long-time pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. He's long since passed.

Very conservative and a solid man of God. And MacArthur told the story that a deacon from his church told him. When W.A. Criswell was a young pastor during the great real estate boom in Dallas, he invested money and he became extremely wealthy. He said a lot of people didn't know that. But he said when he celebrated being at First Baptist Dallas for 30 years, at his 30-year anniversary, he wrote a check back to the church for every penny the church ever paid him. One man could handle it and one man could not. You see? Now, the third lesson.

Wealth, possessions, and riches can rob us of our love and our affections for God if, if, if we allow those things to do so, they will rob us of our love for God and our trust in God and the things of God. You know, I thought about an illustration here and I kept thinking about names and faces, people that I have known that let the job promotion, that let the new job and the raise pull them away from family and church and serving the Lord and what happened. Oh, more wealth, more possession, more riches, rob them of where they should have been with the Lord. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Some can handle it and some cannot.

The fourth lesson. The sole concern of the greedy and the covetous person is not what good he or she may do with their possessions. The sole concern is how he or she may hoard up the wealth. Their concern is how they may use the wealth and the things that they have for self. Their concern is to keep not to do good, but to do good for self. Y'all know what a dipstick is? Check the oil in your lawnmower. With the covetous and the greedy, you put the dipstick in their heart and you pull it out and what's on the dipstick is selfishness. And the way you check the dipstick is this. You touch their possessions and they reveal to you who they are.

Fifth, riches, wealth, properties, power, all that comes with it can't keep anyone from the grave. All men, rich or poor, are required to die one day. I mentioned my granddad earlier. He was just a common man, but I'll never forget the day he died, a very wealthy man died. Anybody know who Al Copeland was? Very wealthy man in the New Orleans area. In the restaurant business, started Popeyes. And the story was this, he had cancer and he flew all over the world seeking experimental treatments to try to cheat cancer. And the day my grandfather died, a very common man, the day he died, a very wealthy man died. Can't keep you from the grave.

And then sixth, the man who is trusting in riches, many will call that man a wise man, but God calls them a fool. And many even professing Christians can get this wrong. How many men are just like the fool here in their leaders in the church? This is what happens. Well, he's successful in business, he'll be good in life of the church. He'll make a good deacon, you see? And the seventh, the true rich man who is rich towards God, many will call that man a fool. Many will call the true rich man a fool and insignificant, but God calls him a rich man. You know, one of the richest men I ever knew passed away here recently.

When I came to faith in Christ, I started going to my home church, when I called my home church where Christie grew up. And in the life of that church was a man named Robert Bryant, Robert's mom went to church there. And when Robert's mom was giving birth, she had some difficulties. So Robert was slow. You could tell Robert was slow by the way he looked and by the way he talked and the way he acted. But I'm going to tell you, Robert Bryant loved the Lord. He kept a pocket full of gospel tracts, shared the gospel. I mean, he prayed, he was at church every time the doors were open. He served God in the manner and the way that he could.

He would shame you in Sunday school. You would mention a prayer request and six months later he's still praying for it. I'll never forget one Sunday night. Now this was a church that had a rather large music program. Miss Dina Boyette played the piano and Robert sang "Jesus Loves Me." He didn't even get near a note. I mean, it was the worst sounding thing that you've ever heard but it was the most beautiful and glorious thing. When Robert's mother died, he couldn't live by himself. He went to an assisted living home.

And I'll never forget, I heard the story, Associate Pastor at Highland Baptist Church went down to the assisted living home to visit Robert and Robert said, "Don't come down here to see me. I'm doing just fine. I'm leading Bible studies. I'm ministering to everybody in here. I go to work and I come back. I got a ministry right here." He died a rich man. See here's the last lesson. The true rich man, the one who's rich towards God, meaning in this world we'll call him a fool and insignificant but God calls them rich.

Now let me give you the title of the message, "The Rich Fool." And the second part of the title is a question, "Are we greedy for riches?" And I think that is a question that we need to ponder and think about and pray over and see how it applies to our life.