A Man God Called a Fool

 

A Man God Called A Fool  

But God said to him, You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?—Luke 12:20 

These words were spoken to a man whose land had just produced an exceedingly abundant harvest. This harvest is so great he doesn't know what to do with it because his present barns would not hold it. Suddenly he has the solution: I will build larger barns and store all my grain and goods. Now he will say to his soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry." But God had a very different plan for that man-Luke 12:16-21. 

The world looks at this man and calls him a great success but God looks at him and calls him a miserable failure. The world calls him a genius but God calls him a fool. This man evidently did not understand that he was not the real owner of that harvest, he was only a stewart of it. All of his plans centered around himself as is seen in that eleven times he uses the words my or mine in talking about his good fortune. 

This is the story of a man who leaves God completely out of his plans. When God is left out of our plans, love for things of the world, love for material things will set in and dominate our lives. This story of the rich fool really begins in verse 15 of Luke 12: "Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of possessions." Our lives should be marked with the attitude, "If the Lord wills, we shall do this or that, get this or that, go here or there (James 4:13-15).

 This is the story of a man who thinks he has a lease on life, "I've got much goods laid up for many years." It is here that I think about the way James describes life as nothing more than a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away (James 4:14). I think about the words of Isaac found in Genesis 27:2, "I am old, I know not the day of my death." David's thought on the uncertainty of life should quickly grab our attention, "There is hardly but a step between me and death"—1 Samuel 20:3. This is the story of a man who had great plans for tomorrow. He failed to take into account that no man has control over tomorrow, that control belongs only to God.

  Proverbs 27:1, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." I pray that you and I do not make the mistakes the man in this story made. Never leave God out of whatever we do, wherever we go, whatever we plan, always include him.

 

Charles Hicks

A Building From God

 

A Building From God 

For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven. . . Therefore being always of good courage and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. . .we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and be at home with the Lord—2 Corinthians 5:1-8. 

It seems that I am at a point in my life where I find myself thinking about this passage from 2 Corinthians 5 quite often. When you read these words, what do they say to you? Allow me to tell you what they say to me. 

They tell me that there is coming a day in which my physical body will be finished, I will lay it down and move out to a home that has been prepared for me (John 14:1-3). They tell me that in this life I will groan and be burdened as a result of afflictions that will bring disappointments, pain, heartache and sorrow into my life. They tell me that when I move out of this earthly house, I will have a body, not made with hands that will not be subjected to those afflictions that cause groaning and unlike this earthly body, that heavenly body will be eternal. They tell me that this old sinful, wicked world is not my home—I am simply passing through it on my way to my eternal home and that to be at home with the Lord is far greater than to be at home in this earthly body. They tell me that a better day is coming! Today, the thought overwhelms me that one day I want to stand in the midst of that eternal home not made by hands and simply say, it sure is good to be home. 

 If we live another day, month or years, it will only be a short time when considered with the eternity to which we are going. Psalms 90:9-10 tells us that the days of our years are 70, maybe even 80, those years will be labour and sorrow and soon cut off and we will fly away. When I think about the days of our years being 70 or 80, it hits me like a ton of bricks that in just a couple of days I will turn 91 years of age which tells me that I am way past my expiration day. 

I am thankful for all these years of life and even though there is a longing on my part to be clothed with that heavenly dwelling, there is also a part of me that wants to live on planet earth just a little longer. I am human and I have loved ones that I want to be with as long as possible. Not only that, I want to continue in this life with the hope and desire to in some small way influence many people to glorify the Lord (Matthew 5:16, Philippians 1:21-24). How do you feel about your life? 

In my collection of sermons, I have one titled, Death: When, Where, How, Then. We do not need to be anxious about the when, where or how of death. It is the "then" that should be our major concern because that is all about what happens after we walk through the door of death out into eternity (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). Yesterday is gone forever, tomorrow may never come, all we have is this present moment of time and it can end in a blink of an eye. Live today in a way that you can with confidence say, I know if my earthly house is torn down, I have a building from God to which I am going. 

