Foolish investments.
"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not?" This is man's great misery, that he has the "deceived heart ' which leads him to false investments.
I. SOUL-SATISFACTION. The soul is made for God, and there is no bread that will satisfy man but God himself. "I am the living Bread," says Christ. Bread of fortune, bread of gold, bread of aesthetic beauty, bread of worldly honour,—these only satisfy the outward man, and leave "the hidden man of the heart" hungry and starven. Yet men spend their money—that is, their time, strength, enthusiasm, and energy—on sham bread.
II. SOUL-ATTENTION. "Hearken diligently unto me." For God has spoken—in nature, in conscience, by the prophets and by his own Son, the express Image of his Person.
1. God, who made the soul, knows all its mysterious depths and needs.
2. God, who redeemed the soul, knows that without pardon man knows no peace, and without life in God he knows no blessedness. The "delights" of a godly man attest the change in his nature—he "joys in God, by whom he has received the atonement."—W.M.S.