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Our Lord began to answer a question
to a gentleman in the crowd there, Luke chapter 12, beginning in
verse 13. Our Lord had been speaking about
persecution, really, and hypocrisy. And verse 13, then one from the
crowd said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance
with me. But he said to him, man, who
made me a judge or an arbitrator over you? And he said to them,
take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist
in the abundance of things he possesses. Then he spoke a parable
to them, saying the ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself,
saying, what shall I do since I have no room to store my crops? So he said, I will do this. I
will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will
store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul,
you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat,
drink, and be merry. But God said to him, fool, this
night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those
things be which you have prepared? So is he who lays up treasure
for himself and is not rich toward God." Pretty serious. That man called out, teacher,
tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Jesus didn't directly take up
the case. Jesus was a teacher, a rabbi.
Perhaps he could rule and settle this dispute over the inheritance. Well, Jesus didn't directly address
it. He took it on himself to speak
of covetousness. Verse 15, he gave a command,
right? And he said to them, take heed
and beware of covetousness. A word not very common in our
English language. We don't even talk about it,
right? We don't even think about it. How many Americans woke up
this morning worrying about covetousness? What do you think? Being afraid
of it. How many professed Christians woke up this morning, said, you
know, I'm afraid of something. I'm afraid of covetousness. What
do you think? Anybody get up like that this
morning? Well, Jesus said we ought to
get up like that. Take heed and beware of covetousness,
for one's life does not consist in the abundance of things. So
He gives us the command, He gives us that great principle we looked
at last week. He defines what life consists
of and it doesn't consist in abundance of things. God defines
what your life consists of. Whether you agree or not, you
can't change it and we won't have a repeat. God defines what you are and
what your life consists of. And in this passage, we're going
to see a fool who lived his life in conflict with God's definition
of it. And that's the man who built
the bigger bombs. God had a definition for that
man's life. And he lived in rebellion to
that definition. And God said he was a fool. One's life does not consist in
the abundance of things he possesses. That's the definition. And then
he spoke that parable to illustrate it. And Jesus's parable describes
a person who has not been on his guard regarding covetousness. He hasn't worried about it. He
hasn't thought about it. He hasn't thought that he is
the lawbreaker of the 10th commandment. The 10th commandment, you shall
not covet. In some ways it's a summary command,
but he didn't think he was a lawbreaker. Can you imagine that? Somebody actually thinking, because
they really desire this stuff and they want it and they want
it, that they're actually sinning against God? Oh, that sounds
like hate speech. Can you imagine that? All these
young children Coveting the new sneakers? Can you imagine that, boys and
girls? Coveting those sneakers? Gotta
have them. Gotta have them. That you're
sinning against God? Imagine that. Pretty startling,
isn't it? God's jealous. God's a jealous
God. That's what he said. You shall
have no other gods before me. What you love, what you seek,
it's your God. It's that simple. What you covet
is your God. Paul said that. Greed amounts
to what? Idolatry. Greed and covetousness,
they're synonyms. Paul said that. Greed amounts
to idolatry. God is to be worshipped, he is
to be number one. Number one. And this command brings all that
forth. So yes, it is a warning. Beware
of covetousness. And God required the soul of
this fool. But God said to him, fool, this
night your soul will be required. I thought I owned myself, right? What do you mean? I'm free. I'm
free. No, you're not. No, you're not. You're owned. Everything under heaven and earth
belongs to God. And God decided to call this
soul back that night. Now, man, you know, I'm sounding
mean and harsh. I'm just trying to... This is
serious. I don't know what else to say.
