Warnings in a Holiday Season

Introduction: The Olivet Discourse and Its Pastoral Purpose

0:01 One of the most debated and many people feel confusing portions of the word of God is that portion which is commonly called the Olivet Discourse. And you will find the record of the discourse commonly called the Olivet Discourse because it was given on Mount Olivet, recorded in Matthew 24 and in two parallel passages, Mark 13 and Luke 21. And although many details of interpretation are debated and debated quite hotly by godly commentators who sometimes become more debaters than godly commentators, there is general agreement that two of the great realities dealt with in the Olivet Discourse are, one, the prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, which meant the final overthrow of the Jewish theocracy, and secondly, the second advent of our Lord, which will result in the overthrow of this world order and the ushering in of the new heavens and the new earth. Now, some commentators would not agree to that second element. They say everything in the Olivet Discourse pertains to the destruction of Jerusalem, to the overthrowing of the Jewish theocracy, the Jewish state, the sending of the gospel to the Gentiles.

1:27 But it's awfully difficult, most commentators feel. And I don't. And I don't. And I don't.

1:31 And I share that conviction to apply some of the passages in the Olivet Discourse to anything other than the second advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you read such words as the lightning shining from one end of heaven to the other, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be, it seems hard to apply that, that coming, so drastic, so dramatic, to the gradual coming of Christ in the establishment of the kingdom of God in its full New Testament sense. So, it is accurate to say, that most commentators agree that the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 contains two great areas of prophetic discourse. Number one, the destruction of Jerusalem, and number two, the second advent. However, in dealing with these great epical events, our Lord is constantly concerned to bring home to the consciences of his disciples very practical issues, issues that touch their salvation, issues that touch the nerve centers of practical Christian experience in the midst of an epical period. For instance, in Luke 21, the passage we will be studying together, or a very small portion of that chapter, our Lord no sooner begins to talk about the destruction of Jerusalem and the events that will surround it,

2:58 but that he says in verse, and he said, and he brings a practical exhortation concerning the ever-present danger of false Christs and false teachers. Then in verse 9, he gives a practical exhortation against this unhinging kind of fear. When ye hear of wars and tumults, be not terrified. There is divine necessity that all of this should come to pass.

3:27 And right through, our Lord, constantly intermingles these prophetic statements concerning the two great realities, the overthrow of Jerusalem, which ushers in, as it were, the kingdom of God in its New Testament sense, and then that greater upheaval when at the second advent he consumes the world with fires of judgment and ushers in the new heavens and the new earth. He constantly intersperses this teaching with that which is intensely practical. And it's in this context that I wish to address myself to the subject tonight, a practical exhortation at the beginning of a festive season, taking one of the practical exhortations of our Lord, which applies directly in the context to the second advent, but which has principles that go far beyond the immediate context. And you find this in many passages where our Lord is enunciating, a principle occasioned by a specific situation. When he enunciates the principle, it's one that applies not just in that one situation, but applies in many similar situations. This is why some of his more familiar statements, such as, He that would save his life shall lose it, is found many places in the Scriptures.

4:50 Cutting off right hands, plucking out right eyes, found many places in the Word of God. So then, what I will attempt to do, is to look at the text with some reference to its setting, open it up, and then apply it in a very special way to the festive season into which we've come. Now let me state at the outset, for we do have visitors among us who would not know this by association, I am not a party pooper or a killjoy. I do not believe that I have a constitutional tendency to party poopering or to killjoy-ism.

5:25 Nor do I believe the Scriptures teach that laughter and wholesome festivity are somehow sub-Christian experiences. But rather, as I've been exercised seeking the mind of God concerning that Word which we as His people might need in a special way at this time, I speak out of the context not of a sour party-poopering spirit, but out of the context of a genuine pastoral concern, first of all, for my own sake, for your soul, and for yours. All right, will you look with me now, with that as introduction and background at verses 34 and 36 of Luke 21. Our Lord is drawing to a conclusion one of the prophetic utterances touching the second advent, and He says, verse 34, But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts should be overcharged or made heavy with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare. For so shall it come upon all men that dwell on the face of all the earth. But watch ye at every season, making supplication that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. As I've sought to analyze this exhortation of our Lord,

6:51 I believe it is accurate to say that it hinges, pivots, flows out of, is bounded by, whatever terms you wish, two very simple but very intensely practical commands. The first command is in the imperative of verse 34, But take heed to yourselves, and the second in verse 36, But watch ye at every season, making supplication. So we have but two points to the sermon tonight, two major divisions, the first command and the second command. I didn't say first command meant, that would be confusing, because those words have a different connotation, but the first command in the text, and the second command.

