Summons to Godly Practice

Introduction: The Climactic Exhortation to Holiness

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, January 31st, 1982, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I urge you to do this evening what I asked you to do this morning, that is, turn to Paul's letter to the Philippians, the book of Philippians, chapter 4. And perhaps before we read the text, just a brief word of explanation for those who, for one reason or another, generally are with us Lord's Day evening, but perhaps not in the morning. I have been preaching through the book of Philippians for quite some time, verse by verse, Lord's Day mornings.

0:44 But for, I think, the first time, I'm carrying the exposition over into the evening, and that basically for two reasons. First of all, there is such a close connection between the two verses that I read in your hearing this morning, only one of which was expounded. That I'm reluctant that two weeks should pass before you see it with its counterpart. I shall be gone next Lord's Day, God willing.

1:10 And so it will be two weeks before we will be back in Philippians. And then the second reason is I have a preaching schedule in which I'm attempting to complete the expositions of Philippians, the last Lord's Day before leaving for two weeks of ministry in the United Kingdom, the latter part of the month of March. And by...

1:31 Preaching on Philippians tonight, that will keep me right on schedule, or schedule as our British friends would say. And hopefully then we'll begin a new sphere of exposition upon my return from that ministry. Now then, if you will listen, follow in your own Bibles as I read Philippians chapter 4, verses 8 and 9. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things...

2:02 Whatever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think, consider, reckon upon these things, the things which you both learned and received and heard and saw in me. These things...

2:32 Do, and the God of peace shall be with you. Now let us again look to God in prayer that he, by the Spirit, would indeed enable us to understand and rightly to appropriate and obey his word.

2:53 Our Father, as we have expressed in the language of the hymn sung in your presence, we are indeed conscious of our need of a present and powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit to our hearts. We acknowledge that apart from his ministry, all of the objective, changeless realities of your word will not impinge upon our own experience and become life and light to our own hearts. And we desire that they shall be just that, even in the ministry of the word tonight. O God, in a sense of our own need

3:36 and in the consciousness of our dependence upon you, we cry, open thou our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of your law. Hear us for the sake of your dear Son. Amen. Now as we approach these two verses, Philippians 4, 8 and 9, in our study this morning, I had occasion to note that in a very real sense, these verses constitute Paul's climactic exhortation to the Philippians,

4:17 and it is indeed a climactic call to holiness of life. The passage begins with the words, finally, or for the rest, and this is really the finally of formal exhortation, since from verse 10 to 19, we have biographical material, and then this benediction in verse 20, and the formal closing of the letter in verses 21 through 23. And Paul, as it were, gathers together the great concern of his heart, which throbs throughout this entire letter, that the Philippians be marked by genuine godliness

Summons to Godly Thinking (Review of Philippians 4:8)

4:58 as they shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. And we noted in our study this morning that this climactic call to holiness of life has basically two ingredients. In verse 8, the ingredient is a summons to godly thinking, and in verse 9, a summons to godly practice. We noted in our study of verse 8 that the key word in the summons to godly thinking is the word at the end of the verse, think on these things, reckon on these things, take serious, consideration of these things.

5:43 And so it is a summons to think, to reckon with, to consider certain things. And then the objects of this summons to godly thinking are given to us in the six specific virtues mentioned in the first two-thirds of the verse, each one preceded by the word whatsoever things are, and then we have them, the true, the honorable, the just, the pure, the lovely, the things of good report, and then the two generic or general terms, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise. It is these things which they are to concentrate upon

6:28 with which they are to reckon in their thinking. And then we noted the comprehensiveness of this summons to godly thinking whatsoever precedes each one, one of the six specifics and the words, if any virtue, any praise before the two generic terms. And then we sought to draw out these very fundamental lines of application. I will only mention the heads and then we'll press on to verse nine.

6:59 This text obviously then condemns all mental preoccupation with evil. It forbids all unnecessary exposure, of our minds to evil. It demands a positive commitment to the pursuit of Christian virtues, and it demands a constant exposure to those means by which we are enabled to learn what these virtues are in their comprehensive manifestation. Now then, tonight we come to verse nine, which we may well entitle a summons to godly thinking.

