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"GONE FOREVER"
I. "THE FRUITS THAT THY SOUL LUSTED AFTER."
A. The worldly man is controlled by his appetites.
1. God intended that we be controlled by our minds.
2. He wants us to think things through.
3. He said, "Come now, let us reason together saith the Lord."
4. Paul speaks of presenting your body unto God as a living sacrifice which is your reasonable service.
B. The worldly man controlled by his lusts, does not stop to reason things through. I like the title of the book by Dr. Wildersmith, "He Who Thinks, Must Believe."
1. Paul tells us that the god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not.
2. Solomon spoke of looking out of his window at a street scene.
PRO 7:6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
PRO 7:7 And I watched the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
PRO 7:10 And, behold, there met him a woman [with] the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
PRO 7:11 (She [is] loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
PRO 7:12 Now [she] is in the streets, and she is waiting at the corner.)
PRO 7:13 So she caught him, and kissed him, [and] with an impudent face said unto him,
PRO 7:14 [I have] peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
PRO 7:15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
PRO 7:16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved [works], with fine linen of Egypt.
PRO 7:17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
PRO 7:18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
PRO 7:19 For the goodman [is] not at home, he is gone on a long journey:
PRO 7:20 He has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
PRO 7:21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
PRO 7:22 He went after her as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
PRO 7:23 He did not stop to think, until he discovered that he had contracted a venereal disease; he was as bird that hastens to the bird trap, and does not know that it will cost him his life.
PRO 7:24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
PRO 7:25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
PRO 7:26 For she has cast down many wounded: yea, many strong [men] have been destroyed by her.
PRO 7:27 Her house [is] the path to hell, leading to the chambers of death.
II. WHAT WERE THE FRUITS THAT THEIR SOUL WAS LUSTING AFTER? VS. 12
A. The merchandise of gold, silver and precious stones. Or expensive jewelry. How people lust after fancy jewelry.
B. Fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet. The fancy colorful clothes.
C. Fancy and costly furniture.
D. Expensive perfumes.
E. Gourmet foods.
F. Fancy sport cars. (You say, "The bible does not say fancy sports cars) that is true, but it says horses and chariots, which were the sports cars of that day.
G. Slaves and the souls of men.
III. WHAT WAS TO HAPPEN TO THESE THINGS? THEY WILL DEPART FROM YOU.
A. In that last days when the judgments of God come upon the earth, and millions of people are starving to death because the food has become contaminated perhaps by the radio active fallout from the nuclear weapons that will be used in the wars of the last days.
1. According to the scriptures a quart of wheat will be selling for around $75.00.
2. A starving man can become a beast, history attests to this fact.
B. With the great desolation that will come as the result of the cataclysmic upheavals of nature, your jewelry and fancy clothes and furniture will be of no great comfort to you.
C. I think of all the wealth that was represented by those who were on the Titanic, as the ship was going down, that is the last thing that they were thinking about. The one driving issue was survival.
IV. "YOU SHALL FIND THEM NO MORE AT ALL."
A. If you have put all of your life and investments in material things, what will you have to show the Lord when He comes?
B. Jesus gave a parable concerning those who have laid up treasures for themselves and are not rich toward God.
LUK 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly:
LUK 12:17 And he thought to himself, "What shall I do, because I do not have enough room to store my goods?
LUK 12:18 And he said, I know what I will do: I will pull down my barns, and build bigger; and there I will store all my fruit and my goods.
LUK 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou have much goods laid up for the future; take it easy, eat, drink, [and] be merry.
LUK 12:20 But 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?
LUK 12:21 So [is] he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
C. Imagine, all of the labor, effort and striving you have endured building your fortune. It will all be gone forever in just a moment of time.
1. Think of how many rich people have died of heart attacks from the pressure of amassing their wealth.
2. You spend your whole life amassing a nest egg so that you might retire and enjoy your senior years, and die within the first year of your retirement.
3. This man I met in West Virginia who was 54 years old and had worked for the B and O railway since he was 14 years of age. I said, "You should retire." He was highly offended, and began to tell me of dozens of men he knew who retired and died within the year. My saying, "You should retire" was to him like saying, " Why don't you drop dead."
4. Solomon said:
ECC 6:1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it [is] common among men:
ECC 6:2 A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wants nothing for his soul, he could have anything he desired, yet God has not given him the power to eat thereof, but a stranger eats it: this is vanity, and it [is] an evil disease.
5. What is your soul desiring after today?
D. The basic folly of man is to think that he can satisfy that emptiness in his soul with things.
1. Madison Ave. knows this, and thus these men are hired to make you think that their product can fill the void in your life.
2. The purpose of advertising is to make you think that their product will bring you happiness and satisfaction.
3. They extend you credit, everybody is anxious to give you a Visa Card. They want you to extend it to the limit, so that you will have to pay the excessive interest rates that they ultimately charge on the unpaid balance. They give you a minimum amount to pay each month that barely covers the interest. You have become a slave to the bank, for you can never get the balance paid off.
4. This is the system that comes under the judgment of God in chapter 18 of the book of Revelation.
E. Jesus said, "A man's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses."
1. True riches are not found in material things, but in eternal things.
2. James wrote,
JAM 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that love him?
3. I would much rather be poor in this world and rich in faith, than rich in this world and poor in faith.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
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