You know, you're not an animal. I'm not an animal. This is serious. That's what I'm trying to impress
you about. This is God. The Lord is serious. We're eternal beings. We have
souls. That man's body went to the grave
that night but his soul didn't. This is all very serious and
the gospel awakens us to the fact that God made us and God
offers to save us from our sins and to call us and not to spend
ourselves on possessions and coveting and we need to move
on. So the illustration, so start
being on your guard for covetousness when you are young, and this
is what I wanted to say last week, when you are young before
it becomes a deeply rooted pattern of your life. And folks, Your
children aren't necessarily blessed because they have been raised
with all this material prosperity. Because it is a danger to this
sin and habit. So start being on guard for covetousness
when you are young before it becomes a deeply rooted pattern
of life. Verse 21, he calls to that self-examination,
verse 21, then, so is he, referring to the fool, so is he, every
man is like that fool, so is he who lays up treasure for himself
and is not rich toward God. Can you imagine that? Thinking
about trying to be rich toward God, how many people wake up
in the morning and wonder how their investments are going to
do today? You know, I wonder how my investments
are going to do today. I wonder how my business is going
to do today. How many wake up and wonder about
being rich toward God? Well, we've been told we're animals.
Now we're living like animals, right? That's exactly right. That's
not true. That's not true. So don't end your life as this
fool that Jesus warned us about. And start early, young people,
start early. You know, start early. A man's life does
not consist in the abundance of things he possesses. And by
the time we get done with this chapter, Jesus is going to say,
get rid of it. Sell it. Give it away. Don't
hoard it. This passage is going to go a
complete turnaround. We're going to start with warnings
about covetousness. And when we get down to verse
33, we're going to be on a complete other end of sell. Sell what
you have. Give it away. Okay. That's where
this passage is going. Now, what about the two brothers?
What about the two brothers that were struggling over the inheritance?
What would happen to those two brothers if they had received
the Lord's warning about covetousness? What would have happened? Well,
I think this is what would have happened. The man who called
out and said, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with
me. I think he would have dropped the dispute, okay? He would have dropped the dispute,
he would have become content, and he would have gone on in
the verses 22-34. I think that's what he would
have done. And while he had, as soon as
he had dropped the dispute and gone on in verses 22-34, what
about the other brother? I think he would have been, knock,
knock, knock, knock. Hey brother, here's half of the
inheritance. Okay That's what I think would
have happened to the two brothers so I think Jesus Answered his
question. What do you think? I think so. I Think Jesus answered the brothers
as how he responded Now, now it turns to the disciples. Verse
22, Mike read the passage for us. Then he said to his disciples,
the crowd you see is made up a wide ranging of attitudes and
people about Christ. Some of them hate him. Some of
them think they might follow him. But the disciples are those
who have begun to believe in him. They've begun to say Jesus
is the Christ. He is the Messiah. And they've
begun to follow him. And so Jesus turns to them and
he begins now addressing those people that profess faith in
Jesus Christ. He's going to talk to his disciples
now about these matters. And he's going to instruct them. Not only must they avoid covetousness,
they must also avoid worrying over the basic necessities of
life. Now the text doesn't explicitly state that there is a relationship
between worrying and covetousness, but it does begin with a therefore,
doesn't it? So there may be a relationship
between the two. Therefore, I say to you, do not
worry about your life. There's a relationship. You know,
one may hoard even in the areas of food and clothing because
of insecurity, which Jesus is going to reprove. One may be
covetous even in the areas of food and clothing because of
fear and worry. So I think there is a connection
here. Therefore, do not worry about
your life. In verse 21, Jesus referred to
those who reach the end of their lives and are not rich toward
God. In this next section, he gives
a positive message on how to be rich toward God. As you can
see by the conclusion, look at verse 32 and 33. How can you be rich toward God? Well, here it is in verse 32
and 33. Verse 33, sell what you have,
give alms, provide yourselves money bags which do not grow
old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail where neither
thief approaches nor moth destroys. Okay, nor inflation eats away,
okay, or taxes consume. You see, here's the person rich
toward God, treasures in heaven, contrasting the man who's building
bigger barns, treasures on earth. Now, verses 22 through 34 describe
a very different lifestyle from the fool in the parable. Very
different type of life. Those who live as exhorted here
have been on their guard against covetousness. They are the ones
who will become rich toward God at the end of their lives. They
are disciples of Jesus Christ. Now there's quite a range of
feeling in this passage. The passage starts out with,
do not worry and be anxious about having enough to eat. And it
ends with what? Sell what you have and give to
the poor. Look at that transition. It starts,
don't worry, don't be anxious. And at the end, what are we doing?