Summons to Godly Practice (Philippians 4:9): The Key Word

7:39 This is the practice. From the summons to godly thinking, the apostle moves on to write, the things which you both learned and received, and perhaps the words, from me, understood, many of the exegetes suggest that that's understood in the text, the things which you both learned and received, and heard and saw in me, these things, do, and the god of peace, shall be with you. Now as we attempt to open up the passage, notice if you will please,

8:20 the key word in this summons to godly practice. And once again, we encounter one of these imperative verbs. When the apostle wrote toward the end of the verse, these things do, he used a verb, which means to practice, and he used an imperative, and he used a present imperative. In other words, he was calling them to a continual performance of certain things.

8:55 He moves on from the present imperative with respect to their thinking, continually reckon upon, think upon, consider these virtues, and now, he says, continue to perform these very things. Hence, this is an unmistakably clear call to do something. It is not a text in which we are called upon primarily to believe certain things. Rather, we are called upon to perform certain things.

9:33 As one has said, the progression out of verse 8 into verse 9 is the progression seen in our Lord's parable of the man who builds upon the rock in Matthew chapter 7. True believers, first of all, hear the word of God. Then they meditate upon it until they come to understanding. Then having come to understanding, they act upon it in the realm of consistent and constant practice.

10:05 And so, the key word of our text is these things do. Now, when God calls us to believe something, it is our wisdom to believe when God says believe. And when He calls us to do, it is our wisdom to do what He calls us to do. Then, if you'll notice in the second place, our text not only contains this key word in the summons to God, but the practical guidelines for regulating godly practice.

Practical Guidelines for Godly Practice: Paul's Teaching and Life

10:41 And the guidelines are basically two. First of all, the things learned and received from Paul. And again, most commentators are agreed that you have two couplets of ideas. The things which you both learned and received, that constitutes the first, and heard and saw in me.

11:05 That constitutes the second. First of all then, the practical guidelines for regulating godly practice are to be understood in terms of the things learned and received from Paul. It is as though someone were to say to Paul, Paul, you have called us to think upon these virtues in these six specific categories. Whatsoever things are true, honorable, etc.

11:34 You have called upon us to think in terms of these two broad general categories. If there be anything virtuous, anything praiseworthy, think upon these things. But Paul, one example is worth a thousand words. We're simple, humble, ordinary people.

11:53 We find it difficult to think of truth and purity and goodness in the abstract. Can you give us something in the concrete? And Paul says, I'll do that. The things you learned and received from me.

12:09 In other words, when I was among you as your public teacher, and by means of my subsequent influence and even this letter, the very things that have formed the backbone of my instruction to you, the things you have both learned as I have taught you, and received and appropriated, it is these very things. Which constitute the things that are pure and just and true and lovely and of virtue and of good report. And so the apostle is reminding them that the very substance of his instruction was an exegesis

12:53 of these very virtues. And then he says, secondly, the things which you heard and saw in me. So it was not only the things learned and received from Paul, but the things heard and seen in Paul. Now this is the man who wrote in chapter 3, verse 12, not that I have already obtained or am already made perfect.

13:22 He was very conscious that he was not a perfect man. And yet he was equally conscious that by the grace of God, his lifestyle was a valid pattern of believers. He could say to the Thessalonians, you are witnesses in God also how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you. He never once said sinlessly.

13:52 But he did say holily, justly and unblameably. And that man who was fully conscious as we saw this morning of the remnants of evil, yet within his own heart, the man who had to write the words, when I would do good, evil is present with me. Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

14:16 Here is the man who is conscious that by the grace of God, the things heard and seen in him were indeed a bona fide exemplification of these virtues that he has described in the previous verse. What he taught them by precept, he exemplified by example. He is the man who had already written in verse 17 of the previous chapter, Brethren, be ye imitators together of me. He was conscious of that pattern of behavior which marked him not as a perfect man,

15:00 but as a truly godly man. And as surely as it would have been fanaticism to the highest degree for Paul to claim sinlessness, it would have been false humility for him to negate the validity of the pattern which his life constituted. And so he tells them that the practical guidelines for regulating godly practice are to be found in the things learned, and received from him, the things heard and seen in him. Now consider thirdly, the glorious promise for motivating to godly practice.

