Thou Fool: Part One (1/27/2011)

Luke 12:16-21

¹⁶And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: ¹⁷And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? ¹⁸And 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. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. ²⁰But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? ²¹So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

I’m sure you’ve heard it quoted many times, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 53:1). Well, over the next few days, we will be looking further into why the Bible calls those who do not acknowledge God fools.

In this first situation we see a man that is consumed by the love of himself. As soon as he saw the abundance of the fruits of his labor, he began to contemplate where he could possibly put it all. I’m sure his immediate thought was something like this: “What am I going to do? If I don’t find somewhere to put it all, it will all go to waste!” Never mind the multitudes of people that I’m sure would be eternally grateful to have some his goods. Never mind what God might have him do.

Where the man made his second mistake was when he said, “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” His mistake was that he was greatly mistaken when he said the words “many years.” This man like many of you thought he was invincible. He thought that he could please only himself from then on and actually get away with it. He couldn’t have been more wrong!

That is when God steps in and says, “Thou fool!” Who are you to think that you know how long you have to live? Who are you to think that you are better than anyone else? Most importantly, who are you to think that you can make it without Him?

Every day you store up treasures for yourself upon this earth, never considering the God that gave you life. You call them treasures; I call them filth. You call them lovable; God calls the abominable. Each time you choose to wallow in the putridity of your own sin instead of walking in the righteousness of God, God is saying to you, “Thou fool!”

However, one day He’s not going to stop there. One day you will hear the same tragic words that the rich man heard: “This night thy soul shall be required of thee.” Rest assured that someone else that said they would never hear those words is hearing those very words right now. Please, take my advice when I say to you to come to Jesus. Leave your little world of Self behind you and fall at Jesus’ feet. He has promised that, if you will put all your trust in Him and repent completely of all sin, He will save you today and keep you saved FOREVER.