Last Testimonies of Three Rich Men
By REUBEN 'BUD' ROBINSON (1860-1942) If you put these three testimonies together, you will see the sinner who dies without God and goes to that outer darkness of eternal despair.
Dear reader, I want to talk to you about the last testimonies of the three rich men of the New Testament. We only hear of three rich men in the New Testament, and they were all three lost. That is a warning to us to listen to the words of our blessed Christ. Through the apostle Paul he tells us to set our affection on things above and not on things on the earth. (See Col. 3 : 2.) The first testimony that we will look at is in Matt. 19:22, and we also have the same testimony in Mark 10:22, and also in Luke 18:18.
The Testimony of the Rich Young Ruler
This is the Rich Young Ruler. Matthew said that when he heard the conditions of eternal life he went away sorrowful, for he was very rich; and Mark said that he went away grieved, for he had great possessions, and Luke said that he was very sorrowful, for he was very rich. When this young man came to Jesus, it looked like he was a hopeful case. St. Mark said of the young man that when he came to Christ he came a-running and kneeled to Him.
Now, reader, there is earnestness for you, and humility, the things that not many have got, but this young man had both; And when he got to the Savior he said, "Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why callest thou Me good? there is none good but One, and that is God." Then Jesus added, "Thou knowest the commandments” and as Jesus named them, the young man listened, and said to Jesus, "All these have I kept from my youth, what lack I yet?" And Jesus said to him, "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come, and take up the cross and follow Me." At a glance, you can see where the young man broke down. The young man said, "What lack I yet?" and Christ said, "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all that thou hast, arid give to the poor, and come, and take up the cross and follow Me." "Go sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor" is the place where Jesus caught up with the Rich Young Ruler.
Luke said that he was very rich, but he was interested in the salvation of his soul, for he ran to Jesus, and went forward for prayers in the middle of the street, or on the public road. Mark said that he kneeled to Jesus; that is, he got down on both knees, he was under deep conviction and went forward for prayers, and was in earnest, and he expected to go through. He had no idea that Jesus would put him to such a test as He put to him. "Sell all," was the test. Notice, now, what followed; "and he went away grieved, for he had great possessions." But Mark said that "Jesus beholding him, loved him," but for the riches of this world he went away, and we never hear of him again. The last mention that is made of this young man was that he went away sorrowful, we never hear of him again. We will see him some day, but he will be a-going away sorrowful when we behold him.
It don't look possible that a man would go forward for prayers, and get down on both knees and ask the Master what he was to do to inherit eternal life, and see the conditions, and then back out, but this man, and millions of others, have done the same. The most of men go away sorrowful when they hear the Master's conditions. "Sell all, and follow Me" is putting it too hard and straight for the most of men. It was the wealth of this old world that stood between that young man and his eternal destiny. It would have been ten thousand times better for him if he had been a pauper, for if he had he would have been in Heaven to-day, but as he was very rich, he is a lost man.
If a man will follow the dark trail of sin through this country, he will find that the crimes of this age are brought about by the love of money, for the apostle said, many, many years ago, that the love of money was the root of all evil. How sad is the case of this young man! But compare him with the young men of this age, and you will find them all in the same condition; no hope, no salvation, no Christ, no Heaven, and the great bulk of them even without any morality. The average young lady in the average city in company with the average young man is just as hopeless as a lamb would be fifty miles from the city on a dark night in a herd of wolves. No thinking man would believe for a minute that the lamb would ever escape.
Oh, the black track of sin! How inviting this old world looked to that Rich Young Ruler, but where is he to-day? What is his outlook to-day for a good time? He will not be seen again on the streets of this city, he is gone, and he went away sorrowful, and he is still a-going away; he hasn't stopped since he turned his back on the Master. There is no stop to sin, it goes on forever and ever. Unconfessed sins never die; they have crossed oceans, rivers and mountains and sat on the footboard of the bed to torment the dying sinner. There is but one remedy, and that is to confess and forsake them.