The Glorious Promise: The God of Peace Shall Be With You

15:43 Not only is there this key word in the summons to godly practice, these things be continually doing, the practical guidelines, Paul's teaching, Paul's life, but now he appends this glorious promise for motivating the Philippians to godly practice. And what is the promise? Here it is. And the God of peace shall be with you, to the extent that the things you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me you are indeed implementing.

16:21 This is the reward of grace. Here is the gracious promise that will be realized in the experience of all who obey the summons, the God of peace shall be with you. And surely if you have been with us in the previous exposition, your minds immediately drift back to verse 7, in which the promise given to all who obey that third dimension of that trilogy of gospel duty, who are anxious for nothing, verse 6, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let their requests be made known unto God with thanksgiving, there, he said,

17:03 and the peace of God. That wonderful grace that comes from God, of which God himself is the author, shall act as a garrison of soldiers around our hearts and minds in virtue of our union with Christ. But here you see there is something more glorious than the peace of God. A quality of grace of which God is the author and giver.

17:32 Here the promise is that the God of peace himself shall be with you. Now what does he mean? Well, what he is saying is basically this, that for all who make conscience of putting into practice the things that have been set before them, they will know to a peculiar degree, unknown to others, the enjoyment of the presence and communion of God, particularly as the God of reconciling grace. The God of peace is the God who has made peace with sinners

18:16 through the blood of his own dear Son. The God of peace described in the book of Hebrews, the God of peace who brought again from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep, even the Lord Jesus. And of all the things Paul could have said about God, the God of glory, the God of power, the God of wisdom, the God of grace, he is all of those things. But in a peculiar way, those who walk in close, careful obedience to the word of God, in practical godliness, know him as the God of peace.

18:56 They enjoy fruits of his presence. They enjoy dimensions of his communion with uncondemned conscience, the likes of which careless walkers and careless livers never know. And so the glorious promise by which he would motivate the Philippians to careful and constant obedience is the promise that the God of peace shall be with them. And you see, for the true child of God, nothing is more desirable than greater enjoyment of God himself.

19:37 There is nothing that you can hold before a true Christian which more excites him, which more fills him with keen anticipation than the promise that in a given path he shall know dimensions of communion and fellowship with God that otherwise he would never know. May I pause to say that perhaps that's a good index of where you are spiritually, those of you sitting here tonight. When you hear words such as these, do these things and the God of peace shall be with you, does that excite you? Or do you say, oh hum, so what's new?

20:19 If we were to say, in this given course of action, there will be an increase of your bank account, your popularity, your sensuous pleasure, the number and the prestigiousness of your friends, would that excite you? You say, sure would. But to say the God of peace shall be with you doesn't strike any notes of joy, expectancy, holy excitement, does it? My friend, that's an indication that you are yet dead in your trespasses and sins, alienated from God, estranged from the life of God, outside the experience of that communion which is only known

21:01 to those who repent and believe the gospel. Well, that's basically the meaning of the text. This summons to godly practice. Now, what great principles of truth are here embodied in the text?

Principle 1: Practical Godliness in a True Minister's Ministry

21:17 Well, by way of application, I want to suggest three lines of thought tonight. And the first is this. The specifics of practical godliness will constitute a prominent part in the instruction and lifestyle of a true minister of Christ. The specifics of practical godliness will constitute a prominent part in the instruction and lifestyle of a true minister of Christ.

21:57 You see, what Paul has already given to the Philippians in verse 8, by way of the idea of virtue, the things learned and received were not only wonderful realities to be received by faith, many of those things of chapter 3, the wonderful truth of imputed righteousness and a perfect standing before God, standing before God in Christ. But he can write to the Philippians and say, another prominent part of my instruction, when you received what I had to teach you and you learned what I taught you,

22:41 when you received the substance of that teaching, what you received was a detailed spectrum of instruction in practical godliness. You see, Paul who gloried in the great truths of grace and surely few chapters or more rich in their teaching on the grace of God than his Philippians 3, was nonetheless a preacher of gospel duties and a preacher of detailed, specific instructions in practical godliness. According to 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 and 2, much of his work was done very early with his converts.