We're selling what we have and we're giving to others. Now may
I suggest that that is the transition that your life needs to go through
as you become a believer and a follower in Jesus Christ. Your
transition's got to go through that line. Your life has to go
through that transition. And boys and girls, you too. You start out, me, me, me, my,
my, my, right? And you've got to go through
this transition of believing in and following Christ and you've
got to end up where this passage ends up. It's quite a set of
exhortations and may God bless us to bring us through that type
of transition that's represented in this passage. Well, the Lord
starts out here, we got four negatives, do not worry, do not
seek, do not have an anxious mind, do not fear, and then we've
got a couple positives, seek the kingdom of God, sell what
you have and give alms. Verse 22 and 23 begins here. Do not worry about your life. And what he means is the basic
necessities. Verse 22. Therefore, I say to
you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, nor
about your body, what you will put on. He's talking about the
most basic necessities. He says, don't worry about those
things. Now, I don't want to be a wet
blanket. And I don't want to be misunderstood
about what I'm about to say. Bear with me. And I will use
myself as an example. Now we need to keep in view what
Jesus is really saying. And truthfully, my response to
what Jesus is really saying is, huh? What do you mean? No, Roland's
got it. Roland understands what I'm saying.
What are you talking about? Worrying about how much, having
enough food to eat. I don't know what, I've never
worried about that. I'm 52 years old. I'm 52 years old. And I know
this is true. I have never in my 52 years committed
that particular sin. You get it? I have never worried. in 52 years about not having
enough to eat. I never have. And I have never in 52 years
worried about having enough clothes to protect me from the elements.
I never have. What are you talking about, Laura? Now that's not true for some
of you, and I know that. And I know that some of you have
worried in this way, but not most of you. We haven't. We really haven't. And for most of you, not all
of you, your experience is the same as mine. Not all of you,
I know that. Now, why am I saying these things?
Well, I'm saying these things for a number of reasons. The
text is speaking about the basic necessities of life. Jesus is
speaking about the daily bread in the Lord's Prayer we studied
earlier. Jesus is speaking about necessary
bodily coverings to be protected from the elements. Children,
when have you ever worried about that? Teenagers, when have you
ever worried about that? We're worrying about how we're
going to look in front of our friends. Are we going to be cool
or not? Okay, we're coveting. We're coveting their praise and
glory. We're not worrying about, can my body be protected from
the elements? See, the text is speaking about
those basic necessities of life. It's speaking about Genesis 3.15,
in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread. This text lines
up with that view of the earth and life. So, that's one of the reasons
I'm saying it, you know, and this is what God promises to
provide for His people. You see, we've got to define
this right because we need to really understand what God actually
promises to provide to you. He doesn't provide, He doesn't promise
in this passage to provide beyond this. Now, He often does. But this is what He promises
to provide. And this is where you and I ought
to be content. So that's why we're doing this.
That's why we're defining this as to what it really means, as
to what it meant in the culture when Jesus gave it. And this
is what God promises to provide for His people. Now He often
gives much more. But this level is that which
he promises and which we should keep straight in our thinking.
The other reason I'm saying this is to prevent us from misapplying
the text. Man, I can barely make ends meet. I'm living from hand to mouth. I can barely make ends meet.
But God tells me don't worry. That's not what this text is
about. Come on. When we say I can barely make
ends meet, what do we mean? I can barely sustain this lifestyle
that I've adopted. That's what we mean. You know,
I've got three cars, I've got this and I've got that, and I've
gotten it as fast as I can get it by borrowing and I'm enjoying
all this stuff. I can barely make ends meet.
What we mean is I can barely hang on to this lifestyle with
all this stuff. We're not talking about this.
