Contrasting Ways of Ungodly & Blessedness

Review: The Psalm's Theme and Structure

0:00 This evening, for the first psalm, before the evening is over, we shall be looking at a number of other passages of Scripture which I trust will throw light upon this phrase in the first psalm that we are presently considering.

0:19 In order that we might not lose the continuity of thought as we branch out in the development of that thought, I want us to look again at the basic starting point of our consideration in the first psalm.

0:34 We've said on the two other previous occasions that we've studied this psalm that this is a didactic psalm, a psalm that teaches, a psalm that is not so much the breathings of the heart of the psalmist heavenward, but the speaking of the mind of the psalmist manward. He is telling us something in particular about the way of blessedness. The theme of this psalm is just that, the way of blessedness, blessedness being happiness, the way of joy, the way of contentment, the way of fulfillment, that thing which all men seek by nature, blessedness, this psalm tells us the way in which blessedness is found. Now the method the psalmist uses is the method of comparison and contrast in setting before us the way of blessedness in terms of a man

1:24 who is blessed. Blessed is the man, or more literally translated, oh the blessedness of the man. We confront another kind of man. The wicked are not so, verse 4, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly or the wicked shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. So the method by which we see the way of blessedness is by contrast and comparison with that which is not the way of blessedness.

1:54 In verse 1, we confront the blessed man in a negative way. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Then we confront him in a positive way in verse 2, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. In verse 3 we see the blessed man in the fruit of his life.

2:21 He shall be like a tree planted, his leaf shall not wither, all that he does shall prosper. Presently we are studying this negative aspect of the way of blessedness. Would you be a blessed person? Then you must not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.

2:37 And as we have been considering that phrase, we have seen first of all that the ungodly are willing, more than willing, to give their counsel. You don't need to go out and blow a whistle, invite them to do so, because this is a world which at its core is an ungodly world, a fallen world. The counsel and advice of ungodliness is continually bombarding not only those who are ungodly, but also the child of God as well. And so the man or woman who would be blessed must recognize the counsel of the ungodly when it comes to him, and by the grace of God, reject that counsel.

3:11 The basis of that advice we have seen is the basic philosophy of life of the ungodly. Every ungodly person is a philosopher. Whether he knows it or not, he is. He has a philosophy of life.

3:24 Whether he's ever sat down and spelled it out and written it out is not the issue. But he is living his life on the basis of his own philosophy of life. And the scripture teaches that ungodly men base the whole of life from their own standpoint of viewing life without reference to God, interpreting the meaning of life without reference to God and setting their life values in opposition to the will and to the law of God. Now last week we considered the first of the ways in which the counsel of the ungodly comes to us.

3:56 As ungodly men view life without reference to God, to His law, to His glory, as they seek to interpret the meaning of life in the way of blessedness, how does that counsel come to us? Well, we're not concerned with the very obvious ways that it comes to us. Any man or woman who is born of the Spirit has sense enough to know the obvious ways. But we're concerned about those subtle ways which act, as we've used the illustration, like dry rot.

4:23 And you know, dry rot doesn't even leave a smell. A mold and a wet rot will, but dry rot can be operating at the structure of a house and no one even know it. And we're concerned about those ways that the counsel of ungodliness can act like dry rot at the foundation of the spiritual fabric of a child of God. And so we looked at one of these ways last week that we called the mass media of communication.

4:49 Those media of communication to which all of us are exposed to a greater or lesser degree almost continually. The radio, the TV, the newspaper, magazines, etc. And I sought to show you last week that the counsel which ungodly men give through these mass medium is basically this. The way of blessedness is the way of materialism.

5:14 Blessedness consists in things or the way of sensualism. Blessedness consists in gratifying your physical appetites or blessedness consists in moral relativism. relativism, just like a bird never knows freedom until he comes out of his birdcage and spreads his wings into the unbounded heavens. So this philosophy would say the way to blessedness is to throw off all restraints of law and all restraints of standards of right and wrong and just learn what it is to be a free human being. And that's the philosophy that is continually bombarding all of us through these mass media of communication. And then last of all, there is the philosophy of, I know no other smaller word to use, so I use this term, anti-God intellectualism. The exercise of the mind is men seek to solve problems. You listen to

6:04 newscasts and you listen and read the pronouncements of statesmen. You read the interviews as I do in U.S. News and World Report with great men in great places who are analyzing our great problems. And the counsel that comes again and again has as its common denominator, God is not even an option in all of this. He's only ruled out, if not by over-declaration, by the glaring absence of consideration of his analysis and his answer to this problem.

6:35 Now if we walk in that council, if we do not learn, as we saw last week, how to prayerfully expose ourselves to these medium, and how to guard ourselves against their influence, and how to brutally deal with that influence when it is causing spiritual detriment, then we cannot know the way of blessedness. For the blessed man is the one who does not walk in the council of ungodliness wherever and whenever that council comes to him. He's on his guard. By the grace of God, he rejects it and he refuses it.

7:07 Now, we did not deal with the positive, and I want to enlarge on that tonight and take these areas and show the contrast, as the psalmist does, with what happens to the blessed man who meditates in the law of God. Now, as he meditates in the law of God day and night, what happens? Well, you see, his mind then becomes conditioned by God's pronouncements about these things. The person who sits before his TV, reads his newspaper, listens to his radio, watches the moving pictures, and exposes himself to these mass media of communication.