The First Command: Take Heed to Yourselves (General Duty)

7:33 All right, let's look at the first one, and there will be a disproportionate measure of time given to the first. I believe it is more practical and vital in the area of our concern. Notice first of all the duty itself in general, the duty stated in a general way. But take heed to yourselves.

7:55 And our Lord speaks in a verb form which is a present imperative. That is, be ye continually taking heed to yourselves. Now what does this mean, take heed to yourselves? The word take heed is translated several times in the New Testament by the words beware.

8:15 Matthew 7, 15, beware of false prophets. Again in Matthew 16 in verse 36, verse 11, beware of the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees. So this duty to take heed to ourselves brings within its orbit the connotation of conscious concerned alertness, particularly with reference to possible dangers. You'll see a sign, beware of dog.

8:47 That means be alert to the possibility of a four-legged animal who may do you harm if you get too close to it. Now you see we can be aware of things without having to beware of those things. You wouldn't put a sign up, beware of the cake in the cupboard. You might say beware if you touch the cake in the cupboard to your kids.

9:11 So you see the whole concept then is taking heed and being mentally alert in the light of possible dangers that exist. And so our Lord, in the light of the circumstances that will surround His second advent, commands His disciples, take heed unto yourselves. Be constantly on the alert, the alert with reference to yourself and in particular with reference to dangers peculiar to you, even as disciples. And because He speaks in the present imperative, He is telling us that there is never a time when it is either safe or right to give ourselves over to a spirit of spiritual carelessness. We are to take heed to ourselves at all times and in all circumstances and in every peculiar season. If we are aware that the devil signs no two-week truce between Christmas and New Year's, and the few days before and after, if we are convinced he is still our adversary who as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour, we have reason to take heed to ourselves. If we are convinced there is nothing in the Scriptures or human experience

10:40 which teaches that indwelling sin is somehow neutered in its potential danger from December 20th through January 1st, then we need this exhortation of our Lord to take heed to ourselves. And until such time as the world declares a truce in its effort to conform us to its pattern, then this admonition is desperately needed. The first command focuses upon this duty of taking heed to ourselves, becoming aware of the potential dangers that lurk within ourselves. Now notice our Lord then focuses upon a specific aspect of this duty. He not only states the duty in general, but then there is a specific focus to the duty. Look at it. But take heed to yourselves, lest happily your hearts be overcharged.

The Specific Focus: Guarding the Heart Against Being Weighed Down

11:42 In other words, the specific focus of the duty has to do with the condition of our hearts. Now again I remind you that when the Bible speaks of the heart, it's not speaking in terms of medical terminology, nor in terms of modern psychological concepts. It's speaking in terms of such passages as Proverbs 4.23, Guard thy heart above all that thou guardest, for out of it are the issues of life.

12:15 As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he, for from within out of the heart proceed. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things. An evil man out of the evil treasure of the heart bringeth forth evil things. Those are quotes from Proverbs, from Mark, and from the Gospel of Matthew.

12:36 So our Lord says the specific focus of this perpetual duty of watchfulness, this taking heed to ourselves, is the heart. And in particular he says, lest your heart be overcharged. Now that's a poor translation. I really don't know.

12:55 It's one of the few places where I can say so bluntly that the 1901 edition gives a poor translation. I believe it gives a poor translation of 2 Timothy 3.16. This is a poor translation.

13:09 The word literally means to weigh down or to burden with. It's the word used in 1 Timothy 5.16. And this, I think, forms a beautiful illustration of its meaning.

13:22 1 Timothy 5 and verse 16. Dealing with the subject of the church's responsibilities to widows, if any woman that believeth hath widows, let her relieve them, and let not the church, here's the word, let not the church be burdened, that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. You get the picture? He says he doesn't want the church weighed down with an unnecessarily long role of widows for which the church feels responsible.

13:56 It's the picture of someone taking on additional responsibility that presses him down. It's the word used figuratively to describe the state of the disciples when they fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane. In Matthew 26 and verse 43 we read, their eyes were, here's the word, burdened down, weighed down, with sleep. Now that's the word that's used here.