Charles Hicks

 

 

 

GOD'S WONDERFUL WAY OF SALVATION

From time to time, at least twice a year, I try to present to my readers God's wonderful way of salvation as set forth in the New Testament. Since it has been several months since I have done this, I thought now would be a good time to do so. Nothing in this will be new to most of my readers, but I hope that they may use it as an evangelistic tool and forward this edition of "Hugh's News & Views" to friends, neighbors, and family members who are not New Testament Christians. Think of the joy that would come if just one soul learned the truth, obeyed it, and was saved! We must all be faithful in sharing the gospel and its saving truth with as many as possible.

 

A number of my readers have never obeyed the gospel and are therefore in a lost state (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10). I have a deep and sincere love for them and their souls and a compelling desire to share God's wonderful way of salvation with them. I want all of them to hear and understand the pure gospel of Christ, as opposed to a perverted gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). I want all of them to know God's simple plan of salvation as opposed to corruptions of that plan by the doctrines, commandments, and traditions of men (Matthew 15:8-9; 2 Timothy 4:3-5). The so-called "Sinner's Prayer" is a travesty of what God's word teaches about salvation. I urge all to read all the passages cited in this essay. In this way you will be hearing what God says about this all-important matter.

 

Salvation begins with the recognition that one is a sinner, and therefore lost and in need of salvation (Romans 3:23; Titus 3:3). God, in His matchless grace, gave His only begotten Son as the atonement for our sins (John 3:16; Titus 3:4-7; Ephesians 2:8-9). Christ Himself is the way of salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:11-12). Jesus died, was buried, and was raised from the dead that we might be saved. This is the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-5). And it is this gospel that is God's power to save those who will believe and obey it (Romans 1:16-17; Romans 6:16-18). Now follow these Bible steps.

 

HEAR THE GOSPEL. Christ commissioned the teaching and preaching of the gospel to every creature in all nations until the end of time (Mark 16:15-16; Matthew 28:18-20). Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). No one can be saved without hearing the gospel. Do not wait for some so-called direct, miraculous action of the Holy Spirit in your heart. The Bible teaches no such notion!

 

BELIEVE THE GOSPEL. The gospel is God's power to save those who will believe it (Romans 1:16). Without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who comes to God must believe that He is and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). Christ declared, "For if you do not believe that I am He (the Messiah, the Savior of the world, hf) you will die in your sins" (John 8:24).

 

REPENT OF ALL SIN. God commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). To repent means to change one's mind, leading to a change of actions and a change of spiritual direction in one's life. If one is in Nashville, TN and wants to go to Knoxville but finds himself on I-40 West headed toward Memphis, he must turn around and head in the opposite direction. Spiritually, one must do this with reference to the direction of his/her life. That is repentance.

 

CONFESS FAITH IN CHRIST. One must acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Matthew 10:32-33; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 8:37 [KJV]).

 

BE BAPTIZED FOR THE REMISSION OF SIN. Christ made baptism a condition of salvation from sin. He said, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16a). The question is not are we saved by grace or by baptism. God's grace must be accepted by an obedient faith. In baptism we are united with the death of Christ and contact His  blood, at which point our sins are washed away (Romans 6:3-6; Acts 22:16). In the New Testament sinners were told, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin" (Acts 2:38). Baptism is an immersion in water (Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12). Those who have only been sprinkled or had water poured on them (either as infants, children, or adults) have not been scripturally baptized. Those submitting to human substitutes for God's divine ordinance and those being immersed to "unite with the church" but not in order to receive the remission of their sins (or some biblically synonymous reason) need to make their calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10-11).

 

LIVE A FAITHFUL CHRISTIAN LIFE. Add to your life the Christian graces (2 Peter 1:5-9). Avoid the works of the flesh and manifest the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26). Always abound in the work of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58). Be faithful even to the point of death (Revelation 2:10).

 

These are the divine actions that every accountable being must take in order to be saved from sin, enter into a right relationship with God, be added to the one church (body) of Christ, and maintain a right relationship with Him. Christ is the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him (Hebrews 5:9). I want all to understand and obey God's wonderful way of salvation. There is no other way but His way, and the Bible way is His way. Any other way will be found woefully lacking (see Matthew 7:21-23). Remember: "For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man given in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26).

 

Hugh Fulford