7:45 Consciously or unconsciously, his mind, his thinking, his thought patterns are being molded into the shape of that counsel. Therefore, when he goes to act, he acts according to that counsel. He doesn't need to sit down and consciously say, now, what shall I do in this? Oh yes, I remember on the television last week at 7.35 on such and such a channel, so and so said this, I will accept his advice.

8:09 Oh no, no, no, no. As this fourfold philosophy bombards him and conditions his mind, it's sort of like a reflex action. When someone sticks a pin in your hand, you don't think, uh oh, that hurts, that has excited some nerves. Now nerves send a message to my brain and brain send a message to my muscle and hand move.

8:28 No, when you click, you move. It's a reflex action. And as the counsel of ungodliness bombards the child of God, what happens is many of his reflex actions, his reflex judgments, instead of being reflex actions and judgments rooted in Scripture, they are reflex actions rooted in this counsel of the ungodly. Now if we would be blessed people, we must so steep our minds in the word of God, have our thought patterns, conscious and unconscious or subconscious, so permeated, and to use the word of the kitchen, so absolutely marinated in the word of God, that we just, in our reflex action, think and make evaluations that are scriptural.

Contrasting Materialism with the Blessed Man

9:17 And in that way, we know what it is to walk in the way of blessedness. Now, let's go back over these areas and show the contrast then between the blessed man who does not walk in the counsel of ungodliness but meditates in the law of God day and night and the man who does not. Let's take this first area of the counsel of ungodliness that comes through these mass media namely materialism. The counsel of ungodliness glaring at us from every billboard and every one minute advertisement on the TV and all the rest says this.

9:56 Blessed is the man who accumulates things. The way of fulfillment, the way of blessedness, is the way of accumulating things. But the scripture says, the blessed man in truth is the one who does not walk in that counsel, but meditating in the law of God day and night, he experiences true blessedness. Well, why? How? How does this operate?

10:23 Well, let's get specific. The man who meditates in the law of God day and night, the young person, the housewife, the father, the college student, whose mind is steeped and marinated in the thought patterns of scripture, will know, first of all, that things were never meant to bring blessedness. see the council of the ungodly comes saying these very things were created if they use the term created but they're here in order to give us the blessed life the secure life the life that is at ease and restful and peaceful but you see the man who is steeped in scripture the man who meditates in the law of God day and night he doesn't buy that bill of goods

11:09 why? because his bible teaches him from the very first page in Genesis to the last page in Revelation that things were never given to make a man blessed. Never given. How does he learn that?

11:22 Well, turn to Genesis for just a moment.

11:26 And I can only be suggested tonight trying to bring some basic principles into focus that I hope will then become a key to unlock many other texts and passages of the Word of God. You know the account of creation in Genesis 1. God made the world, filled it with lovely and good things for after he made everything the scripture says God saw what he made that which he had made and it was good and God as it were is filling the world with things setting the stage to put his greatest thing in the midst of it the creature made in his own image and so on the sixth day we read that God created man in his own image and he put him down in the midst of all of these things

12:11 now chapter 2 of Genesis and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he had formed.

12:20 Now what did he put him into? He put him into a garden that was furnished with every kind of thing, created thing to bring Adam, what? Physical contentment to bring to Adam all that he would need for sustenance, for food and for enjoyment. All of these things were there in the garden.

12:41 He still lacked one thing, namely a wife. Now, you wives may not like being called things, but you are a thing, and we husbands are things. You see, a thing is anything created. Anything created is a thing.

12:56 And so God looked down and said, Adam, there's one thing you lack for your present happiness in this situation, and that's a wife. And so God took the initiative and made a wife, brought into Adam. Adam received this wife joyfully as the gift of God. But into this situation, God wanted Adam to know something, and Adam knew it right from the very outset, that his blessedness now experienced in the garden was to stand or fall not in terms of the presence or absence of things, but in terms of his relationship to his God.

13:32 So what does he say to it? He says very clearly, verse 16 of chapter 2, The Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. You may enjoy to the full the things that I have given to you, Adam, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, when the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Adam, you may enjoy all the things I have given to you, but your blessedness stands or falls not in terms of things, but in terms of your relationship to me.

14:07 Adam, I've made you so that your blessedness consists in a right relationship to me. Carried out in the full enjoyment of things, fine. I've given you all these things for your enjoyment. I've brought a wife to you.

14:21 Adam, all of these things are to be your servants to bring glory to me. They are to assist you in your pursuit of my will and bringing praise and glory to me and in walking in loving fellowship with me. Adam, I'm on the inside on the throne. Things are on the outside at your fingertips.

14:42 But Adam, if the thing ever gets reversed, if you become so enamored with anything in my garden that you want that thing at the expense of me, death will come. Is that what he said? That tree was a thing. Adam, if you want that thing at the expense of my will, death.

15:03 Death. I haven made you to be blessed by things I made you to be a blessed creature in the knowledge of myself Now you know the sad sad story When Adam and Eve sinned, what did they do? Did they suddenly run over and start plucking beautiful flowers and find comfort in their sense of estrangement from God with things? No, nothing in that garden of things could fill the terrible aching void of the vacated God.

15:37 Nothing in that garden could cover the terrible, seething cauldron of guilt within their own hearts. They run and they hide from the presence of God behind a bush.

