Welcome to the For the Gospel podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn, and I want to welcome our listeners on Apple and Spotify. And those of you listening to this on our YouTube video podcast format, I do want to start by saying a huge thank you. The subscribing on Apple or Spotify or on YouTube tells us that the material is consistently blessing you. That means we're hitting our goal, which is to serve you with sound doctrine. So thanks for letting us know. And then the reviews on Apple or commenting on YouTube is a great way to let people know how these resources are blessing you. So thank you so much for doing that. And let's keep it rolling. On today's episode, I'm continuing with part two of this brand new series on the parables. And I'm covering eight parables in a practical way. And I want to help you think about them, maybe in ways you have not or understand them for the very first time. Now, if you haven't already listened to the first episode in the series, I want you to do that because it's titled How to Interpret the Parables and getting a good foundation for what we would call hermeneutics or the study of the Bible through interpretation, all those things, very important when we talk about the parables because there are some potential pitfalls that people run into when it comes to the parables. And I want you to be strong and ready. That episode is a catalyst to the rest of the series. But if you've already got that tool in your tool belt, let's jump into our first one. It's the rich fool. It's found in Luke 12, verses 13 to 21. Maybe you're watching this or you're listening and you've got the ability to grab your Bible, do that. Or if you're driving, don't worry. I'll read to you and take care of business for you. Let me get you into the context first. We always want to set a text in its context when we're sort of parachuting in like we are. And then I'll read you the parable and then we'll break it down with some interpretation and application. First, context. Want you to imagine for a moment that you're sitting under Jesus' teaching along with all the crowds who were following him. Everybody's there, it's sort of buzzing, but but he's talking and everyone's listening, and then someone interrupts and yells out, Tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me. Evidently, this man does not think he's getting a fair deal, so he looks to Jesus for justice. Now, in those days, the oldest male in a family would be allotted the most of an inheritance or a birthright. You know that term if you've heard the story of Jacob and Esau. The birthright would go to the firstborn, and that could cause issues with other siblings for a number of reasons. Of course, we're all human, and imagine if your oldest sibling got everything and you didn't. The man calls Jesus teacher. That gives us a clue into his mindset. Because at that time, rabbis would be consulted to settle a dispute regarding the Mosaic law on inheritances and a number of other issues. So imagine going to your rabbi and then with a dispute on some finer point, you ask the rabbi to be the arbitrator. Now, there's no guarantee this man was owed anything rightly. He might have been just greedy for gain or coveting his brother's inheritance. And the reason why I would surmise that or approach this and interpret it that way is because Jesus doesn't respond very warmly, but instead he uses this opportunity to teach the people a lesson. And what he says to the man, and the lesson gives you a clue into Jesus knowing the man's heart and the reason he was frustrated. He says to him, Man, and you'll see that when we read it, who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you? And that word man is a clue. It's the same term used in Romans 9 20 when Paul writes, Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Who are you, O man, and say, you know, why have you made me like this? Why do I bring that cross-reference up? As we typically use scripture to interpret scripture. And in that passage, there there's almost this uh rebuke in the word that he uses and in the structure of how he uses it. You know, like man, what are you talking about? Or in Romans 9 20, who are you, oh man? This man has demanded justice and equity. And Jesus wants to bring a favorable verdict to him spiritually, though not the favorable verdict the man wants financially. Basically, Jesus is arresting the man's thoughts and attention and saying, I'm not your arbitrator. I'm not here to give you some favorable verdict for your financial situation or even side with you against your brother. I am here, though, to teach you something that will give you a favorable verdict where it matters, your soul. Let's read it together. I brought my Bible to this episode. If you need to hit pause, go ahead. Otherwise, join me in reading. Let's do this. Someone in the crowd, in Luke 12, verses 13 to 21, said to him, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me. But he said to him, This is Jesus now, man, who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you? And then he said to them, now he's going to teach the crowd, beware and be on your guard against every form of greed. For not even when one has abundance does his life consist of possessions. You see that there. Jesus is has kind of turned the subject from this man's little problem with equity to something deep and spiritual. Tells them a parable and says, The land of a rich man was very productive, and he began reasoning to himself, don't miss that, saying, What shall I do since I have no place to store my crops? This man saying, I got so much. What should I do? Then he said, This is what I'll do. I'll tear it back down my barns and I'll big I'll build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. He's feeling pretty good about his plan. In verse 19, I'll say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. He's saying, Hey, I got 10, 20, 30 years. Woo, my 401k is looking good. I got big barns. 