23:23 As far as we can check from the record in Acts, Paul was with the Thessalonians only a matter of three weeks, and yet he could say in chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, Finally then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, even as you do walk, that you abound more and more. For you know what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus. He says, You already know much of what it is to walk well pleasing to God. You know how because of the charges we gave you.

24:04 So when he was present for only a brief time and had to open up to these pagans at Thessalonica the rudiments of the gospel, he did not so concentrate on the element that we would call the doctrinal foundations of the gospel that he neglected the practical demands of the gospel. He did not so occupy their minds with the objects of faith that he did not outline to them in great detail the fruits of faith. And any true minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ will not think it beneath his dignity to descend to the specifics of practical godliness

24:48 and make them a vital and prominent part of his instruction. But you see, the apostle not only made them a prominent part of his instruction but also exemplified them in his lifestyle. He could say not only in answer to their question, Paul, what is the true? What is the honorable?

25:10 What is the just? He not only said, Those things constitute the heart of the very things I taught you and you learned and received of me. But he said, Those things are to be found in what you heard and saw in me. He could say to the Ephesian elders, In all things I have given you an example.

25:35 Now why is this so? Why is it that any true minister of Christ is one whose ministry is marked by the specifics of practical godliness as a prominent part both in his precepts and in his example? Well, the simple most fundamental answer to that question is this. A true minister of Christ has been consumed with the vision of that for which Christ died.

26:09 Why did Christ die? The Bible says he died to have a holy people. He died to make a people holy. Ephesians 5, 25 and following, the passage we read in our reading, in the New Testament this morning, Titus chapter 2, Christ gave himself for us in order that he might what?

26:35 Not merely deliver us from the wrath to come, fill us with the joyous knowledge of sins, pardon and full acceptance with God. Titus 2, 14 tells us, Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to himself a people for his own possession. Zealous of good works, Christ died to have a people who while gladly confessing their works have nothing to do with their acceptance with God are as zealous for good works as though heaven itself depended upon their works. That's the gospel of Christ.

27:19 That's the great mystery of the gospel. Those who can confess with Paul as he does in Philippians 3, I have no desire, he says, to be found in the presence of God with a righteousness of my own. I don't want one thread in the fabric of my garment of acceptance to be woven upon the loom of my own performance. I want to be found in him and in him alone, not having a righteousness of my own which is from the law, but the righteousness which is of God by faith.

27:52 And yet it's that very same apostle, who here in the end of chapter 4 says the things you have learned and received, heard and seen in me, do. And the God of peace shall be with you. He was conscious that Christ died to make a people holy and he was conscious that because of the darkness of sin and because of the influence of the world and because of the power of remaining corruption, even though there is a sense in which by the indwelling of the Spirit and the law of God is written upon our hearts, we do not have some subjective, self-interpreting

28:36 standard of righteousness. God gives us a heart for holiness and a disposition for holiness, but he gives us the objective standard of his own holy word. And if that standard is not a detailed standard, it is nothing. The whole idea that believers in the New Covenant only need love to Christ for their ethical norms makes mockery of much of the New Testament which is specific, detailed instruction in practical godliness.

29:08 That's what we read in Titus today. What are the things that Titus is to speak with all authority? Verse 15. These things speak, exhort, reprove with all authority.

29:22 What things? Chapter 2, verse 1. Speak the things which befit healthy teaching. And then he doesn't leave it up to Titus to decide and say, and the Holy Spirit will tell you what that is.

29:34 Or the Holy Spirit will make that known to the church. He says, by that I mean. And then he talks about the old men and he gets specific. They are to be temperate.

29:45 They are to be grave. They are to be sober-minded, sound in the faith, in love, in patience. He then takes up the aged women. They are to be reverent in demeanor, not slanders, not enslaved to much wine.

29:56 Then he takes up the younger women. Then he takes up the younger men. What is he doing? He is giving specifics of practical godliness.

30:06 And so you see our text exemplifies this great principle that the specifics of practical godliness will constitute a prominent part in the instruction and lifestyle of a true minister. A true minister of Jesus Christ. And when God in His providence removes you to another place, and you are seeking prayerfully to know to what assembly shall I attach myself, among the many things I should look for in a church fellowship and in a ministry, what should I look for? Oh, my dear people, make this one of the most fundamental

30:46 and primary qualities that you look for. Sit under a ministry long enough to get a feel for its overall emphases and ask yourself this. Is the man or are the men who have the main bulk of public instruction, are they giving due place to the specifics of practical godliness not only in their public teaching, but in their evident lifestyle? And if they aren't, don't entrust yourself to their care.