15:49 What's the lesson? The man who's steeped in Scripture, who meditates in the law of God day and night, he knows this. He has no doubt about this. He lives in the light of this.

15:59 What is it? Things were never meant to bring blessings. never meant to bring blessings. He knows that.

16:07 So, when the counsel of ungodliness comes saying, if you get this thing, if you have these things, this is the way of blessedness, the man who meditates in the law of God says, no, it's a lie. Our first parents proved it was a lie. Millions after have witnessed to the fact that it's a lie. And so he refuses to walk in the counsel of ungodliness.

16:29 Why? Because he's meditating in the law of God. His mind is steeped and marinated in that scriptural principle that things were never meant to bring blessedness. Therefore, he's not going to seek blessedness in them.

Sin Deceives Man into Thinking Things Bring Blessedness

16:41 The second thing he knows, and it flows right out of this, the man who meditates in the law of God and is blessed, he knows that sin has deceived man into thinking that things can bring blessedness. having cast off the giver as his end and goal man now sets his heart upon God's gifts having turned away from the giver as the object of his love and devotion he's turned inward and downward and outward upon his gifts listen to this sad statement in Romans chapter 1 of this very fact and it's far more powerful

17:27 in a literal translation of this verse it says in verse 25 of natural man in a state of sin he changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature better translated worshipped and served the thing created more than the one who created it That's it. He worshipped and served the thing created more than the one who created it. What has man done? Having cast off God as his object, as the pursuit and goal of his life, the heart can't exist in a vacuum.

18:09 And into that vacuum of a vacated God have rushed his gifts, his things. And sin has so perverted man that he thinks blessedness comes now in worshiping and serving not the uncreated God, but the created thing, whether it's man or whether it's things, objects, material possessions. That's why Colossians 3 and verse 5 speaks of covetousness, which is idolatry. Well, what is an idol?

18:40 Well, it's anything that becomes your God. Well, what's your God? Why, the thing that's your end in life, the thing that's your goal in life, the thing to which you give devotion and from which you seek blessedness. That's your God, isn't it?

18:53 The thing that is the goal of your life. The thing to which you pour out devotion. The thing from which you expect blessedness. That's your God.

19:01 That's why Paul says covetousness, the grasping after things, is a form of idolatry. Why? Because things then become your goal in life. Things become that to which you give devotion and from which you expect what?

19:16 Blessedness. that's why the scripture says it is the essence of idolatry now the man who meditates in the law of God day and night he knows that he sees this throughout the length of scripture that just as surely as things were never meant to bring blessedness so sin has deceived man into thinking that things bring blessedness therefore the blessed man is on his guard for though he's a redeemed man he knows that that deception of sin is still at work within him and he'll play the fool a thousand times over unless he continually reminds himself, sin is deceiving me. And the minute he begins to set his goal as as though something, the Spirit of God checks it and he realizes this cannot be, this cannot be, this is the deception of sin.

20:04 And flowing then out of this, the man who meditates in the law of God day and night knows from Scripture not only that things were never meant to bring blessedness and that sin has deceived us into thinking they can, but he knows that the man who really is convinced they can is a fool.

20:22 The man who follows the course of sin's deception, the man who bows to that philosophy that comes through the mass media that says, blessed is the man who accumulates things, the man who's steeped in Scripture knows that such a man's a fool. We could find many passages in Scripture, but let's focus our attention for a moment upon that passage in Luke chapter 12.

20:50 This is the kind of man that they write up in the magazine as a model of a successful businessman to encourage other young businessmen to follow the path he did. This is the kind of man that would be talked about in the little one minute commercials for the Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn over WOR in the 8 o'clock news when they're telling you about the fellow who was smart enough when he was 24 to salt a little away and through the magic of compound dividends he now has X number of dollars minus taxes at age 65. Here he is, right here. Our Lord described it in Luke chapter 12.

The Parable of the Rich Fool

21:26 You see, I didn't know I had memorized Henry Gladstone's words, but you see, I've heard that commercial so often. There it is, working in there, right down there, just ready to come out. Luke chapter 12 and verse...

21:41 Well, let's start there with verse 13. One of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. My dad's died. He had us both down as co-inheritors.

21:54 But my brother's being selfish. Now, Lord, certainly you're concerned about social justice. That's what the great prophets of today would tell us. The church has got to get involved with social justice.

22:03 She's got to make pronouncements on social justice. What did the Lord say? And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or divider over you? Instead of executing justice, he turns around to give this fellow a lesson, a sermon on the danger of covetousness.

22:18 And this is what he says. And he said unto him, Take heed, and beware of covetousness. The philosophy that says, Blessedness comes through things. For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

22:34 and he spake a parable unto them saying the ground of a certain man brought forth plentifully and he thought within himself saying what shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits and he said this will I do I'll pull down my barns I'll be willing to take a little loss now for some greater gain then in other words he was a wise investor he didn't just look at his present capital or his present assets and say well I must not dig into them I must keep my no he said I'm willing to dig into present assets and maybe even to go in debt for a little bit to get great. He was a smart businessman, you see. Our Lord brings that up. I'll pull down my barns.

23:09 That costs money. And I'll build greater. That costs more money. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.

23:17 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. You've got a good retirement plan. You won't even need to go on strike for better fringe benefits. All laid up.

23:29 Best retirement plan possible. Take thine ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.