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? Jesus says, So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Whew. An indictment, a lesson, a perspective, amazing truth from Jesus, and not an easy parable for us to begin with, but so important in our age of affluence and in the very normal and very common pursuit of stuff. Now there's some key lessons in this parable that emerge from its theme of being rich towards God. I want you to be thinking of that as I talk through some of these things. Maybe I say things that are hard for you to accept, or a truth that really pierces your soul, and you start to feel guilty and you kind of go down some other rabbit trails. It's fine to let conviction do its thing and trust the Lord. That's the Holy Spirit doing that. But I want you to remember the theme: rich towards God. Here's some truths from this parable. Number one, be on guard against every form of greed. What does every form mean? Why does Jesus say it that way? Well, this would be greed driven by your own ambitions, but also greed driven by other things, every form. So maybe envy or covetousness is how greed got triggered. But think of any other way that it could be triggered. And remember this, it's not a sin to be driven to earn money or to be successful at what you do, but it is a sin to be driven by every form of greed, meaning whatever angle the enemy takes to tempt you. Greed is this salacious appetite of more is never being enough. So if you're fearing today because you don't have more, or you're fiending today because you just want more and you already have it, be careful. Jesus says, be on guard against every form of greed. Truth number two, bigger barns mean nothing to God. Think about what the man said. He says, Oh, I'll say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. And then God says, You fool, this night your soul is required of you. And who's going to own now what you've prepared? Basically, you don't even get to enjoy it. You think you're so important. You got big barns, you're so impressed. You've missed. This is the man who has stored up treasure for himself, and Jesus says, is not rich towards God. The man was so impressed with his self-security. And there's a warning there for us. You feeling pretty good because you've got bigger barns, you feeling pretty good because you know you've got everything in order. And I'm not saying don't be fiscally responsible. Goodness, our our church, my home, ministries, your business, all of it. We want to be very structured, systematic, fiscally responsible, and you need to have a plan and you need to use wisdom. No doubt. The Lord provides wisdom for that in the word. Think of Proverbs 6:6. It says, Go to the ant, oh sluggard, meaning you lazy person. Look at the ant. The ant is saving and preparing in one season to get ready for the next. But notice what Jesus' indictment is here. It's the man's false sense of peace, which is only outdone by his pride. He's so impressed with himself and forgets God doesn't care. You can talk to your soul all you want and give yourself a big hand and a pat on the back. God's not interested and he's not impressed. What does God desire? He desires obedience and the hearts of his people. Do you have bigger barns? God bless you. He gave you that ability to earn wealth. He gave you what you have. It's fine if you have bigger barns, but do you have a big heart? And do you have open hands toward God? Does he have hold of you? Truth number three, you are blessed to be a blessing for God. Doesn't matter if I'm a preacher saying this or I'm your neighbor or anybody else for that matter, nobody should apologize for saying this. You are an I am. If we're materially blessed in any way, we are blessed to be a blessing for God or to God. I don't want you to get in this idea that because the prosperity gospel is false and because the prosperity gospel is damaging, that now we swing the other way and no one can ever tell you what you have belongs to God. You should be giving generously, living generously, and all of it for God. I was talking to one of my little children the other day, and I felt this slight hesitation in my heart because I thought, well, do I really want to tell them? And I and then I said, you know what? Yeah, I'm operating in fear because I I want to make sure that I have a balanced view and I don't overbear. And I told one of my young children, he was looking at his uh that he's got this plastic money jar, and it's just loaded with birthday money and coins and allowance, and he's he's he's really got a bigger little barn there for my for the age he's at. And I said, Hey, pretty good job, huh? Saving all your money. He's like, Yeah, I have a big smile on his face. And I said, make sure if the Lord blesses you in life and you're wealthy or you have a lot, even now what you have, are you making sure to give? And I said it specifically this way because I wanted to even press in on my own heart, because sometimes as a pastor, you get nervous, you don't want to say too much or be compulsion, compulsing to people, or they have compulsion in the way you're talking. And I said, You make sure you're giving to the church, to God's work, and you give generously to God to help the gospel go forth and to serve other people, right? And he said, Yes, definitely. And and I realized as I walked out of his room that night, I need to make sure I'm never apologizing for telling people one of your biggest line items in your budget should be the work of the Lord, whether missionaries, certainly your local church, faithful ministries, people in need, make sure that your biggest line items, you know, your top tier is not everything for you and your material goods and you're really living large with big barns, and you don't have a big budget for blessing the work of the Lord. John MacArthur preaching on this parable said, if you don't use what God has given you for his glory, other people remembering your mortality, you're a fool. I like that because it really presses