You've never thought, man, I've got four kids and I'm not sure
if I can feed them tomorrow. That isn't what you've meant
when you say I can barely make ends meet. You know? You see, so that's why I'm saying
this. Not to be mean, but the Word of God And our brothers and sisters
in Korea and other places, North Korea and other places, they're
under a different type of suffering and persecution, okay? And a
temptation. But let me tell you, folks, we're
under a different type of temptation in regard to our profession of
being followers of Jesus Christ. And it relates to these things,
okay? So we've got to get our thinking
adjusted. The worry our Lord describes
here is not worrying about maintaining a certain lifestyle for us and
our children. And we have a fairly decent government,
even if we do go broke and run out of food for our children.
We have a government that steps in. Okay? We even have that! So, I don't know if I can even
relate to this. Again, I'm enough of an exegete,
you see, that I can exegete it for you. Okay? I can tell you
what this really meant, what Jesus spoke it, and what it meant
to the people who originally heard it. Can I relate to it? I don't know. Now, I'm not saying
that there aren't some Americans that spend a lot of time worrying
about food and clothing. There are. We have a segment
in our society of people that are worried about food and clothing
and so don't misinterpret me to say that we don't and we ought
to be doing what we can in the right way regarding those folks. But Jesus here, this is what
he's talking about. All right, now third, now, nor
is the Lord being unfaithful to us if we have to change our
lifestyle in order to meet our basic necessities. Hmm? Nor, let me say that again,
nor is the Lord being unfaithful to us if it so happens that we
have to change our lifestyle to meet our basic necessities. That's not an evidence of his
unfaithfulness to his children. And neither is the church failing
if it does not help people maintain their previously attained lifestyles. Right? No. God doesn't call the
church to help people maintain A lifestyle that is so far and
above and beyond what he promises. Think about this. And neither is it unloving or
ungodly counsel when someone would actually counsel a Christian
to downsize their lifestyle to make ends meet. You know, you're going to counsel
someone, and they're all stressed out, and they're all worried,
and they're all tied up in this stuff. And you're going to counsel them.
How are you going to do that? Well, if you're going to counsel
them biblically, you're going to have to point out to them.
They can be free from all that by making a few changes. They're still going to have plenty
to eat. Your kids aren't going to be running across the street
barefoot. But there's a way. There really
is. And God's going to be faithful
to you in all of that. I mean, how are you going to
get down here? Folks, what are you going to do with the command
to sell what you have so you can give to other people? How
are you going to do that command? All I'm doing, and I'm here with
you, is I'm calling us just to face and think about the words
of the Lord Jesus. These are His words about our
lives. And don't accuse me of being
a legalist. You have never heard from this
pope of how much money you're supposed to give and to who you're
supposed to give it. You have never heard a word.
I've preached here eight years now. I've never preached on money. And Ananias and Sapphira, they
didn't need to sell any of that property, right? They didn't
need to sell any of it. And God didn't strike them dead
because they didn't sell any of it. He struck them dead because
they were liars, okay? But he didn't strike them dead
because they only sold half of it or a tenth of it. No, this is for Christ's disciples. And when Christ's disciples hear
his word, they get encouraged and they want to do it. They
want to follow him. All I need to do is explain to
you what he really said and how that relates to our lives. And
it is very challenging. And what would you expect? Anything
less from the Lord Jesus? You know, he says, take up your
cross daily, follow him. Man's life doesn't consist in
the abundance of things. He who seeks to save his life
or what, lose it. And boy, the freedom that comes.
The freedom that comes. All right? The freedom that comes. Can you imagine the freedom that
comes? No, some of you probably can't. But then you just need to trust
and obey and you'll experience the freedom that comes. So he's
talking about the basic necessities and I wanted to point that out. So nor is it unloving, ungodly
counsel when someone would counsel a Christian to downsize their
life to make their ends meet or to eliminate debt or something,
you know, to make it work. That's not ungodly counsel. It's
not unloving. And neither is a husband failing
if he can't provide a certain lifestyle but keeps food on the
table and clothes on the back of his family. All right? Neither is a father failing if
he keeps food in the stomach of his sons and clothes on their
back. All right? What do I mean? You understand
what I mean. Do I need to say more? I don't need to say anymore.