23:41 Now notice the emphasis. Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided? Then the point of the message, So is he that layeth up treasure for himself. And remember that treasure is things and is not rich toward God.

23:58 Here the scripture calls a downright fool The man who believes the deception of his own heart And the deceptive counsel of ungodliness The blessedness can come through things Just as a man who tries to fill his aching stomach with air To gratify his appetite And that man is a fool So the man who seeks to find blessedness of soul through things is a greater fool. And the man or woman who meditates in the law of God day and night sees this again and again in precept, in warning, in example, like the rich young ruler who thinks blessedness can come in the way of clinging to things. And the word of God speaks to this issue.

24:45 And beloved, I am absolutely convinced, living as we do in the most affluent society in all of the history of mankind, And yet, I hear this cry everywhere amongst our own congregation and other congregations, wherever I go, people saying, well, you know, with higher taxes and with the higher living prices we can barely make ends meet. Beloved, it isn't true. The reason we can't make ends meet is not that there is not enough. It's that we have subtly swallowed the lie of the devil and the world and the counsel of ungodliness that happiness comes through things.

25:21 And we have accumulated ten times as many things as our grandparents did. And yet most of them lived to a much greater measure of blessedness than we have known. And those are the facts, beloved. But you cannot argue with the facts of our gross national output, with the margin that a man has in terms of money available to get things beyond his food and clothing.

25:45 And the only reason we're on this terrible financial treadmill is that we listen to the counsel of ungodliness that has brainwashed us into thinking we've got to have things.

25:58 Things don't necessarily need to be fancy furniture. things don't necessarily mean big cars things can be two suits when one is necessary though you may be the only person in your block that's got one suit things may be six pair of shoes to match your different outfits when one neutral color would be sufficient to pretty well go with most of them that's what I'm talking about beloved just that practical is what you've got in that closet as your wardrobe that costs money they don't float out of heaven.

26:37 Too overcoats when one would do. This is what things are. The brainwashing of our society into making us feel that we must have these things. Whereas the man whose mind is steeped in scripture knows that that's to play the fool to ever think that blessedness comes in things.

Things Are Never the Goal: Seeking First the Kingdom

26:57 Well, if the blessed man then having his mind steeped in Scripture knows that things can never bring blessedness, and that it's sin that has deceived man into thinking blessedness can come by things, and that the man who buys that is a fool, what is the attitude of the blessed man who, having his mind steeped in Scripture, refuses the counsel of ungodliness? What is his attitude to things? You can't act like they're not there. You can't act like you don't need them. What is his attitude to things? As he meditates in the law of God day and night, and his mind becomes more and more conditioned by the Bible's attitude to things, what will that attitude be? May I suggest from the scriptures that that attitude will be characterized by two basic things. Number one, things will never

27:45 be the goal of his life. They'll never be the goal of his life. They will never be the goal in his life. Remember what our Lord said in Matthew chapter 6, the chapter in which he deals with the problem of things. This is the things chapter. For our Lord says, all these things do the Gentiles seek after, food, clothing. And he says, your heavenly Father knows that you have need of these things. Well, if you're meditating in the law of God, then your thinking will be shaped by Matthew chapter 6, among other passages, because that's the things chapter. And notice what our Lord says about things. First of all, he tells us in verse 24 that you can't have things as your goal and have God as your goal. The two are mutually exclusive.

28:35 No man can serve two masters. Either he'll hate the one and love the other or hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon being a personification of the God of materialism. You cannot serve God in things. Now the man whose mind is steeped in Scripture never has things as his goal because he knows the moment he does, he's repudiated God as his God.

29:00 Now that's pretty straight, isn't it? The moment my heart gets set upon anything, whether it's a person or an object, at that point I have repudiated God in my heart. Christ said it. You can't serve two masters. You hold one and love the other.

29:19 The demands of both are such that they exclude devotion to the other. Then verse 25, therefore I say unto you, take no anxious thought for your life, what you shall eat, what you should drink, nor for your body what you shall put on. The second thing he realizes, things are not his goal, therefore he's not going to have his life in a mental tither from morning tonight worrying about things. You see, the man who has things as his goal, like that man described in Luke 12, he's all the time watching the stock market reports, you see.

29:52 Because his whole life being racked up in things, anything that affects his things, affects him. He's all the time full of anxiety. And when he hears that a certain stock has dropped to six points, why, the poor fellow springs an ulcer. And when he finds that it's gone up five points, the poor fellow goes out and paints the town that night.

30:09 You see, his whole life is one treadmill of anxiety about things. Why? Because things are his goal. But our Lord says not so with my children Not only do they recognize that the moment they set their goal on things they repudiating me but they recognize there no need to be anxious about things because things are the least concern of life. Is not, he says, the life more than meat and the body than raiment?

30:37 When your life is wrapped up in things, our Lord says, you're acting like an animal who simply exists by material things. You've forgotten that you're a creature made in the image of God. You have an immortal soul that's of great price and great worth to him. Then he gives us that lesson about sanctified virtue or bird watching. Verse 26, behold the fowls of the air, etc. But now coming down to verse 33, here's the crux of the issue. But Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

31:15 Things are never the goal of the life of a man who is steeped in the word of God, who meditates in the law of God day and night. For he recognizes that as God is his goal, and the kingdom of God his pursuit, the establishment of that kingdom more extensively in his own life and in the lives of others, as his life and all of its energies and interest is poured out in the direction of God and his kingdom, God will give him all the gas he needs to make the trip. You got it? The Lord is saying, I'm not going to have my servants pouring themselves out in the interest of my kingdom and not make sure they've got an adequate expense account.

