A message to reach the heart of men and women.

1. The harvest of a human heart!

2. The harvest of the human heart “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 greater, 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 provided?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” Luke 12:16-21.

3. The selfishness of the human heart This man seems to be all right; yet God called him a fool. Why? This man gave all of his thought to himself, and he was greedy, I read this poem: “I had a little tea party This afternoon at three. ’Twas very small— Three guests in all Just I, Myself, and Me. Myself ate all the sandwiches, While I drank up the tea. ’Twas also I who ate the pie And passed the cake to Me.”

4. The greed of the human heart This is the way many people live. The parable of the rich fool is one of the strongest paragraphs in the Word of God. The attitude of many today is “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” God said, “That is the problem that is what makes a man a fool.” If you live as though this life is all here and now, and you live just for self, and as though there is nothing beyond death, you are a fool. This man had gathered all of his treasure on earth but had stored none in heaven.

5. The foolishness of the human heart THE HARVEST OF THE MAN, VERSES 16-19. “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 greater, 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.”

6. The self-centred human heart The first thing you always notice then you read this passage of Scripture is this man’s selfish words. The word “I” appears five or six times, showing the selfish focus this man has as a result of his fortune. His plan is to store his abundant resources for himself, as though the assets were his alone and should be hoarded. This focus on the self is what Jesus is condemning. “What shall I do? I have no room to store my crops? I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build greater. I will store all my crops and my goods.”

7. The self made human heart It cries out of this man’s own actions, you would believe that he made the seed, brought the sun and rain, and then he grew the seed till it was a perfect fruit, and then he brought in the harvest. The parable of the rich fool illustrates the fact that possessions are not the principal thing in life. Because of a remarkably good crop, this wealthy farmer was faced with what seemed to him a very distressing problem. He did not know what to do with all the grain.

8. The self importance of the human heart All his barns were crammed to capacity. Then he had a brainstorm. His problem was solved. He decided to pull down his barns and build bigger ones. He could have saved himself the expense and bother of this tremendous construction project if he had just looked on the needy world about him, and used these possessions to satisfy the hunger, both spiritual and physical.

9. The silliness of the human heart As soon as his new barns were built, he planned to retire. Notice his spirit of independence: my barns, my fruits, my goods, and my soul. He had the future all planned. He was going to “take his ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”

10. The harvest of the human heart Let us look again at verse 16 “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.” May I say that: It was unlikely that a “rich man” would toil the ground of any of his farms. It was unlikely that a “rich man” would plant all the seeds on his lands. It was unlikely that a “rich man” would weed out the weeds of his lands. It was unlikely that a “rich man” would gather in the fruit of the harvest. So why is he so proud of his labour and harvest, when more likely then, he never lifted a finger to bring this harvest in?

11. The foolishness of the human heart More so when he never brought the warmth of the sun, or the rain when it was needed to water the ground. No! He grew rich on the labour of others; it was what others had done for him that made him rich. When a man or woman is caught up with the goods and things around them, like this man was, they are never happy with what they have, and always want more.

12. The greed of the human heart They have a car, but they want a better car. They have a house, but they want a bigger house. They have a holiday by the sea, but want it to be the Mediterranean. They have a row boat, but want a yacht. They have a PC, but want a wireless broadband network. What ever they have, they will always want more! Because, all of their lives they have lived for self and “I.” Look at this rich man again, “What shall I do? I have … I will do this. I will … I will store all my crops and my goods.”

13. The self of the human heart Have you ever spoken to the person locked in this “I” mode? Everything they speak about is about themselves one way or another. “I have this, I went there, I am doing this, and I am going there.” You are soon bored being in their company, and often feel how shallow and empty their lives must be.

14. The price of the human heart In the case of this man, he ends by saying: “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” The man has sold his soul for a full barn! The soul of this man was not to have eternal life, but to feast for a season, in this case, not even one night. Note: “This night your soul will be required of you.”

15. The loss of the human heart The harvest of this man was death, Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death.” What are you labouring for today, life or death? God’s judgment on selfishness is clear. What did the rich fool have for the next life? He could not take his grain with him. What he owned was no longer of any value after death. In a single day, the rich man became poor. All earthly wealth is temporary and ultimately worthless (Matthew 6:19–21; 1 Timothy 6:6–10, 17–19; James 5:1–6).

16. The hope of the human heart There is another fool in the Bible, “It is the FOOL that says there is NO GOD.” Sadly YOU may hear those words spoken to you. Are you ready to meet with God? Do you have eternal life? Or are you only living for the here are now? Well, today I must say to you, “Oh! Foolish man now is the time of your salvation.” Internetpreachersforchrist.co.uk E-mail: Internetpreachersforchrist@gmail.com