14:22 We are to take heed, that's the general duty, but the specific focus of that duty is taking heed, being watchful of our hearts, and in particular being watchful that the heart does not become weighed down. The heart does not become heavy. And in the Greek translation of the Old Testament this is the same word used in Exodus 7, 14 to describe the state of Pharaoh's heart. The heart became heavy.

14:49 And what happens to a heart that is heavy, weighed down? It is a heart that is unresponsive to the voice of God. It is a heart that is insensitive to spiritual realities. And in the context our Lord is saying, take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighted down, lest they get out of touch with the great realities that surround the second advent.

15:16 You see, there's a sense in which everything for which a Christian lives and to which he is committed finds its pivotal expression in the things that will cluster around the return of the Lord. That's why Paul could say of the Thessalonians, you turn from idols, you turn to God from your idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven. Waiting for the Son from heaven is, as it were, a summary statement of all of the deepest longings and aspirations of the true believer. It is an expression of all of his most fundamental perspectives.

15:54 He acknowledges he's a stranger, a sojourner down here. He acknowledges that what God has begun is but an earnest, and he longs for the full payment, complete sinlessness, a renewed body, totally renewed mind to see him and to know him as he is. He longs for a new heaven and new earth wherein dwells righteousness, where the law of God will hold total sway in him and in everyone that steps on every square inch of God's earth. You see, that's why longing for the Lord's return is often used synonymously of a Christian.

16:26 Remember Paul says he's laid up a crown of righteousness for me and for all those that what? Love his appearing. For you see, genuinely to love the appearing of Christ is to have perspectives and longings and ambitions that none but a Christian can have. Now it's in that context of all that is intimated in the return of the Lord that our Lord says to his own, take heed to yourselves lest happily your hearts become heavy, weighted down, insensitive to the great realities which are what you really are as a believer.

Three Dangers Defined: Surfeiting, Drunkenness, and Cares of This Life

17:09 Now having given to us the duty in itself the particular focus of that duty, the heart, lest it be weighted down. Now notice the particular, particular dangers that our Lord mentions in the text. By what is he fearful that the hearts of his disciples may become weighted down? Notice.

17:36 Lest happily your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life. Now let me just briefly define what these three things are and then seek to demonstrate that they are really things that fall into two basic categories. When our Lord used the word surfeiting, what did he mean? Well, in the Arrington-Gingrich lexicon we have what after scrounging around and everything I could get my hands on to find precisely the meaning of this word I believe is accurate and I quote now these lexicographers.

18:14 That's people that give themselves to the task of understanding the meaning of words. This word means according to Arrington-Gingrich both carousing, intoxication and its resultant headache and hangover since it means dizziness and staggering when the head refuses to function. You thought hangover was a modern word? Our Lord used it.

18:39 Literally if we were putting it in contemporary Americanese we would say take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with hangovers. The results of profligacy, the results of overindulgence. And then he deals in the next place explicitly with drunkenness. Now this is the standard word for intoxication.

19:06 Romans 13, 13 They that are drunk are drunken in the night. Galatians 5, 21 The works of the flesh are drunken. Our drunkenness. It's when a man no longer masters his alcoholic intake the alcohol has become his master destroying the faculty of the mind to function as God intended it should function.

19:31 Then the third thing the cares of this life is a phrase which means the anxieties peculiar to life as it now exists in the flesh. Things innocent in themselves. Our Lord knows that we're living in the flesh. And there are certain concerns with reference to life in the flesh.

19:50 Food and clothing and all that pertains to the acquisition of the same. Marrying and giving in marriage and all of these things that are both necessary and good in themselves but they become crippling anxieties. And our Lord is concerned that the hearts of his disciples become insensitive and weighted down and heavy and unresponsive unresponsive to spiritual realities by means of surfeiting drunkenness and the cares of this life. Now do you see the two natural categories into which they fall?

20:28 The first two fall into the category of excessive indulgence of legitimate fleshly appetites. And the second an excessive preoccupation with legitimate temporal concerns. Excessive indulgence of fleshly appetites legitimate in themselves. And the preoccupation with legitimate temporal concerns.

20:56 And when a disciple allows this to happen what is the practical result? Look at the end of verse 34 and then verse 35. And that day come on you suddenly as a snare for so shall it come upon all them that dwell in the face of all the earth. You see what he's saying?

21:14 He says you become in principle just like the ungodly. They are not explained in terms of those whose love is appearing whose whole lifestyle is governed by the world that will be ushered in at the return of Christ. They are like passion in pilgrim's progress. They will have all now.