31:56 I'll take care of everything you need to seek me first and to seek my kingdom.

32:03 He showed that word. In that way in my life, don't you dare say that of God. His word is true and everyone who sought first his kingdom and his righteousness has proven it again and again and again that everything else has been added. Everything else.

32:15 necessary for life. He doesn't say all the luxuries upon which your fickle heart is set will be given you. No, no. But he says everything you need in the way of necessary food and raiment will be supplied in the providence of God.

32:28 So things are never the goal of the man who meditates in the law of God day and night. He can say with the psalmist, I have no good beyond thee. He can say again with the psalmist, all my springs are in thee. He can say with the psalmist, Whom have I in heaven but thee?

32:48 There is none that I desire upon earth but thee. He knows that having the living God, he has all things needful for blessedness. He knows that if he had all things but not his God, he would have no source of blessedness. So the man who meditates in the law of God day and night will have that attitude to things.

Receiving and Relinquishing Things: Job and Paul

33:06 Things will never be the goal of his life. Secondly, things will be received and relinquished as the will of God determines. Things will be received and relinquished as the will of God determines. One Old Testament example and then one New Testament example.

33:29 It is said of Job that he was a just man, a righteous man that feared God above all people on the earth. And yet Job had many things. And it speaks of the things that he had. And he had lots of things.

33:42 And he had far more than was necessary for just his daily bread. And yet he didn't get those things by dishonesty. He got them in the providence of God. He got them in the will of God.

33:52 He was able to keep his integrity before God and still accumulate many things. Job learned the blessedness of receiving things in the will of God. he didn't have the idea that unless he took the vow of poverty he couldn't be a truly pious man and every once in a while you'll get a cult going in the church or in a movement or a denomination that somehow baggy knees and holes in your clothes are a sign of piety it isn't true if God is pleased in the course of his providence to give us things we must learn to receive those things but listen the man who medicates in the law of God day and night, not only learns to receive things in the will of God, but he learns to relinquish them in the will of God. And isn't that the picture of Job? In one day, all of

34:42 his things were stripped, even that thing, his wife, turned on him. And at that point, she was a thing when she told him, curse God and die. She wasn't a good wife then. She was a thing at that point when she said, curse God and die. What did Job say? The Lord given, the Lord what? Taken, blessed be the name of the Lord.

35:09 What was the matter with Job? Was he some kind of a stoic? No. He was a man who felt as deeply the loss of his children as anyone here would feel the loss of your children. A man who naturally speaking would have felt the loss of his things as deeply as you and I would feel the loss of them, but the difference was this.

35:27 Job never held the things that he received from God with a clenched fist He held them with an open hand And when the God who put them there was pleased with the same hand to remove them That hand was still lifted up in blessing to God When the things were there The things were not clutched and bowed down to and worship They were held as the gift of God And the heart and the focus of the soul was God's worth, not thing-worth so when the things left the focus of the heart and the soul was still in the direction of the God the hands though now empty were lifted up in blessing God's given, God's taken blessed be the name of the Lord as a beautiful picture of a man who knew what it was

36:13 to receive and relinquish things at the dispositions of God's sovereign will the New Testament example of course is the Apostle Paul we could use our Lord here, but we would say, well, he was different. Well, in one sense he was, but in another he is our model, but certainly no one will argue using the Apostle Paul, another fallen son of Adam by nature, a man whose heart was just as prone to covetousness as your heart or mine. Will you turn to Philippians chapter 4 for a moment and see the attitude of this man whose mind was steeped in Holy Scripture. See his attitude to things.

36:52 Philippians chapter 4.

37:03 To get the thought of what he's talking about, notice in verse 10, But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry.

37:32 Both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Will you notice what he's talking about? This verse we often quote, I can do all things.

37:43 What is the context of I can do all things? This is the context. I can handle all things in receiving them with thanksgiving or relinquishing them without reluctance if this is the will of God. I can do this.

38:00 I can rightly manage things. That's the all things he's talking about here. And he says the strength of Christ is what is needed for this. For notice down in verse 18, but I have all and abound.

38:11 I am full having received of Epaphroditus the things that were sent from you. He said, you sent me a whole bunch of things. What were the things? Well, maybe some baskets of fruit and a few extra suits of clothes and maybe some fancy slippers.

38:28 Oh my, he had all kinds of things. And he said, boy, when you send them to me as an expression of love, that it's sending as a sweet smelling incense to God. And he said, I didn't have some kind of an idea that if somebody found me with some fancy slippers and a gold embroidered coat here in my prison, they'd think me carnal. No, he said, I enjoy that coat and I enjoy my slippers and I enjoy nibbling on my basket of fruit and I thank God for it.

38:52 But if three weeks later he ended up in a dirty dungeon with rats crawling over his feet,

38:58 he didn't cease to bless his God. He said, I have learned how to bow, how to be abased. I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me. When the will of God brought him into bounty, he received it.

39:14 When the will of God brought him into abasement, he embraced it.