31:20 Don't entrust yourself to their care. If it's a ministry that's strong on the objective provisions of God in Christ, that seems on the surface of things to magnify the grace of God by continually speaking of God's sovereign mercy towards sinners, God's marvelous provision in the gift of His Son, the wonder and the glory of the work of Christ on behalf of sinners, His death, His resurrection, His heavenly session, and all of those things, if there does not flow out of that preaching and teaching of the grand provisions of God in Christ objective to the sinner

32:05 an equally strong emphasis upon the implications and the demands upon all who embrace those provisions, then ultimately such a ministry will lead you into an incipient antinomianism, not an outright antinomianism, in which the basic spirit of your heart will be, let us sin that grace may abound. And then if a man preaches the specifics of practical godliness but does not live them in his own lifestyle, that will create cynicism. And you'll say it sounds good, but it must have no real power

Principle 2: The Power of Many Valid Models

32:49 because I don't see it embodied in the life of the one who's talking about it. And if that's so, then how in God's name can you follow the leadership of such men or such a man? Well, I must hasten on to the second great principle that's embodied in our text, and it's this. Practical godliness generally increases most powerfully.

33:18 Since some of you take notes, I'll run it by again. Practical godliness generally increases most powerfully in a context in which there are many valid models of what it is. In a context in which there are many valid models of what it is. When Paul called the Philippians to remember what they had learned and received, heard and seen in him, they did not have only Paul to look to, nor did they have to look only to the past.

33:58 I refer you back to chapter 3 and verse 17. There he could say, Brethren, be imitators together of me, and mark them which so walk even as you have us, for an example. In other words, Paul is confident that in the church at Philippi there are men and women, boys and girls, who have so imitated his and his companions' that he can call the Philippians to joint imitations of himself, though absent from them, and his companions, though absent from them,

34:41 in concert with those who are present with them. Be imitators together of me, and mark them that so walk even as you have us, for an example. And what is the assumption of that text? That there in Philippians, at Philippi, there were many models of practical godliness.

35:04 And practical godliness generally increases most powerfully in a context in which there are many valid models of what it is. For instance, in a very real sense, every single parent in this building seeking to instruct his children in the way of truth and righteousness should be able to say to his children, the things, dear children, that you have learned and received from me, the things you have heard and seen in me, do, and the God of peace shall be with you. Cursed is that child who is reared by a parent

35:48 who, if he does not say it, may as well say it, do as I say, but don't do as I do. Cursed is that child who has his ears filled with godly instructions and his eyes continually beholding ungodly patterns. There is nothing that creates, perhaps, cynicism amongst young people reared in Christian homes, so-called, more quickly, cynicism to preaching, than when they have parents who assent to what the preacher says but don't live it out in their lives and they assume, look, mom and dad say they believe

36:33 what the preacher believes and they tell me what he tells me but they don't live it and he probably doesn't in his own home so there's no reality to the whole thing anyway. And the cynicism where the truth is preached but not lived is one of the most frightening, frightening forms of cynicism. It's bad enough when people on the outside who know nothing of the truth lampoon it and make caricatures of it in their blind ignorance, but when people hear the truth, even from their own mothers and fathers, but don't see it exemplified, it's a tragic thing. Every Sunday school teacher here should be able to say to his pupils,

37:17 the things you've learned and received and seen and heard in me, do them, do them. You've heard the precepts, you've seen the precepts worked out in my life and every Christian who has been upon the way any time at all for whom spiritual babyhood is not an acceptable standard but a reprehensible condition. Those who are chided in 1 Corinthians 3 and in Hebrews 5 with the language the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again. What a tremendous thing it is

38:01 to have a church full of people who are valid models of what practical godliness is. And as I look back over the 15 years of my experience with you as a people, I can say to the praise of God that that has been the overall pattern of your life and I thank God for it. Just yesterday I was talking with someone who's a relative babe in Christ and I was reflecting upon the inestimable privilege that was his because he had hardly been out of the womb spiritually when he was immersed into a family where there is consistent, valid godliness in its details.