21:39 Whereas patience who represents the Christian is willing to wait for the best in the world to come. So he says the practical result of a disciple allowing his heart to be overcharged with excessive indulgence of fleshly appetite and excessive preoccupation with temporal concern is that he becomes in his perspective like the rest of the world. That's why our Lord draws that comparison. Now having sought to open up the meaning of the words I want to make some very practical and contemporary and relevant applications.

Application One: Christ Never Envisioned Asceticism

22:21 First of all, application one is an observation. It is evident that our Lord never envisioned a life of asceticism for his followers. You say what in the world are you saying? Well just hang in there and listen.

22:40 It's evident that our Lord never envisioned a life of asceticism for his people. What's the life of asceticism? Well it's one in which basically you look upon earthly, in the proper sense sensual pleasures and occupations and delights as inherently inconsistent with the pursuit of spirituality. That's what gave birth to monasticism.

23:05 Marriage and all the concerns and delights and responsibilities and cares of marriage is beneath the highest standards of piety therefore to take a vow of singleness is to be most holy. A practical definition of asceticism is that which understands the ascetic to say matter is essentially evil therefore anything that pertains to matter what I touch, see, feel, enjoy is beneath the dignity of advanced spirituality. You take in only as much food as is necessary to keep the body going but you don't make your food enjoyable. You wouldn't serve it up with you know parsley a little sprig of parsley on top of the meat you know just serve up a chunk of meat any old way. You don't make it pretty you don't sprinkle a little paprika on top of the rice to make it pretty to the eye just serve up the old gooey globby rice. You see the ascetic looks upon anything that is inherently beautiful to the eye hence the hair shirt you see hence the plain clothing you got the idea now? Some of you who are philosophical and historians you'll fight with my definition but you preach a while and realize how difficult it is to take lofty concepts sometimes and get them down where at least they help the people of God and you'll excuse me in a few years I'm sure.

24:29 All right. Now if our Lord envisioned a life of asceticism as the direct result of his training of the twelve why would he have to warn them about excessive eating and drinking and preoccupation with earthly concerns? If they followed his teaching these things would be out of the orbit of their concern. So the very fact that he warns them is an indication he never intended that they should in obedience to his word end up ascetics.

25:02 No, no. He knew that the life to which they would be called and in which they would live would be one in which they had constant and legitimate contact with the world of things food and drink and cares of this life. And it's an amazing thing that when you start going through and I had great blessing I wish it's one of the things I want to go back and do some further study just took my concordance and looked up all the references to feast and to feasting in the Old and the New Testament and some wonderful things were done in the midst of legitimate times of festivity in the Old and the New Testament. How does God underscore the greatest redemptive act of the Old Testament with the Passover feast and all the festivities around it? How does he gather the nation together three times a year? Three times yearly all the males were to go up to the special feasts there at Jerusalem. And I've just been reading through in my Old Testament reading I've come through the book of Ruth and I was struck with this again that beautiful redemptive act when God incorporated a Moabitess into the line of the Redeemer.

26:19 He's going to bring this Moabitess Ruth into the very line of Messiah and you know what he does? What he used? He used a man's full tummy and light heart who had eaten to the full and drunk just enough to be really relaxed. And you read about it in Ruth chapter 3.

26:38 It's beautiful. Ruth is about to go up and to make the proposal that was perfectly fitting within the framework of that Hebrew custom and I can't go into all of those details and her mother being wise says, no, no, he's been working hard all day. Wait till he has eaten and has drunk. Not gotten drunk, but has drunk.

26:57 And the scripture tells us in the book of Ruth and it's a beautiful picture of this thing. Let me read it because I would only paraphrase it. I haven't memorized the exact wording. In Ruth chapter 3 and verse 7.

27:12 And when Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain and she came softly and uncovered his feet and laid her down and it came to pass at midnight that the man was afraid, etc. And you see this noble man and this noble woman being brought together in the providence of God in a context of feasting. You see our Lord's first miracle. It was not performed in a funeral parlor but at a wedding feast.

27:47 And much to the embarrassment of those who try to say that anything with alcoholic content is wicked per se, it just cannot linguistically be supported. Our Lord did not make extra sandwiches when they ran out. He made wine. And even the steward of the feast who had the charge of the wine cellars said there's been a mistake.