39:20 Now that you ask me, well, Pastor, how do I know if the will of God is bringing me into abounding or whether my own scheming is? How do I know if the will of God is bringing me into abasement or if my own foolishness? There's the question, isn't it? Well, let me suggest to you several things that I hope will help you.

39:36 I want to be intensely practical tonight. The only place you determine the will of God is by the word of God, and secondly, by the unavoidable circumstances of providence. Now, by the will of God, you are a father and a provider for your household, right? You as a father are commanded, given the responsibility, to be the breadwinner in your home.

40:01 If any man provide not for his own, he hath denied the faith, he is worse than an infidel. So saith the word of God. Now, what is the will of God for you as a mother? It's to be a mother to your children, to be a housekeeper.

40:16 So, if in the providence of God, God has not been pleased to bless the employment of a father and the provider to the extent that that household can live on the standard of living which it once lived, whether in terms of amount of clothes in the wardrobe or the price of the clothes that are there, the length of a vacation or a vacation at all, the size of a car or any car at all, or the year of a car, whatever is involved in making up the standard of living at which we live. If in the providence of God, God has not been pleased to bless the breadwinner to the extent that that standard of living can be maintained, what's the will of God? For the wife to disobey the command of God

41:04 and go out to supplement the income to maintain the standard of living? No. That's downright disobedience to the will of God.

41:14 The will of God is you've got to learn how to be abased. You've got to learn how to live with one suit instead of three.

41:22 You've got to learn how to live with one pair of shoes instead of six.

41:26 And you've got to learn it. Paul had to learn it. He said, I've learned how. It's not easy when you've had comfortable slippers and a gilt-edged coat and a basket of fruit by your side three weeks later to be down with the rats and only a crust of bread to chew on.

41:44 But Christ's grace is sufficient for that, beloved.

Determining God's Will by His Word and Providence

41:49 Now, am I reading something into the Bible or is that a valid application of Philippians 4? You tell me. Is that a valid application? Am I reading something in?

42:00 It means that the God who said, six days shalt thou labor one day in seven thou shalt rest it's to be hallowed unto me if to adequately provide at my present standard of living I must desecrate the Lord's day in order to keep that standard of living then the will of God is clear I must never violate the clearly revealed will of God which says one day in seven shall be set apart for exercises of worship and praise and assembling with God's people I just must learn to get along on the fruit of the labor of six days. If it means I've got to bring my standard of living down, so be it. That's what it means.

42:41 Surely, if you were to come to me and say, Pastor, I've got a problem. At my place of work, I'm going to have to lie only once a week now to maintain my job. And the only other alternative is take another job that will mean $10 less a week or maybe more than that, but I don't have to lie. What do you think the will of God is?

43:00 Well, if you were a pastor, what counsel would you get? Would you say, let's get down and pray about it?

43:06 Anybody have to pray about that answer? That's one counseling session we'd have no prayer. I think the answer's clear. I think you kids could tell me the answer.

43:14 What has God said? What's His will? What's His will? Lie not.

43:20 Speak every man truth with his neighbor. Thou shalt not bear false witness. So if the only alternative is to take the job that brings less money to maintain your integrity, the will of God is clear. You take the job with less money, then you go home, And you sit down and you bring down the budget accordingly.

43:34 And you cut corners where necessary. Oh, you say, that's hard in the flesh. Sure it is. And anything that's hard in your flesh is generally good for your soul and for the spirit.

43:48 Are you going to know the will of God? Whether you should abound or be abased, you'll know the will of God by the word of God. And the word of God directs to your duties as a father, as a provider, as a mother, as a housekeeper, as a worker, as a child of God, all of these areas. And you see, the blessed man is the man like Paul, who having his mind so steeped in the word of God, and these principles so imbibed in his system, Paul never once considered, well, I'm having it rough here, so if I've got to cut corners on the work of the kingdom and on the concerns of the church, in order to get back to nice slippers and nice bathrobes, I'll do it.

44:25 No, no, never, never, never. and so the child of God never even considers the one whose mind is steeped in scripture where he can cut corners on the things of God and on the interest of the kingdom of God to maintain his standard of living he says Lord give me grace to go down I've got to learn how to be abound how to be abased and anything less than this beloved will bring upon you exactly what is spoken of in 1st Timothy chapter 6 oh how this passage speaks to our generation with such clarity and such force Paul says in 1 Timothy, I'm sorry, chapter 6 and verse 8. Well, let's back up to verse 6. Godliness.

45:09 The man who knows the blessedness of a right relationship to God may have only one pair of shoes in the closet, one suit of clothes on the rack, pretty plain food in the cupboard, pretty plain looking roof over his head, pretty drab looking car in his garage if he has one but oh he blessed with the contentment of knowing All is well between him and his God Godliness with contentment great gain For we brought nothing into this world. That's a biological fact attested by every single doctor who's delivered a baby, by every mother who's born one. We brought nothing into the world but a few squalls and hollers, and we can carry nothing out. Well, in the light of that,

45:55 We came in empty-handed and going to go out empty-handed. What in the world is the sense of getting your hands all full while you're here in the meantime? You came in empty, you're going out empty, Paul says. So therefore, having enough food in your tummy to keep you from hunger and enough clothes on your back to keep you from the elements, let us be content.

46:12 Then he doesn't put a parenthesis, except if you live in the affluent American society, then you must be continually pressing to keep up with the standard of living that's around you. He doesn't say that. And I refuse to adjust the word of God to the pressures of our own society. Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content.