38:44 And as a young convert, he had the privilege of hearing and seeing at the same time. Hearing so much that was new from the pulpit but having as it were an interpretive classroom in which he saw it worked out in the dynamics of husband-wife, parent-child, child-to-child, interpersonal relationship, what a privilege! And to have someone say that he counts that one of his greatest privileges in life to have had that exposure as a babe in Christ. Oh dear people of God in this place, don't ever rob those of us who stand in the pulpit from that wonderful confidence

39:26 that when people come amongst us and they hear practical godliness preached, don't ever rob us of the privilege of, as it were, turning them loose in communion and fellowship with you and into your homes knowing that what they've heard from the pulpit will only be buttressed by what they see in your kitchen, in your living room, and in your ordinary conversation. There is great progress in practical godliness most powerfully in a context in which there are many valid models of what it is. And then the third great principle

Principle 3: Weak Resolution and Meager Enjoyment of God

40:10 I want to underscore from the text is this. Weakness of resolution to perform or to implement the demands of practical godliness, weakness of resolution to implement the demands of practical godliness is often, now notice I did not say is always, is often the reason for a meager measure of the enjoyment of God. There are some of you who as believers have a very meager measure of the enjoyment of God. You've tasted and you've seen

40:53 that the Lord is good. And what you've tasted is so spoiled you could never go back and drink down and gorge the world. You couldn't do it. You're forever spoiled for the world.

41:08 You've had enough taste of the realities of those choice dainties that are spread in Zion's courts and on Zion's tables. You can never go back to the flesh pots of Egypt and there drink and eat to the full. But neither do you have such an enjoyment of God as makes your religion contagious. Your enjoyment of God is a relatively meager thing.

41:35 Now I'm not talking about two categories of Christians. Spiritual ones and carnal ones. Surrendered ones but only saved ones. No.

41:43 But I am speaking of what our text promises. These things be ye continually doing and the God of peace shall be with you. These things be weak in doing and the God of peace will not be with you. And that's the reason why some of you have such a meager measure of the enjoyment of God.

42:12 It's not a lack of knowledge. You've got enough knowledge to make you the happiest Christian on the face of the earth. You've got enough knowledge to give you such an enjoyment of God that people would think you half out of your tree most of the time. You've got enough knowledge of the objective provisions of God in Christ to give you joy unspeakable and full of glory in the belief of those things.

42:39 You have enough knowledge of the demands of practical godliness in your personal life, your family life, your work life, the relationships you sustain to people. It is no lack of knowledge. That's the thing that gets us in trouble in this place when people get weary of this ministry. The most frequently heard complaint when people defect from our ranks is I can't half that ministry that's always bearing down on my conduct.

43:08 That's the most frequently heard complaint. And God have mercy on us if it's no longer made. So it's not a lack of knowledge. We do not deal in abstractions.

43:21 We try to trace the glorious mystery of God as far as Scripture forces us to trace them. And I was thinking today, if I may give a little aside, that he who is so offended by the blinding light of the mystery that surrounds truth must be forever consigned to the darkness and the mists of error. There is a blinding light that is the mystery surrounding all truth. And anyone who can't stand that light of mystery that surrounds all truth is condemned to dwell in the midst and the shades of error.

44:02 And we're not fearful to gaze at those blinding mysteries. We gazed at one in the adult class this morning. That God has a people upon whom he has set his love from eternity, whom he has committed in sovereign grace to save, and yet he comes to men in the gospel and says as an expression of my love to you as a sinner, here is my son. He is yours if you will have him.

44:28 And we say that's a mystery. And we say we're willing to live with that mystery. We're willing to look into the blinding light of that mystery. For to run from that light is to run into the darkness and the shades of error.

44:41 Error that either denies God's distinguishing particular love to his own or that denies his general love to all men. And we refuse to do that. But at the same time, dear people, we do not simply park around the blinding light of mysteries because as we preach through the scriptures we are brought down again and again to the mundane, to the practical, to the detailed exposition of godliness. And why is it then that some of you have so little enjoyment of God?