28:15 We usually give the best wine first and then when people's taste buds are dulled by eating a lot then we serve the cheaper stuff. But they said you've kept the best stuff till now. And it says in the scriptures it was there that he performed his first miracle and manifested his glory. Then you have that great feast it says, that Matthew prepared for the Lord.

28:38 He wanted to show his love to Christ after the Lord had called him. And we read in Luke chapter 5 that he prepared a great feast. And what did Jesus do? He went to that feast and that very feast and the presence of Christ at the feast became the occasion of that great statement recorded both in Matthew 9 and in Luke 5.

28:59 I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance and that our Lord did not sit off as an ascetic is evidence when the Pharisees looked through the window they said look at him friend of publicans and sinners a glutton and a wine-bibber. In other words I believe the Lord was digging right in like everybody else. Without once crossing the line into gluttony our Lord knew what it was to fast for 40 days and nights and deny himself legitimate food in the pursuit of the Father's will but when the Father's will spread a table in the house of a rich man and there was lobster and caviar and there was roast beef and there was a breast of capon and all the rest I believe our Lord would have gone and taken a bit of every single one and would have nudged the person next to him and said hey this stuff is great have you tried this? And would have I say it reverently would have allowed his own holy taste buds to suck every bit of sweetness out of every morsel that was prepared. The devil didn't make your taste buds God did. And Christ had a full and proper set of taste buds that he used to the glory of God.

30:16 He gave all things richly to enjoy. Then our Lord uses feast and wedding feast in his own teaching. Then he says to a disciple in Luke 14 when you make a feast don't just call your friends call the hall to the main he says feast can even be sanctified through evangelism. All right do I need to go on?

30:37 How is our reunion to the Lord pictured in the book of the Revelation? The marriage supper of the Lamb. You see? So from Genesis to Revelation there is nothing to support this sub and or sub-Christian or anti-Christian notion that there is something necessarily necessary incompatible with feast and festive times and spiritual progress.

31:04 Our Lord understands that. And knowing that the answer to the problem of excess was not an ascetic denial that would despise the gifts of God he issues the warning take heed lest your hearts be made heavy with an excessive intention of indulgence in those things which are the gifts of God. Now this warning of our Lord does not mean of course that we are to cut ourselves off from the festive seasons and be distant and boorish and some of you need this because in your effort to please the Lord and I know how real this is I went through a stage in my own early Christian experience when I was a party pooper but I did it out of a sincere desire to honor my Lord and I just somehow felt that festivity and laughter and lots of food were incompatible with the higher ends of the soul and I hurt people who showed their love by providing bountifully for me and I despise their gifts in a misguided zeal to be spiritual. I think some of you need that word if Jesus in any way is promoting asceticism this passage was utterly unnecessary he would simply assume that those closest to him most exposed to his teaching

Application Two: The Heart-Body Connection and Counterexamples of Ruin

32:33 would know that the whole orbit of feasting and festivity was foreign to the will of their master well that's the first application I'd like to make that Christ in his teaching never envisioned a life of asceticism for his people but secondly our Lord shows in this passage a profound and accurate knowledge of how we function as human beings the scripture says he knows our frame and this is the thing that has struck me in meditating on the passage notice what our Lord does he said take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness our Lord is saying that there is a direct connection between the heart and the physical appetites lest your hearts be made heavy with surfeiting our Lord understands that the heart in some way involves the mind if you love God with all your heart that involves the mind having some understanding of who he is thinking proper thoughts of him and towards him and again without going into a clinical analysis what's the difference between heart and the mind and the soul and all the rest the Bible frankly I'm convinced does not give us a clinical terminology in these areas there are just two basic divisions the outer

34:02 man to use the language of Paul the outer perishes the inner is renewed day by day but there is this sensitive interplay because we are one totally integrated whole remember how we saw this in the book of Proverbs again and again where righteousness is laid upon the people of God the result is often said to be health to the flesh health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones this sensitive relationship between the spiritual and the physical alright now our Lord understands that and this is why he says take heed to yourselves lest your hearts become heavy by an inordinate indulgence of carnal appetite because you see when I eat too much my mind becomes dull and when my mind becomes dull my prayers become lifeless and when my prayers become lifeless my spiritual life is crippled and then I'm vulnerable to many worse temptations our Lord understood that seldom is an overly filled belly joined with a heart that pulses with hunger and thirst after righteousness and you see there are other forms of surfeiting that dull the mind and therefore affect the heart now this is

35:30 a warning some of you need and if no one else needs it I'm preaching to myself I'm praying to myself I'm praying for my family I'm praying for the children I'm praying for other children but as a young boy I don't even know how many people I want to love I love my family I love my prayers I want to bring a good love and joy to my family I want to be famous and clear and free I want with the hangover of a surfeit of football games.

