Specific Directives, Part 2

The point: Reconstruct your management of every necessary possession, relationship, or activity, so that they do not become a provision for the flesh.

A man struggling with covetousness cannot simply become a beggar because he has a family and aging mother dependent on him, illustrating that necessary possessions (money) cannot be irresponsibly discarded.

Here is a man who has problems with covetousness, a covetousness that it's far away to choose to become a beggar. A man that can be exchanged for money except the clothing on his back, and to get a tin cup, and go, or park himself in some thoroughfare and become a beggar. But you see, the problem is, the man happens to be married and have three children,

8:45 - 9:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Reconstruct your management of every necessary possession, relationship, or activity, so that they do not become a provision for the flesh.

A man with gluttony cannot simply eat only two meals a week to cure it, as this would violate other God-given duties and biblical mandates, showing that necessary activities (eating) must be managed, not eliminated.

and becomes an occasion for the fulfillment of his lust of covetousness, not irresponsibly rid himself of money, for to do so would be to sin against God and against those loved ones. First Timothy 5.8, If any man does not provide for his own, he is maybe another man struggling with the problem of gluttony, who says, All right, I'm going to cure this problem. I am simply going to eat two meals and become sick.

9:36 - 10:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second directive is introduced: reconstruct the management of every necessary possession, relationship, or activity so they do not become a provision for the flesh. This is…

A married man struggling with inordinate sexual desire cannot have himself surgically made into a eunuch, as this would violate his marital duties, further illustrating that necessary capacities cannot be eliminated.

God-given duties. See here, he is violating many other biblical mandates in taking that course of action. Or another. This finds he's weary with his inordinate sex, either mentally, or what I'll do, I'll have myself surgically, made into a eunuch.

10:17 - 10:45 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: An imaginary illustration of a man struggling with covetousness related to money and an electronic game is used to demonstrate how to reconstruct one's relationship with a…

An imaginary story of a man who, when he has extra money, converts it to quarters for an electronic game, illustrates how a necessary possession (money) can become a provision for lust, and how he reconstructs his management by only carrying the exact amount needed for essentials.

So some of the illustrations may seem ridiculous. It's only because I've had to go to the ridiculous, to avoid taking something that came out of real life. The man who has found that, when he has extra money,

12:12 - 12:26 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Further illustrations include a woman managing credit card use for necessary family items and the biblical charge to the rich in 1 Timothy 6, showing how wealth, a necessary…

A woman with a credit card problem, whose family finances necessitate its use, illustrates how she can reconstruct her management by only using it for pre-approved, necessary household items and presenting all sales slips to her husband.

before... Take that woman we dealt with last week who had a problem with her credit card.

16:17 - 16:28 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Further illustrations include a woman managing credit card use for necessary family items and the biblical charge to the rich in 1 Timothy 6, showing how wealth, a necessary…

The biblical charge to the rich in 1 Timothy 6 is used to show that wealthy individuals are not commanded to relinquish their riches, but to manage them in a way that avoids pride and misplaced hope, becoming exemplary Christians through generosity.

to be illustrated in a passage and in particular with people who have more than an average amount of money. In the charge given to the rich in 1st Timothy chapter 6 it's very interesting the pastoral realist as we see this morning recognized that with riches there would come peculiar temptations but a man who is made wealthy that he is to become unwealthy

18:30 - 19:13 Read in full sermon

The point: Put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite, meaning to bridle appetite as by violence, giving no quarter to the lust.

A lengthy quotation from Charles Bridge's commentary on Proverbs 23:1-3 is read to deeply expound the command to 'put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite,' emphasizing violent self-control over gluttony.

Now I want to read Charles Bridge's very perceptive comments on that text. I don't often read a lengthy portion, but I hope to read in a manner that is interesting and not dull. So, when you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you. Put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties, for they

35:27 - 35:52 Read in full sermon

The point: Be prepared for the measures necessary to run from certain things that are an unnecessary provocation of sexual lust, even if it means being abrupt or leaving.

The story of Joseph fleeing Potiphar's wife is used to illustrate that sometimes the most holy and manly action in the face of sexual temptation is to physically run and remove oneself from the situation.

Joseph is to stand and witness and stand and pray. He left her with his coat.

48:21 - 48:32 Read in full sermon

The point: Be continually feeding upon what Christ is as your Savior, your relationship to Him, union with Him, and all the provisions of grace that are stored up in Him. Be continually putting on the Lord Jesus.

A quote from John Owen is used to underscore the sermon's main point: that progress against sin itself is impossible without a determined effort to deal with temptations to sin.

Old John Owen said so perceptibly, until the people of God are more determined to deal with temptations to sin, they'll make no progress in dealing with sin itself. The person who is careless about temptation shows that he is not a sinner. That he is really indifferent to the matter of sin. Well, we come around full circle to where we began some weeks ago.

55:16 - 55:39 Read in full sermon