The Bible tells us "Labor not to be rich, for riches make themselves wings and fly away" (Proverbs 23:5).

In Matthew 19: 23-24 Jesus said to His disciples "Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of Heaven, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." Then in the book of Luke chapter 12 verse 1 it says that one day a crowd described as "an innumerable multitude" had gathered together to hear Jesus speak and He said to them, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness, for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth . And He spake a parable unto them saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully, and he thought within himself saying what shall I do, I have no room to store all of my my crops and my goods. And he said this will I do, I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there will I store all my fruits and my goods, And I will say to my myself - you have plenty of good things laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose shall those things be that you have stored up for yourself? And so it is with any person who layeth up treasure for himself, but is not rich toward God" (Luke 12: 15-21). What Jesus was telling them was that the less they had of wealth and worldly things, the less they would have to hinder their walk with Christ.

Jesus said it’s very difficult for a man to be rich and not set his heart upon his riches. He said also that it is utterly impossible for the man who does set his heart upon his riches to get to Heaven "for if any man love the world and the things of the world" Jesus said, "the love of the Father is not in him" (I John 2:15). Did Jesus say it was impossible for a rich man to get to Heaven? - No - Nothing is too hard for God. Was He saying that it’s wrong to earn a good living and provide for your family? - No. What He was saying is that anyone who sets their heart and their desire on obtaining an abundance of worldly things is only toiling to build a high wall to completely shut themselves out of Heaven.

One day Peter said to Jesus "Lord, we have forsaken everything to follow You." He went on to ask Jesus "what will we receive for doing so?" (Matthew 19:27). The fact that they had left all that they had to follow Him was clear evidence of the true desire of their hearts. They desired Christ above the things of the world. And Jesus’ answer to Peter was simple - "you receive Heaven."

You may not consider yourself as being a worldly person but let me ask you this: which disturbs you the most - a soul lost in hell....or a big scratch on your brand new car? - - Does it disturb you more that there are millions who do not know Christ....or that you are not able to keep up with the neighbors? Does it bother you more that after supper you weren’t able to read your newspaper that you look forward to every day....or that your Bible remains unopened EVERY day? You see you can be one of the hardest workers in your company and climb the corporate ladder all the way to the top - you can make more money then you ever dreamed of - you can be a member of the most exclusive clubs and organizations and yet with even with all of your possessions, even with all of your impressive accomplishments and and of your wealth and prestige Jesus said you will still be no closer to heaven than you were BEFORE you had all those things. In fact He said if anything at all you will be even farther AWAY from Heaven because you have placed your desires and set the course for your life’s ambitions in the direction of the world and away from the Cross. Your heart can not be set toward Heaven until your eyes are first set on Christ.

On another occasion Jesus was once again talking to His disciples about the consequences of choosing the pleasures of the world over the righteousness of God and He said to them, - "Remember Lot’s wife" (Luke 17:32).  There are very few warnings in the Bible more serious than those three little words - "Remember Lot’s wife." Lot’s wife perished because she made the wrong choice. Outwardly she professed righteousness but inwardly her heart was set on worldly things. She was told "Escape for thy life and look not behind thee" (Genesis 19:17). In other words God was telling her "follow the way of escape that I have clearly provided for you and don’t look back at those worldly things which were hindrances in your development of establishing a personal and lasting relationship with Me." She had been partially convinced to leave but she had not allowed her heart to be completely converted. Her will was not brought into a state of complete obedience to God. Her heart was never really set on things above and she disobeyed God - she stopped, and turned around, and looked back at the city that had offered her so many worldly pleasures, and God immediately turned her into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). Her disobedience and and her
un-repenting heart came at a very high price. The world was in her heart, and her heart was in the world. That was how she lived, and that was the condition in which she died.

Lot’s wife was almost saved from destruction. She had been given every opportunity but almost wasn’t good enough then, and it isn’t good enough today. The Bible says "he that being often reproved and hardeneth his heart shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy" (Proverbs 29:1). There is no remedy for the person who dies without Christ living in their heart - NO REMEDY! Is that how you want to leave this life? You don’t have to - and God doesn’t want you to. That’s why He gave His one and only Son on the Cross, so that through Jesus Christ your sins can all be forgiven and you can have eternal life.