36:13 Now, you may not be built the way I am, but I'm confessing that that's been my experience. And I vowed by the grace of God that this year that would not be so, that I would determine that a certain amount of time would be given, and that alone, because the Lord says, Beware, lest your heart be weighted down with surfeiting. And that's why the same scriptures that show that feasting and periods of festivity can be seasons of great spiritual blessing, the same Bible shows us that feasting and periods of festivity have been times of great wickedness. You remember in the wilderness, it says the people ate and drank and rose up to play?

36:58 Well, that playing wasn't horseshoes.

37:02 It was carnal indulgence. It was widespread fornication until God destroyed three thousand people. You remember when God possessed? It's when he lingered too long by the fruit of the vine until he bore those two sons who became a scourge in the side of the nation of Israel throughout all of its history.

37:28 You remember when the judgment of God was issued against that great king, Belshazzar? It's while he feasted and drank his wine that he was filled with a sense of his own carnal importance, and God says, You've had it, Buster. I'm going to show you what you really are.

37:46 You see, the same Bible that shows feasting in a context of the highest reaches of sanctification shows feasting and festivity in the lowest depths of debauchery.

38:03 Now, our Lord understood that. That's why he said, Take heed, lest in the midst of legitimate festivity involving unusual culinary delights, the passing over of the feast, of an unusual measure of delectable things on the taste buds. Beware, lest your heart become heavy.

Application Three: The Anxious Heart and the Festive Host

38:31 And our Lord not only speaks of how this will happen with reference to the excessive indulgence of fleshly appetites, but with reference to this excessive concern with temporal matters, he shows that same profound understanding of what we are. You see, this is the same root word. It's in its verb form. In the Mary Martha case,

38:59 here it's in the noun form. Remember, it says, Our Lord had to speak to Martha and say, Martha, Martha, thou art anxious. That's the word about many things, the cares of this life. You see, the Lord knows that the heart cannot be occupied with two totally demanding masters at the same time.

39:22 No man can serve two masters. He loves one and hates the other. He says he cannot serve. God and mammon.

39:29 And what is mammon? The God of things. Now, I'm speaking to some of you moms now. You've got a reputation for really spreading a table.

39:39 And some of you stand in a peculiar place of temptation in desiring to live up to that reputation. You may lose spiritual ground over the next two weeks of festive season.

39:52 Now, that doesn't mean you ought to just serve up the hunk of meat any old way and say to your husband and the family and the friends, I'm going to pray. Now, that's a cop-out. That's a cop-out. That's a cop-out.

40:03 Now, some of you who are naturally sloppy and insensitive aesthetically, don't you twist the scriptures and say, oh, pastor said we shouldn't. No, no, no, no, no. Don't you do that. Don't you do that.

40:15 But what I'm saying is there's a very real temptation for some of you to have your hearts weighed down with the anxieties of this life peculiarly at a festive season. Well, we just must make sure that this is so and this and this and this and this when really the things that form the difference between the two are not the same. Between legitimate concern for that which certainly would be honorable and would show that you care for those that you're considering and that which goes the next step into just promoting your reputation. It's those things that form the difference between legitimate concern and sinful anxiety.

40:54 And our Lord says, be watchful lest your hearts be overcharged with the cares of this life. You see, the fruit of the Spirit is what? Self-control. That means I control my desire for what is neat and nice and pretty and tasteful so that that desire does not so master me as to fill my heart with concerns that blot out everything which is the real answer to what I am as a believer.

41:27 Instead of pillowing my head New Year's Eve or Christmas Eve with thoughts of the wonder that I'm going to have next year, that God should send His Son for the likes of me if I go to bed with my mind all filled with agitation and anxiety as to how I'm going to get that jello salad done at such and such a time to get it out of the fridge and get something else in. My friend, you've forgotten the words of the Lord.

41:53 If the coming of Christ, the issues of redemption, the realities of sin and grace and judgment and heaven and hell, there is never, never a time in the will of God when those things should take place. They don't take anything other than first place in our thoughts and in our concerns as the people of God.