in on your your heart and makes you either go, Who are you to say that to me? Or it makes you go, hmm, that's a good word. I'll say amen to that. Or as Vodi Bacum always says, if you can't say amen, at least say ouch. Jesus is teaching people that they need to remember why they're blessed in the first place. God's the giver of good gifts. He does care that your kids are provided for. He cares that you have a roof over your head. You look at Matthew 6 and all these things of food, clothing, shelter, absolutely they're important to God. And then he says in verse 33, seek ye first his kingdom, and all these things will be added unto you. Make sure that your priorities are in line spiritually. And he also knows our hearts. He knows when we have plenty and when we can give more towards God, when we can be richer towards God. Doesn't mean you're rich. It just means that you and I can be richer towards God. Even a small amount, being generous with the Lord, he sees the heart. Whereas someone could have a ton of money and they are cheap with God, he sees the heart. He knows when we're prioritizing building bigger barns and when we're prioritizing advancing his kingdom. Now, he isn't against you having abundance, so as you are abundantly generous with his work, God works really well with open hands. He will bless you to be a blessing, and that cycle continues. When people start getting selfish and holding on, and you think it's yours, the Lord will rebuke, he will convict, and he will correct and discipline because he loves his children. There's a very important warning here from the word of God. Number four, your soul matters most. Consider what Jesus says to the man just before he tells the parable. He says, Beware and be on your guard against every form of greed. We know that, but don't miss the last line. For not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of possessions. In our day, many of us enjoy affluence or we want it. And the goal is, you know, get more stuff. More stuff, more money in the bank, more stuff, more money in the bank, more stuff. Jesus is warning clearly against putting security in what you have. And by the end of the parable, the rich fool, his soul has been called to the mat. And for all the material wealth he's amassed on earth, he's done nothing to ensure that his soul was secure. And I think people wrestle with the same issue today. We forget about eternity. Or worse, we know these truths and we ignore them with our actions. So if this is you, if you if you'd say amen to what I'm teaching you from the Word of God, put it into action. Don't just say, hmm, that's true. Take the truth and live it. As you consider your life in light of this parable and Jesus' point, I want you to ask yourself a few questions. Number one, am I being rich towards God? I want to ask myself the same thing. I'm with you in this. Whatever wealth He's given you and I, could we say we're being generous towards him or cheap? There are those who have a little, yet they give sacrificially with eternal perspective. And there's those who have a lot, and they'll spend more on new clothes they don't even need than they would ever give towards God. Let's consider our stewardship. The second question: Am I prioritizing my soul? One of the most painful things to watch as a pastor is people pursue their financial goals and their recreational goals and their material goals and achieve them because they're working hard and they're focused. But when it comes to spiritual things, they're lazy and uninterested. The reason that pains me as a pastor is because there's nothing wrong with making money. There's nothing wrong with enjoying life, there's nothing wrong with having stuff. But when you don't make your top priority your spiritual life, your soul, then it's clear you don't have stuff. The stuff has you. And here's what I want you to kind of think about as we close. Yes, the point I've just made, no doubt. But don't swing the pendulum the other way then and start writing checks thinking that your money is what God really wants. It's your heart. So don't just give bigger and give more and go, all right, there we go. I've prioritized spiritual things. That's just thinking you can buy off God and now your soul is fine. I'm talking about a spiritual pursuit. The pursuit of purpose, the pursuit of holiness, the pursuit of living for his glory. And you go, man, this just sounds like a lot, Costi. You're you're really piling it on. No, I'm just laying out the biblical priorities. Go ahead, make great money. Go ahead, be successful. Kill it. I want you to. Colossians 3.23, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not for man. But don't forget, all of you is for all of Christ and all of his glory. So as you succeed, guess what? Yeah, you're also generous and rich towards God, but it's also your time and your affection, your worship and your love. Your discipleship belongs to him. We're not just writing checks and paying them off like he's one of our bills, and you just set it to auto and go, got that dealt with. So God's paid off and this, now I do me. No, friend, it's all of your life, all of your resources, all of who you are, and me too, all for him. The rich fool did not consider the state of his soul in the midst of all of his pursuits. I'm thankful Jesus did not, and still today, through his word, does not mince words in the parable of the rich fool. And you and me too have much to think about today. Next time, we're going to look at the parable of the unforgiving servant. So, no, it doesn't get easier. It doesn't get lighter. I just love the weight of God's word. Amen. Thanks for listening, thanks for watching, and thanks for supporting. If you haven't already, make sure you're subscribed to our YouTube channel or to learn more about our ministry, get free resources, or partner with us, you can go to for thegospel.org. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this series. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.