45:13 May I suggest it's as simple as this. You simply are not doing what you know you ought to do. And you don't need to look any farther, you don't need to look any further to find the answer to the question. For some of you that is the answer.

The Sluggard: A Portrait of Unwillingness to Do

45:29 You're simply not doing what you know you ought to do. In a sense, you see, you fit the description of the sluggard there in the book of Proverbs. And what does God say about the sluggard? Well, turn please to the book of Proverbs for a moment.

45:50 Proverbs chapter 13 and verse 4. The soul of the sluggard desireth. Oh, how he wants and has nothing. He has desire.

46:10 Oh, I want to enjoy God. I see the way Mr. So-and-so enjoys God and the way Mrs. So-and-so and that young person, oh, they seem to enjoy God.

46:20 Every time I talk to them, and I don't believe they're being phony, they tell me what God has said to him from his word. They share with me the opportunities they have to witness. They enjoy God. Oh, that I could enjoy God like they do.

46:34 You really desire that, don't you? You really want that. You really desire that. Well, it says the soul of the sluggard desireth.

46:44 But you have nothing or you have very little of the enjoyment of God. Why? Because you're a sluggard. And the contrast, you see, is with the person described in the latter part of the text.

46:54 But the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. Well, all soul fatness is of grace. But it's grace that comes in the way of diligence. Not the way of being a sluggard.

47:09 And some of you simply are not diligent. And why aren't you diligent? Well, let's look further about the sluggard and why he does and doesn't do what he does and doesn't do. Proverbs chapter 19, verse 15.

47:24 Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep, and the idle soul shall suffer hunger. You see, the sluggard is marked. By a deep sleep. It puts him out of touch with reality.

47:44 And that's the problem with some of you. There is a spiritual slumber that has come over you. So that the great issues that impinge upon your life, you're not aware of them like a sleeping man who becomes oblivious to all reality about him. Chapter 20 and verse 4.

48:04 The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter. There are difficulties. He looks outside and says, Man, it's too cold to hitch up my mule and go out there with my plow. My tootsies will get cold.

48:16 And I'll get chapped on my face. The fire in here is so nice and warm. I'll just go warm my tootsies by the fire. He will not plow by reason of the winter.

48:27 So what happens? Therefore he shall beg in harvest and have nothing. There are difficulties in doing these things. We said that this morning.

48:36 For some of you to start doing these things, fixing your mind upon the true, the pure, the lovely, the virtuous, it's going to cost you, my friend. And perhaps you were just like the sluggard this morning saying, Oh, it would be so lovely to reap a harvest of vitality in my spiritual life, but I'll get my tootsies cold. God says that's the mark of the sluggard. Chapter 21 and verse 25.

49:08 I hope before we're done, the sluggard will be ugly. The sluggard will be ugly in your eyes, especially when you see him in the mirror. Proverbs 21, 25. The desire of the sluggard, it kills him.

49:25 Oh, he lacks nothing in desire. He's killing himself with desire, but his hands refuse to labor. Chapter 22 and verse 13. The sluggard says, There's a lion out there.

49:38 I'll be slain in the streets. The lion's in his own head, not in the streets. He's just looking for flimsy excuses to stay inside where he is and avoid the demands and responsibilities that are out there in the street. Chapter 24 and verse 30.

49:57 I went by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the man, void of understanding and low. It was all grown over with thorns, and the face thereof was covered with nettles, and the stone wall was broken down. And I beheld and considered well. I saw and received, I saw and received instruction, yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep.

50:21 So shall thy poverty come as a robber and thy want as an armed man. And finally, chapter 26, verses 13 and 14. The sluggard says, There's a lion in the way. A lion is in the streets.

50:37 As the door turns upon its hinges, so the sluggard upon his bed. The sluggard buries his hands in the dish, and it wearies him to bring it again to his mouth. You see, the door that turns on its hinges back there, if we were to measure the four-foot arc that those doors make every Sunday, the edge of that door has traveled a long way, but it ain't gone nowhere. Traveled a long way, but it ain't gone nowhere.

51:11 So he says, As the door turns upon its hinges, those sluggard upon his bed, he gets enough thought and ambition to turn over. And go back to sleep and forget it. And when he wakes up, he thinks of all the things he ought to do and should be doing, enough to disturb his sleep, to turn over and go back to sleep again. And there he is, like the door upon its hinges, but he ain't going nowhere.