46:30 But they that will be rich, who are they? Those who want something more than enough clothes on the back for today and enough money to pay the bills for today. Want a little nest egg here and the rest in the providence of God. God hasn't given it to them.

46:42 He hasn't dumped it in their laps so that they're receiving it from him. But they're aspiring to it. See, they that will be rich. they that would have something more than the bare necessities, fall into temptation and a snare.

46:55 What do they do? They begin to cut corners on the will of God in terms of their own spiritual lives. So busy making the extra buck to provide for that extra thing. No time to pray.

47:06 No time to examine themselves. No time to spend in the training of their families. No time to be involved in the outreach of the church. They fall into temptation and a snare and into foolish and hurtful lust which drown men in destruction and perdition.

47:21 For the love of money is the root of all forms of evil which some while some have coveted after. Notice. It doesn't say they had it. These weren't rich people whose riches got them drunk and heavy and they became inebriated with the heavy wine of riches.

47:36 No, no. They were people who just wanted to have more.

47:41 They erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. but thou, O man of God, flee these things, run from them like the plague.

47:52 And if you're going to pursue anything, he says, you start coveting righteousness and godliness and faith and love and patience. Would to God we'd see people making the sacrifices to be godly that they're willing to make for a few extra bucks. Would to God we'd see in the church people willing to make sacrifices of time and energy for more faith and patience and meekness that they're willing to make for that extra week away somewhere for that extra piece of clothing in the wardrobe for that extra piece of comb in the car. Beloved, how foolish amongst the people of God.

48:31 The poor world thing who's been utterly deceived into thinking blessedness comes by things who's bombarded in his TV and his radio and his magazine and the movie with this philosophy that blessedness comes in things Our hearts go out in pity to them, for they know no better. And oh, how I'm reminded of it in that neighborhood where we live. And as I meet with the other five men in the immediate neighborhood every other Monday night and their sons in our Indian guides program, and I listen to their conversation, how my heart breaks and bleeds. All they can talk about is the one that's got the newest car.

49:05 And it's interesting, in our area, though, everybody's got garages. Nobody parks their car in the garage.

49:11 Nobody does. I think we're about the only one that parks the car in the garage. the folks across the street from the street but almost everybody else and so when the newest Pontiac is out there and the newest country squire is there you see all and what they talk about who's been to the latest trip to Antigua and who's gone to the west coast all things and your heart breaks but beloved when you see people who profess to know God and believe the book motivated by the same forces your heart cries out in something other than pity and you say oh God how can it be we who claim that we have found blessedness in thy Son and yet grasping, clutching, pursuing things.

49:52 No.

The Spoiling of Goods and Future Persecution

49:55 This passage should stand as an eternal monument of warning to us. Let me hurry on tonight to seek to bring this to a conclusion. I said you'll not only discern the will of God by His Word, for remember you are to receive and relinquish things at the dispositions of the will of God, but you determine them by circumstances. In Hebrews 10 and verse 34 we have a wonderful clue to how this works.

50:20 Here were some people that because they loved the Lord and sought to serve Him it brought persecution upon them. And part of that persecution was not only having people say some bad things about them but notice what it says in verse 34 of Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 and verse 34 For ye had compassion of me and my bonds and you took joyfully the spoiling of your goods. That doesn't mean the ruining of them.

50:48 It's using the word spoils in the old sense. You took joyfully the dispossessing of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Ah, listen. When people came to these Christians and stripped them of all their earthly possessions, they rejoiced.

51:07 What? They said, hallelujah. just makes us, reminds us that we brought nothing in, take nothing out, but oh, what God's prepared for us up there. You people aren't hurting us, you're helping us.

51:17 Maybe we began to get a little bit too tied to our things, and when you take them from us, you're just helping us. How in the world can you hurt a man like that? You can't hurt a man like that. The man who holds his things like this, you can't hurt it.

51:30 But when he's got them, while the world would have the equal amount and clings to it and makes it his God, he holds it there like this and goes right on worshiping and serving as God. And so the Lord, by providence, or the world, takes it, and the poor man goes right on blessing God. You can't hurt man like that. He's a mystery to the world.

51:46 And imagine what a mystery it was when these people whose lives were wrapped up in things so much so that they were willing to get them by even taking illegally and unlawfully the possessions of the Christian. And when they stripped them away, the Christians have a hallelujah meeting. They say, what in the world can you do with poor fools like that? Only one thing to do with them.

52:04 You better get to know the God they know or kill them. Get them out of the way so they don't bother your conscience. And that's exactly what happens. In times when the Spirit of God is moving in the hearts of men in the midst of this kind of persecution, and beloved, this is what's going on in Vietnam right now.

52:18 Do you know that tonight hundreds of our blood-bought brothers and sisters in Christ don't have a home and what little possessions they had. Many of them could be all wrapped together and tied in a bundle and carried on the back of a mother or father. hundreds of Christians have been shifted from place to place driven out of their homes refugee camps and the rest but when war comes it's no respect to persons but wonder of wonders as I heard the report on the radio the other night all this is done is transplant the church and these people who've been reminded that they have here no abiding place that they came in empty and they're going out empty and might as well not be too concerned where has their focus been not clambering for somebody to reconstruct Vietnam's heaven and build and create apartment houses.