All right. So, you see, if we allow the
Lord's definitions to creep from the basic necessities to a certain
level of lifestyle. It affects our attitudes about
many other things. Okay. Don't end life like that
rich fool. Now, our Lord was speaking to
disciples who could look around themselves and were tempted to
worry if they could put a pair of shoes on their children's
feet. When he spoke to his disciples,
those men could look around them, and they were tempted to anxiety
as to whether they could put shoes on the feet of their children,
and yet they're going to follow him. He said, I'm going to make
these men and these women my followers. That's the type of people he
was talking to. Some of the most comforting,
some of the most comforting words in all of Scripture are given
in these passages. And he speaks these comforting
things. Verse 22. Verse 23, life is more than food
and the body is more than clothing. This is a metaphysical answer.
What do I mean by that? He's reasoning, isn't it? It's
metaphysical reasoning. Life is more than food and the
body more than clothing. It's beyond physical, metaphysical. Life is more than food. Life
is more than the physical dimensions and a worry over the physical
dimensions is a waste of one's life. It is a wrong focus. That's what he's saying. And
he's saying it about the most basic of necessities. Life is more than, you know,
a good haircut. We could understand him saying
that. You know, life is more than having attractive clothes. We could understand him saying
that. But he's talking about the basic stuff! And he denied Maslow's Pyramid. Any psychology majors in here?
Huh? Maslow's hierarchy of human needs,
the very top, he just denied it. And in this passage he's
going to deny it. Life is more than food and the
body more than clothing. All right. A man's life does
not consist in the abundance of things he possesses, and life
is more than food and clothing. Don't accept the world's definition
of what your life is all about. If you do, you will end up exactly
in the position Jesus urges you to avoid. And if you are not
on your guard, you'll wake up one day and you'll wonder, how
in the world did I ever get here? It all starts before you're 18. Jesus, having given this metaphysical
lesson, still knows we are not disembodied spirits. He knows
that. And he knows that the physical
matters can become very pressing, so in some of the most reassuring
and tender words of all the Bible, he gives us illustrations to
encourage us to trust in him as our Heavenly Father and be
free from the worry about these necessities. Verse 24 addresses
the what we shall eat matter. Consider the ravens, for they
neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn.
And God feeds them. Of how much more value are you
than the birds? Look at the birds, he says to
his disciples. God feeds them. They also manage
to feed their young. Consider them. If God has that
kind of benevolent care, over the birds. Surely he will feed
you. He will feed his people. That's
what he's saying. Think about that. Think about it. He feeds them. Our worry is unjustified. Consider the ravens. That's what
he's saying about those necessities. Next, what does he say? He uses
a different approach. This one is almost humorous. Verse 24, 25 there. Verse 25,
And which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do
the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Now, we've got
to think about this a little bit. First off, let's deal with the
translation. Who can add one cubit to his
stature? Or does it mean to add one hour
to your lifetime? You can translate the Greek word
either way. The Greek word can be used either of stature, your
height, or it can be used of length of time. When Zacchaeus,
Zacchaeus was what? Short. And he ran ahead and he
climbed up in the tree, the scripture says, because he was of a small
stature. But when the text says that Sarah Sarah, let me get it exactly
right, Sarah was long past her stature of conceiving. That was
age. You see, the term can go either
way. The term can refer to length of time or it can refer to stature. Now, we might think cubit or
adding to your stature is the right translation, right? The
reason we might think that is because cubit is a measure of
distance and stature is how high you are. You know, you don't
add apples to bananas, you add apples to apples, so you add
cubits to statures. So we translate it stature. But
a cubit is a foot and a half. Paul's figured it out. A cubit
is a foot and a half. Now, you know, verse 25 says,
verse 26, and if you are not able to do the least, So this
adding a cubit to whatever is doing something really small.