The Testimony of the Successful Businessman
Now, reader, we will turn and look at the next testimony. It is found in Luke's Gospel, the twelfth chapter and twentieth verse: "But God said unto him, Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee." We read of this man, that he was very successful in his business; he made a very great fortune and raised so much that he had nowhere to put it, and he finally did a wise thing, and the thing that he did was good and right, no harm in it, and it was not wicked at all; he just looked around him and saw that he had more stuff than he had room for, and he thought within himself to know just what to do with all his goods and his fruits, And 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.
But now listen to the next statement, "and then will I say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." Now, reader, notice that last clause, "take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." The mistakes of this man are before us. He got his mind on this old world and forgot his eternal destiny; he was so busy a-raising fruit, and tearing down barns, and erecting larger ones, that he let the time slip, and death overtook him, and behold! he was not prepared to meet it, but God said unto him, "Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee." Because this man got his mind on this world and its goods, and neglected his immortal soul, God called him a fool, and yet he was a very bright fellow, and he stood well in the community.
He was not dull in the fact that he did not know anything, he was well posted and well informed, and in his business he was up to date. His motto was, "Business is business, and it is my business to do business," but he saw so many grapes that he failed to see God, and he craved goods so bad that he had no taste for salvation; he wanted this world so bad that he did not want Heaven; he was so interested in his stomach that he forgot his soul; when he got his barns all full he was a pauper. He said, "Soul, eat," but God said, "Soul, die;" he said, "Soul, be merry," but God said, "Soul, come to the Judgment ;" he said, "Soul, take thine ease," but God said, "Soul, go into outer darkness."
Oh, beloved, don't let this man's fate be yours. Turn from this old world, flee to the cross and see the bleeding Lamb before it is too late, and before you hear God say to you, "Thou fool! this night thy soul shall be required of thee." Don't get your eyes on fruits and barns and forget God and your precious, immortal soul. Now put the testimonies of these two men together. Notice, they read like the testimony of one man. First we read that he turned away sorrowful, and second, "But God said unto him, Thou fool ! this night thy soul shall be required of thee."
Now, reader, there is the last testimony of two men, and yet it makes up the testimony of one man. He "turned away sorrowful" — "Tonight thy soul shall be required of thee;" that is the natural order, if they take the first step, they are compelled to the second one. When you turn away from the Lord, the next thing will be a death-bed horror and a Judgment scene, and the last wail of the soul that was lost. If you turn away here, He will turn you away there. The chief business of man is to look after his soul. The affairs of this life are a secondary matter, and by no means should they have the first place in the life of a man. It has been wisely said that "man needs but little here below, and he needs that little but a short time," for the old Book said, "For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come, whose Builder and Maker is God," and the apostle Paul said to us, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth."
And then he proceeds to tell us what we are to do in order to be at our best in this world, but the Rich Young Ruler and the Rich Business Man both got so entangled with the affairs of this old world that they could not break loose from it, and it bound them and held them in such chains of bondage that it put them both in the pit. As I travel over this country, I see the rich young ruler and the rich business man everywhere I go, and they neither one have any time for God or their salvation; they are as completely consumed by this world as the two men described in the last two testimonies. The love of money has filled the state prisons, and the jails, and the gambling-houses, and the brothels, and the Sunday baseball parks, and loaded down the Sunday trains, and filled the streets with Sunday newspapers. For the love of money men will sell their souls, and women will sell their virtue.
The Testimony of the Rich Man In Hell
Dear reader, we now turn and look at the last testimony. We find it in Luke 16: 23 : "And in Hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment."
Now, reader, if you will put these three testimonies together, you will have the testimony of just one sinner as he dies without God and goes out into the darkness of eternal despair. Now put them together and see how it looks: first, he turned away sorrowful; second,"this night thy soul shall be required of thee;" third, "and in Hell he lifted up his eyes."
Now there is the testimony of these three rich men, or, in other words, we have before us the testimony of the dying sinner, for the testimony of one sinner is the testimony of all sinners. We now have him in the final place of abode, he is now in Hell. He first turned away from the blessed, loving Savior of man, and then he had not gone very far on the road until God required his soul of him, and he was not ready to meet the God that he had rejected; and the last thing, we hear of him in Hell, and he lifted up his eyes, being in torment. But he had not forgotten anything, his mind was as active in Hell as it was in this country. He still had his memory, and all his past life stood out before him as if it had been the day before, he remembered every opportunity, he remembered every privilege that he ever had, he remembered every Gospel message, he remembered every hymn that he had ever heard sung, he remembered every prayer that he had ever heard offered.