53:06 No, what have they been doing? The minute they get transplanted in the refugee camp, they go around and find poor needy sinners and they tell them about the Savior. And the gospel spreads and the Spirit of God is at work, calling out many to Himself.

53:22 That time may come to us, dear ones, I feel that some of us are going to live to see the day of the spoiling of our goods. And if you don't learn, this posture you know what's going to happen to you? If it's this posture the same hand that clings to things in the hour of persecution will rise up and deny the Savior for the sake of things.

53:46 Whatever that beast is described in the book of the Revelation which men must take his mark or they cannot live they'll be slain it's a whole matter of an economic thing. You must take the mark of a beast to have what? To have things to exist.

54:04 And those who profess the name of Christ but are pursuing things in that hour, mark my word for it's the teaching of speech. They'll deny their Savior for a mess of pottage as did Esau. Oh, blessed is the man so meditating upon the word of God, has his thoughts about things shaped by the word of God. He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly that says blessedness comes in things.

Closing Questions for Self-Examination

54:30 But he walks in the counsel of God which says God is the source of blessedness. He receives and relinquishes things at the dispositions of the will of God. Are you the blessed person tonight?

54:47 Are you that blessed person? As I close, let me ask you just a couple of questions to press home to your conscience. Take home and think about them. if you're walking in the counsel of the ungodly, then you're willing to make sacrifices of spiritual goals to attain material ends.

55:05 Are you sacrificing any spiritual goals for material ends? If so, you've swallowed the advice of the ungodly. For the man who meditates in the law of God will never sacrifice a spiritual goal for a material end. Never.

55:21 He will seek first the kingdom of God and know that material things will be granted.

55:28 Those who walk in the counsel of the ungodly rejoice more when some thing, new thing, becomes theirs. And they can rejoice at some new discovery of the glory of Christ and the wonder of His grace and the power and ministry of His Spirit. What makes you happy? That's one of the most deep tests of whether or not you're walking in the counsel of the ungodly.

55:51 I've seen people who never get excited about the Lord get genuinely excited when they get a new suit or a new car, a new home. I mean people who may be very quiet, but suddenly they come alive. Why? Why, this is very thrilling to me.

56:03 Anything wrong with that? No. But if you can get more excited about some new thing in the physical world of things, then you can get excited about the Lord and some new discovery of His grace, some new report of how He's working in the earth to call out a people for Himself. my dear friend you have swallowed the counsel of the ungodly because your response is an indication that you think some blessedness is going to come with this thing whereas the Christian knows that blessedness comes alone from his God.

56:34 The poor hippie movement is a sad thing because you know what the hippie movement is? It's a recognition that blessedness doesn't come in material things but these poor people are trying to find it in what we would call the aesthetic things. You see they've turned away from seeking blessedness in a split level in suburbia and two cars in the garage and a four week vacation and the rest. But they're trying to find it in things like flowers.

56:59 The sunset. Yes, they are. They have seen the utter emptiness of trying to find blessedness in material things. And they're seeking it at what we might call a higher level.

57:10 The higher level of the aesthetic things. The things that are beautiful. The simple life. But they love that there is no thing And whether it's a material thing or an aesthetic thing that can bring blessedness, only the God of grace can bring blessedness.

57:25 And so the message we have to the hippie world and to suburbia is the same message, that the God who made us is the only God who can make us blessed people. And when we come acknowledging the emptiness and the barrenness and the meaninglessness of it all, apart from knowing Him and turned to Him through His Son, then we know blessedness then we can rightly handle things oh dear ones I hope you just won't go home tonight as perhaps you've done many other Sunday nights and say well it's a nice day nice sermon apparently the pastor really believed what he preached I hope what you've heard tonight will drive you to prayer until your reflex action to things is that of a biblical perspective I had a little example some of the ladies will appreciate this

58:11 I hadn't planned to say it but it's come back to my mind I feel I should some of you know most of the stores had special sales Washington's birthday and last year my wife was able to pick up about I think $75 list price different things for about $15 for the children's winter clothes for the next year and so as the sale was coming up and one of the ladies who works there kept my wife informed and so we were planning to go over Thursday morning and we went over and as soon as I stopped and let my wife out and drove down I noticed that the store was all blackened. Apparently it had a fire so I turned around came back and found my wife and she got in the car and her first reaction was this. She said, well dear, what a reminder how quickly earthly things can be snatched from us.

58:57 I thank God for one whose reflex action was to think in biblical terms. Not all nuts will have to pay full price for the same things next year. No. But oh Lord thank you for the reminder that things are so unstable. Is that the reflex action of your soul to things of your heart?

59:22 May God grant that we'll be so steeped in scriptural concepts that the counsel of the ungodly that comes streaming down like a mighty avalanche through the TV and the radio and all the other mass media will never be able to take its root in us. But a blessed people will be. And if God lets persecution come and privation and depression and let inflation go, so it will take a bucket full of money to buy a loaf of bread,

59:50 there won't be any loss of joy upon your face or in your heart, because you will have learned to be amazed and to rejoice in the God of your salvation. And the world will look and say, what in the world can you do with a crowd like that? You better kill them or join them. And that's when Christianity is its most glorious hour, when the world just can't ignore the difference and says we've got to kill them or join them.

60:14 We've got to know their God or get them out of the way. May God bring that day upon us for His glory and for our eternal life.

60:39 Thank you.