Now what if I showed up here next Sunday and I was 7 foot
4 inches? I wouldn't have just done the
least, right? I would have done something really significant,
all right? So probably it's a reference
to time. Who can add a single hour to
one's life? And it's not a reference to physical
height. And that's why a lot of your
translations have a single hour or a single day. Because Jesus
says adding this cubit to whatever is the least of things, okay? It's a small thing which you
can't do. And adding 18 inches to someone
who's 5'10 is not a small thing. So he's probably saying which
one of you by worrying can add a tiny bit. to the length of
your life. No one can do that. So why worry
about doing the bigger things? His reasoning is, if you can't
do the little thing, why worry about doing the big thing? Now
if you're really logical, and I happen to be that kind of a
person, man, I don't get it. I should worry
about, I can't do these little insignificant things, but these
big important things, I ought to worry about those. You see
what I'm saying? It almost sounds like fatalism. It kind of sounds like fatalism. You see, you can't If you can't
keep yourself from starving to death, so why worry about it? You can't keep yourself from
starving to death, you can't do the littlest things, much
less keep yourself from starving to death, so why worry about
it? It sounds like fatalism, but it's not fatalism. You see,
so instead of being anxious for the rest, We should begin trusting
God for the rest and not worry. It's not fatalism because there
is a God. There is a God who's full of
mercy. You can't do the little things, much less the big ones. So why worry about any of them?
There's a different way. Trust. Faith. Because God's your
creator. And as a disciple of Jesus Christ,
God's your Redeemer. You see? No, it's not fatalism. I can't change anything anyways.
Why worry about it? I'm going to starve to death
anyways. Why worry about it? No. No, no, no. It's not fatalism. God is a faithful Creator and
a faithful Redeemer. And that's what Jesus is saying.
Verse 27 uses a third illustration. Now he goes over to the clothing.
Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin,
and the idea about spinning is making clothes, okay? Spinning
to make your garment. Can you see that? A lily's out
there spinning to put on a beautiful garment. They neither toil nor
spin, and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was
not arrayed like one of these. And if God then so clothed the
grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown
into the oven, they burnt it for fuel, thrown into the oven,
how much more will he clothe you? God puts those beautiful clothes
on the grass and yet in a very short period of time it's thrown
in the oven and it's burnt for fuel and yet God put those beautiful
clothes on the grass. How much more will He not clothe
you who are His children, who are His special creation? In all of these illustrations,
underlying Jesus' reasoning is the fact that God created all
nature and mankind with a great distance between them. I just
want to say this. Jesus' reasoning about the ravens
and the grass and the lilies And the fact that he takes care
of you is because you are so much more valuable and you are
so different from all that other created stuff. Right? Okay. That's what he's saying. And
that's very important, right? The reason we mistreat human
life in this century more than any other is because humanism
has shut that gap. That big gap between every other
created living thing and a human being is why these illustrations
work. Okay? We're created in the image
of God. Those ravens aren't. Okay? That's why these illustrations
work. And they do work. And we are
His special creation. All right, verse 28 ends with
a gentle reproof. O you of little faith! If then
God clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow
is thrown into the oven, how much more, how much more will
He clothe you? O you of little faith! It's a
gentle reproof. He's been reasoning with us.
Life is more than food. The body is more than clothing.