51:38 He ain't doing nothing. That's the picture of somebody. And it's enough to make angels weep. To change the figure, look at the next verse.

51:51 He's hungry. There's food. He's so hungry, he literally buries his hand in the dish. He doesn't daintily reach out with good manners and just take a nice little piece, you see.

52:01 I mean, he takes his grubby hand and buries it in the dish. But that doesn't fill a hungry man's belly. He's so lazy, he doesn't even bring it to his mouth. And so he starves.

52:17 And that's what some of you do. You bury your hand in the dish every Lord's Day in this place. But that's where it stays. In the dish.

52:24 In the dish. In the dish. In the dish. When it comes to putting to the mouth and masticating, taking the meat and chewing it until you can swallow and assimilate it, masticating, and then absorbing into your spiritual life and bloodstream, it costs too much.

52:46 And so you do not profit from the Word. And that's why you have so little enjoyment of God. One of the things that has been tragically true in these 15 years, and it's one of the great blessings as well as the heartaches of a lengthy pastorate, is to see people who 10 years ago, as best as we could discern as elders, were like this in spiritual development. Someone just a little wee bitty baby, just beginning to, perhaps not even to walk yet, just barely getting up on his feet and holding on to the edge of the playpen.

The Cost of Doing vs. Unwillingness to Pay the Price

53:26 Barely able to say mom and papa spiritually. Terminology laying everything aside. Everything was so new. But there was life.

53:36 And they were here. And there were other people here who seemed to be as it were on the threshold of a virile spiritual manhood. Who spoke as young men. Who walked with the spring and the nerve and the vigor of young men.

53:54 But over the years to see this under the same ministry, under the same external influences. And you know what the fundamental difference is? This one during the 10 years has been doing. What he or she hears gets converted into practice at any cost.

54:20 And when the word comes home in its flesh withering power, something is done about it. At the level of adjusting priorities of time, of entertainment, of relationships, of business. Nothing matters. They are committed to God.

54:40 While others of you have been unwilling to pay the price of doing. And I tell you it's something over which I weep from time to time in secret. Because it not only dishonors God and his beloved son. It means that in the day of Christ I will have run in vain.

55:12 I have spent my strength for naught on your behalf. And Paul feared that. Above all else. My friend will you come to another sermon when God comes close to your conscience.

55:30 Be disturbed enough to turn over. But do nothing. Oh may God help us all. To hear his word.

55:43 The things you have both learned and received. Seen and heard in me. Do! Do!

55:54 And the God of peace shall be with you. But you say pastor I have no ability to do in myself. Don't cop out with that. Set yourself to do and in the course of doing in your desperation cry to God and he'll meet you in the path of obedience.

56:08 He that hath my commandments and keepeth them I will manifest myself to him. John 14 in verse 21. Anyone who is not dying to perform his duty and cops out by saying I can't without divine help is hiding behind the glorious truth and making God the author of his sluggardliness. Here is the great summons of the apostle toward the end of his epistle.

Conclusion: A Summons to Hear and Obey

56:40 A summons to godly thinking. A summons to godly action. May God grant that we shall hear that summons and run in the way of his commandments. Let us pray.

56:52 Our Father we are so thankful that you have given to us in the scriptures not only an inspired record of your mind and will towards men. But one that is adequate sufficient and clear. And we pray that those portions of your word into which we have looked this day may be to us what you have said your word is living and active sharper than any two-edged sword. Oh may it cut

57:36 may it divide may it discern. And we pray oh God that before some pillow their heads tonight that there will be deep honest dealings with you. Oh that we may be a people who do these things and in the doing enjoy measures of your presence and communion that hitherto we have never known before. Lord we would hold you to your word that if we do these things you as the God of peace will be with us.

58:12 And we do count your realized presence as our greatest treasure in life. Fulfill your word in us. Work in us to will and to work for your good pleasure. Make us perfect in every good thing to do your will working in us that which is well pleasing in your sight through Jesus Christ our Lord to whom and to whom alone be glory and honor.

58:43 Hear us then as we draw near in his name. Amen.