The Second Command: Watch at Every Season, Making Supplication

42:15 Well, very briefly, I told you there'd be a disproportionate emphasis on the two commands. Let's look at the second commandment very briefly because if we get hold of the first, this will flow naturally. Having given the negative in a sense, take heed to yourselves that your heart be not overcharged. Well, what are we to do then to keep the heart as it ought to be kept?

42:36 Well, our Lord tells us, but watch, ye at every season making supplication that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. The duty has two parts to it. We are to watch at every season making supplication. And the word watch here means to keep awake and alert.

43:03 It means to keep awake and alert. But watch, be alert, be aware of the spiritual realities. Be aware that there is a devil who still seeks to devour you. A world that still seeks to conform you to its mold so there'll be one less burr in its conscience.

43:23 And if the world can only conform you to its mold for even two weeks out of the year, it's happy for two weeks. It can be peaceful in your presence because there's no light to expose its darkness.

43:36 Be alert, be aware, be conscious of these things. To what end? That you might at all seasons be found engaged in prayer. And the translation of the American Standard is accurate.

43:50 It's a singular, but watch ye at every season. In other words, there is never a season, Christmas and New Year season included, when I'm to give up watchfulness.

44:02 Watchfulness, which always drives to prayer. For you see, I cannot be alert to who I am and to who the devil is and to what my flesh is. I cannot be driven to prayer. I can't be.

44:13 That's why watching and prayer are put together. Matthew 26, 41. Watch and pray. And then the same word is used in Ephesians 6, 18.

44:24 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye should be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And then he goes on to say that we are to do what? Watching thereunto with all prayer. Watching thereunto with all prayer.

44:39 You see, the two are together. The only reason a Christian gives up praying is that he's first of all given up watching. That's what causes a man to give up praying. He's gotten out of touch with the real world in which he's living.

44:58 When you don't pray, what you're saying is, I can make it on my own. And the scripture says, He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. In my flesh dwelleth no good thing.

45:11 Without me ye can do nothing. That's the world of reality. That's where it's at. And when you're watching, that's where you're at.

45:20 You're in touch with that world of spiritual reality. And that's why you fall upon your knees even at Christmas time. And you say, Lord, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. My flesh is still active in a festive time.

45:36 Lord, even more active. Because the tendency of the laughter and the gaiety and the full stomach is to forget these realities. Watch. At all.

45:47 Seasons. And that watching then will give birth to prayer. And what is the issue that's really at stake in all of this? Well, look what our Lord says.

45:56 That ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. Now, there's a textual problem. Some of you may have an authorized version which says that you may be accounted worthy to escape.

46:16 The preferred reading by those who adopt, the generally accepted method of arriving at the most accurate text. And I say that because there's some who listen to the tapes who are attached to what's called the textus receptus and feel that it has been providentially preserved as the purest text, etc. I don't want to go into all of that, but I'm aware of the issue. But you see, nothing really matters whether the word is counted worthy or prevailed.

46:47 The fundamental issue is untouched. Our Lord says the issue at stake in this matter of watching unto prayer is negatively preservation from that which will come upon the ungodly and the enjoyment of that which will be the portion of the godly. That ye may prevail to escape, that's negative, and to stand before the Son of Man, that's positive. In other words, the Lord says the issue at stake is salvation, my friends.

47:21 That's what our Lord is saying. The issue is your soul's salvation.

47:26 What shall come upon the world?

47:30 The world whose perspective is not to be explained in terms of anticipating His return. The world of Noah as it was in the days of Noah. Total preoccupation with the temporal, the carnal, and the sensual as it was when God took Lot out of Sodom.

47:50 Total preoccupation with the sensual. Our Lord says watch at all seasons. Praying to what end? That ye may prevail, that ye may be worthy to escape these things that shall come to pass.

48:05 Judgment upon the ungodly. And to stand before the Son of Man. This is a classic text on perseverance. Is it certain that all of the true people of God shall prevail?

48:17 Yes, but it's also necessary that they prevail.

48:21 The fact that it's certain doesn't negate the necessity.

48:26 You'll hear that often from this pulpit because there are so few in our day who understand that it is certain that every true believer shall have sufficient watchfulness so as to prevail against the spirit that would lead him into a settled state of profligacy, drunkenness, the cares of this life. But if it's certain that every believer shall not be overcome to the extent that he's identified with the ungodly, it's certain that he'll overcome by the means that God has ordained. Why? Watching unto prayer at all seasons.

Practical Test, Vision of Sanctified Festivity, and Call to Unbelievers

49:07 You see it?