God has provided the only possible means of salvation which is through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus said "no man can come to the Father except by Me" (John 14:6). Putting your trust in that one and only means of salvation is something that you must do PERSONALLY. God lays upon YOU the responsibility of making sure of the salvation of your soul. YOU must, on your own, answer His call when He says "Follow Me." Like so many others you may say "but I have other things to take care of first, I have to finish my education" - or, "I have my business to run." But Jesus says "Nothing else can come before Me"! One man in the Bible who the Lord had called said "Lord, I will follow Thee, but let me first go home and bid farewell to those in my house" (Luke 9:61) and Jesus replied, "No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). When a farmer is out in the field with his horse and plow, if he wants to do a good job of plowing then he never never takes his eyes off of his plow to look behind him. And Jesus was saying "If you follow Me you can not look back on worldly things" as Lot’s wife did when she looked back to Sodom. He was saying that LOOKING back inclines to lead to GOING back, which leads to separation from Jesus Christ. That’s what the world does it separates us from Christ. There is nothing in the nature of money or possessions that can produce happiness. The more wealth a man has the more he wants. Instead of filling a vacuum in a persons life it creates one. Someone once said "the poorest man I know is the man who has nothing but money." In all my years of preaching, in all my years of seeing people sick and dying I have never once heard of a single person on their death bed laughing for joy and saying "I’m glad I rejected Christ in favor of wealth", - - however I do know of millionaires on their deathbed who offered their physician millions of dollars for just a few more weeks of life, and other wealthy people on their deathbed who said that they would give everything they owned for just one more hour of life.

The Bible says "Love not the world or things that are in the world, if any man loves the things of the world the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15) and yet many people literally work themselves to death in the pursuit of wealth hoping to gain a sense of security but the Bible says "neither their silver or gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath" (Ezekiel 7:19). Thus says the Lord, "cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and the things of the world and who turns his heart away from the Lord, for he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastelands in the wilderness. But blessed is the man whose trust is in the Lord for he will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes, its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit" (Jeremiah 17: 5-8). In other words there is no getting to Heaven except through Jesus Christ! There is no finding hope except through Jesus Christ. There is no security except through Jesus Christ. Those who set their heart and mind on earthly things may find pleasure in them for a moment but eternal death and hell are the end result of their choice.

One of the reasons for the attitude of worldliness being so prevalent in our society today is because of the lowering of standards being set from behind many of our pulpits. People are hearing messages which tell them "don’t be too hard on yourself, God made you the way you are, just do the best that you can and you’ll be just fine." But the Bible says that SIN made you the way you are and that you must die to your self and your own wants and desires and take up your Cross daily and follow Christ! In every true gospel message from behind the pulpit there must be the gospel call to repent "REPENT" Jesus said, "Repent and turn from your wicked ways - except ye repent ye shall perish (Luke 13:3) - "repent ye for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" (Matthew 3:2). You alone decide your own future destiny by the decision that you make to either accept, or reject, Jesus Christ. No where in the Bible will you find it saying that happy is the man who attains great wealth, or fame, or material possessions - what you will find is the statement and promise - "Happy is he whose hope is in the Lord" (Psalm 146:5).

In all of life there is nothing more wonderful than discovering peace with God. And the only way to do that is through the Cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin and everyone who goes to Him in true faith and repentance finds peace with God. Jesus said "I stand at the door and knock, if any man hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him" (Revelation 3:20). You will never find true happiness in life by seeking it in the things of the world, you will only find it in the Son of God. Jesus said "I have come so that you may have life and happiness and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). Don’t ever feel that you’re not worth loving or that you’re not worth saving. Jesus loves you so much that He came all the way from Heaven to give His life upon the Cross just for you - and He wants to save you. All you need to do is go to Him in prayer, admit that you are a sinner, ask His forgiveness and be willing to turn from your sins, believe that He died on the Cross for you and rose from the grave, and invite Him into your heart and give Him complete control of your life. Jesus said the choice is yours - choose the world - or choose Christ - but choose today!

We are instructed to turn our eyes away from the things of the world and set our heart on the things of God. Each and every one of us are going to die one day. We will be laid out in a coffin - our friends and family will all file past to pay their last respects, the lid will be closed, and our coffin will be driven to the cemetery for burial. - There is very little time between the cradle and the coffin and we are to be investing every minute for the glory of God and His righteousness.

Yes, you can ignore God to pursue all the things the world has to offer, many people have and many more will - but - YOU WILL NEVER SEE A U-HAUL BEING PULLED BEHIND A HEARSE - you can not take any of it with you.

God bless you.
Mark Shutts