The very day that he turned away sorrowful stood out before him in letters of fire, and it will be the fearful nightmare that he will ride throughout all eternity; it is the ghost that will haunt him forever and ever, and as he lifts up his eyes in Hell he will remember the day that he turned away sorrowful, and the night that God required his soul at his hand and he was not ready will stand out before him, and he will say, "Oh, if I had only said 'yes' to the whole will of God; how different my life would have been!"
There is nothing like memory. The unkind word will stay with us like burrs in the sheep's wool, it will be there until shearing time, no way to get rid of memory. The kind words and kind acts and the good deeds will be in your mind forever, and they will bring such joy to your heart and life that you would not take a world for them, but, on the other hand, just think of a misspent life, the bitter oath, the drunken debauch, the night of reveling, the day of theft, the night of murder, the day of grafting, the hour of hate, the day of malice, the unkind deed, the life spent in sin, the fearful waste of time and money, the loss of Heaven, the loss of your precious, immortal soul, the opening of the blackest world in the universe to receive you at your coming!
All of these things will stand out before you like great mountains, no way to hide them; they must all be met and settled for, and owned as your very own, and you will have to keep them while eternity rolls on. There is but one way to get rid of them, and that is to confess them, and forsake them, and repent of them, and put them under the blood of the blessed Son of God, and plead His dying groans as your only hope, and let the Lord know that you are there for business, and that you have come for mercy and not for justice, for no sinner can meet the justice of a sin-hating God. You must plead His mercy and plead your need, for it is your need that will recommend you to God, and not your goodness, or your ability, or your greatness; there is but one thing that commends us to God, and that is our helpless, dependent condition.
The three rich men were just as needy as any three poor men that could have been found anywhere on the face of the earth, but they loved the world, they loved the praise of men, they loved the association of sinners, they hated the association of God's children, they had no time for the Church of Christ; Sunday-school never entered their minds; the missionary cause never entered into their thoughts. They loved salvation only to the extent that it extended their business and brought them gain, they loved law only to the extent that they could use it to collect all that was a-coming to them and that it would protect their wealth and give them liberty to have a good time in the country where law was enforced.
They would sell liquor as quick as they would sell family groceries to increase their wealth; they would rob the, poor, laboring man of his last dime and see his little children go hungry for bread as quick as they would sell a piece of hardware. They were rich, and the Book says very rich, and had great possessions, but they were not in touch with God, they were out of harmony with the Bible, they hated everything that looked like holiness, they could not bear to hear holiness spoken of, nothing grated on their refined ear like the word "sanctification;" it was perfectly disgusting to them, it was one thing that they could not tolerate at all. But alas! my brothers, the last testimonies that this old world ever heard from you were that first you turned away sorrowful, and the next time we heard of you God had required your soul of you, and the next thing that we heard of you was that in Hell you had lifted up your eyes being in torment, and the last words that you spoke were a-pleading for one drop of water. How things had changed!
It don't look possible that a man so rich could come down so low in the scale of poverty that he could not get one drop of water, but so says the old Book. He said, "Please, Father Abraham,” but Abraham said, "Son, remember." Oh, that awful statement, "Son remember." Beloved, that memory of yours, what are you going to carry around in your memory throughout all eternity ? Will you have the sweet memory that Jesus was offered to you and you accepted Him as your Savior, or will you carry the fearful memory around forever that you had the chance of a home in Heaven but you said, "No, not tonight; no, not tonight"? Those are the saddest words that ever fell on the ear of the Son of God, but the most delightful words that ever fell on the ear of the devil was the words "Not to-night." It is always pleasing to the devil for men to put off the salvation of their souls till some further ime, but how it grieves the heart of the Son of God! Oh, beloved, remember the testimonies of these three rich men and flee to the cross for pardon and purity.
END
For the latest headlines, op-eds and Bible Articles…News For Christians