49:09 So that's God's word to my heart at the beginning of the Christmas and New Year season. I hope you don't consider it a party-poopering word. It ought to give a holy joy to all your festivities that perhaps you've never known before. May I give you a little practical word at the close?

49:28 Some of this I hope has been practical. Another practical word.

49:33 Make this a test of whatever you're doing, during this festive season. How much you're eating, how much and what you're drinking, and all the rest.

49:47 Ask yourself, try to do it periodically, how much football you're watching on New Year's Day. Is what I'm doing right now making that world upon which all my hopes are set, toward which all my aspirations flow, is it making that world less real or less desirable? If it is, you better back off. Whatever you're doing.

50:14 You better back off, whatever you're doing. But if with a conscience void of offense, you can feast, and your mind can flow to that time when you're going to be carried to that great feast, the marriage supper of the Lamb. If you're feasting with brothers and sisters in particular, if you can look at that as sort of a little earnest of the feast to come. And if at any point it would be natural for the Lord himself to be absolutely central in conversation, and if at any point it would be natural for the Lord himself to be absolutely central in conversation, and if at any point it would be natural for the Lord himself to be absolutely central in conversation, to break into the midst of the most light-hearted but sanctified laughter, and to say let's give thanks to God for holy laughter amidst holy friends who are on their way to the holy city. My friends, that's not being hyper-spiritual. That's just being real. That's just being real.

51:06 Two commands. The issues I trust are clear. May God help us to absorb them and to work them out. And if I'm speaking to some to whom these things have just been strange talk, for I would be foolish to assume that everyone here is a true believer.

51:23 My friend, I hope you've gotten a little taste of what it is to be a Christian. See, to be a Christian is serious business. To be a Christian means that the totality of your life comes under the rule and government of Jesus Christ. It's not something you turn on Sunday morning and turn off Sunday night, or turn on Sunday night and turn off because it's Christmas time.

51:42 No, no. Jesus Christ has sovereign rights to intrude into every area of your life, every day of your life, and every circumstance of your life. And if you're a Christian, you're glad it's so. Because you can say, his yoke is easy.

51:58 His burden is light. I found it so. I found it so. Do you welcome the gracious yoke of Christ?

52:05 If so, let's be found under that yoke. And then maybe when we gather New Year's Eve and have some testimony, some will be able to share that this has been a holy, festive season. By the grace of God. And if so, then it's made the labor in the word and in doctrine more than a delight and more than profitable.

Closing Prayer

52:26 Let us pray. Our Father, we're so grateful that the scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments are the sufficient and only rule of our faith and practice. We thank you that they are profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness. Amen.

52:55 We thank you that its principles are applicable to every age and to every circumstance in every age. We thank you for the portion we've studied tonight. We pray that the Holy Spirit will write its truths upon our hearts. And oh, God, give us grace to walk in its light.

53:15 Help us in these days of peculiar privilege and danger that we may constantly take heed to ourselves. Oh, Lord, in particular, help us to guard our hearts lest they be made heavy by an inordinate indulgence of the flesh or an inordinate preoccupation with the things of this life. Oh, God, help us to be alert and watchful unto prayer. For we know that the issues at stake are eternal.

53:50 The stakes are high, Lord. Oh, give us grace to fight the good fight. Oh, give us grace to fight the good fight. Oh, give us grace to fight the good fight.

53:57 We pray to faith. We pray for those who will be in the presence of ungodly loved ones in these days. Help them to know where that line is between entering in with joy to legitimate earthly concerns and yet at the same time to manifest that this world is not their home. Lord, only you can give us the wisdom left to ourselves.

54:20 We will err either by an indulgence that is sinfully conformed to their lifestyle or by a drawing back that will bring unnecessary reproach to your name. Lord, who is sufficient for these things? Do help us and help your people. We pray for the many of your saints that will gather in each other's homes and to each other's tables.

54:42 Oh, may these be sanctified and holy times. May there be no gluttony, no inordinate gorging of the belly that will lead to dullness and will lead to spiritual lassitude. May there be no inordinate absorption of drink of any kind that would bring reproach to you, that would in any way dull the mind for prayer and for self-control over all the faculties. Oh, God, may there be no inordinate preoccupation with external things, spreading tables and sharing gifts, may all of these things be done under the lordship of Christ and in the direction and power of the Spirit, that your name be praised and that your people be edified. Hear us, oh God, we pray, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

55:43 Amen.