God feeds the ravens. They don't sow, reap, or store
in barns. You have much more value than
God. You have much more value to God
than the ravens. Why then do you worry that you
will be fed? The grass and the lilies are
magnificently clothed by God. Even though they live a very
short life compared to you, why then do you worry if you will
be clothed?" Our worry gives testimony to our unbelief. Oh,
you of little faith. At this point, in Jesus' speaking,
he goes deeper, doesn't he? After these three illustrations,
worrying just seems to be out of the question. Worrying seems
to be ridiculous. What can explain the timidity
and the fear of my little flock, my disciples, you see? What can
explain it? So Jesus puts, you know, after
those illustrations and they're reasonable and they're true,
it's like worry is ridiculous. How can I explain the fear and
the timidity of my little flock? Oh, you of little faith. You
see? And he almost interrupts his
discourse. Worry is ridiculous. And then
he looks over at them. You know, and they're worrying,
you know, and they're on shaky legs, right? And he, what can
explain this? And he says it graciously. Oh,
you of little faith. Okay? And he calls his disciples. to realize He is worthy of more
trust than that. God is worthy of more trust. Jesus is worthy of more confidence,
folks. Think of it that way. Your Lord
and Savior is worthy of more trust than what we demonstrate
when we're full of anxiety and fear over these things. Oh, you
of little faith. It's an encouragement to see
the unreasonableness of our fear and to learn to trust. It is comforting he didn't say,
oh, you unbelievers. No, he didn't say, oh, you of little
faith. Oh, that's good. That's good. No, in this paragraph he is speaking
to those who have gotten up on their shaky legs and begun by
faith to follow him. But their faith is little and
the slowness to which they cast away worry leads to Jesus' description
of these men and women as of little faith. Jesus used this
description of the twelve when they were in the boat and the
storm and he used it in other places. As Jesus observed these
disciples and us, I'm sure it was clear that they were not
taking to heart the comfort that they should have derived from
God's promises and powers. They're not taking this to heart. They're not believing this. They're
not thinking about this. Consider the ravens. Consider
the lilies. Turn the TV off. Push the paper
aside. Step outside and look at the
birds and think about this. That's what he's saying to do. Think about this world as God
has made it and what is going on. Consider these things. They weren't taking it to heart. They weren't believing it. Faith
doesn't come like taking a pill or getting an injection or getting
emotionally pumped up on Sunday morning. Faith comes by hearing
and hearing the Word of God. And Jesus is saying, consider,
think of these things. Think on my promises. If you
don't think on the promises of God, you won't have anything.
If you don't live off the promises of God, man shall not live by
bread alone, right? But by every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God. And you don't live by faith without
eating the Lord's bread, which is His Word. Right? And so we need to take that comfort,
and it comes by believing in Him and thinking about what He
has said. Now, I'll just say this. We of little faith need to take
time to hear what the Lord has said, to think about it, and
to resolve to believe it. Then put away worry. We need to resolve to believe
it. Say no to worry. Worry becomes a habit. Anxiety becomes a sinful habit. Do you understand? Worry becomes
a habit. In an unbelieving world, that's
all they ever do is worry because they've denied God, they have
no savior. And when you live in that mindset,
anxiety and worry becomes a habit of unbelief. And in order to
get out of it, you have to resolve to trust God. and not worry. You have to resolve to believe
in His promises. That's what you have to do. He's
saying, I will trust in His promise. This is what He has said. And
I will stop worrying. That's how you do it. I will
believe what He has said. He is worthy. And I'll get on with it. And
I'll stop this worry and anxiety by faith. David said it. Psalm 56, three through four,
and we sing it. Whenever I am afraid, I will
trust in you. Understand that? You can't just
say, don't worry, don't worry, don't worry, don't be anxious.
No, it doesn't work that way. Whenever I am afraid, I will
trust in you. Use anxiety and worry to be a
call to faith. Do you understand? When you feel
that anxiety coming in, that temptation to give in, that is
a call to you to faith. Whenever I am afraid, I will
trust in you. Renew your mind, do it that way. Whenever I'm afraid, I will trust
in you. Listen to this. In God, I will
praise his word. I'm reading the next words out
of David's mouth. Whenever I'm afraid, I will trust
in you. In God, I will praise his word. In God, I have put my trust.
I will not fear what can flesh do to me. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, we thank
you that you are gracious. We thank you that you made that
expression, O you of little faith. We thank you that you knew your
disciples needed the lessons that you've given. And we thank
You that You've given those lessons to us in Your Word, and You know
what we need, Lord. And for this we're grateful. Lord Jesus, we thank You that
You lived a life of faith as a man, that You've been tempted
in every way as we have, that You know of which You speak,
You know about what You speak, Lord Jesus, we will pray as your
disciples did. Increase our faith. Lord, forgive
us. You're worthy of far more trust
than we display. Lord, we're offended when people
don't trust in us. We get huffy. We take it personally. Oh, Father, forgive us. We pray
in Jesus' name. Amen.
Do Not Worry about Basic Necessities
Series Luke
| Sermon ID | 6818225774 |
| Duration | 55:49 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Luke 12:22-34 |
| Language | English |
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