Surety and Sluggards

Sovereign Grace Family Church iconSovereign Grace Family Church

2 views

0 comments

00:00
All right, then for tonight if you would and you have your Bibles if you would turn to back to the book of Proverbs and tonight we will Begin to look at the sixth chapter of Proverbs chapter 6 we will Seek to break the chapter in half tonight.
00:20
We will cover Some of the thoughts and then Lord willing next week we'll cover the second half With The understanding that we are not going to look at it.
00:33
Absolutely verse by verse particularly as we start to move a little further in the book of Proverbs what we'll find is that some of the subjects begin to repeat themselves not that we should ignore them, but at the same time some of the Instructions given to us by the Spirit of God through Solomon will come up over and over again So there are times and you'll see it in chapter 6 where we will At least I will in my half and I think brother Keith will also we will At certain points speak on a particular subject and then maybe at a later time but anyway, let us first ask God's blessing and then I'm gonna read the whole chapter and as I said I'll focus tonight will be on verses 1 through 11, but I do want to read the whole chapter together.
01:22
So Let's pray and then we'll read God's Word Father again now we come to you in that name that we just sung of the Lord Jesus Christ the one who is worthy of all our love all our praise all our worship and all that we are And so we come now Holy Spirit and ask you to come down upon us as only you can And to take your word and to make it real to us Lord not just in our heads Nor merely in only in our hearts Lord, but that it would manifest itself in our lives and that our lives would bear a Living witness of the grace of God and that we would become more and more like him Who so loved us that he gave himself for us? So bless your word be with us in our time and may our thoughts and our words be pleasing in your sight in Jesus name Amen Proverbs chapter 6 my son if you become surety for your friend if you've shaken hands in pledge for a stranger Excuse me, you are snared by the words of your own mouth You are taken by the words of your mouth.
02:30
So do this my son and deliver yourself For you have come into the hand of your friend go and humble yourself and plead with your friend and give no sleep to your Eyes, no slumber to your eyelids Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter and like a bird from the hand of the fowler Go to the ant you slug it considered her ways and be wise which having no captain overseer or ruler Provides her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest How long will you slumber all sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep? And so shall your poverty come on you like a robber and your need like an armed man a worthless person a wicked man walks with a perverse mouth He winks with his eye.
03:25
He shuffles his feet.
03:26
He points with his fingers perversity is in his heart He devises evil continually.
03:31
He sows discord Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly and suddenly he shall be broken without remedy These six things the Lord hates.
03:42
Yes, seven are an abomination to him a proud look a lying tongue hands that shed innocent blood a heart that devises wicked plans feet that are swift in running to evil a False witness who speaks lies and one who sows discord among brethren My son keep your father's command.
04:04
Do not forsake the law of your mother's bind them continually on your heart Tie them around your neck when you roam they will lead you when you sleep They will keep you when you wake they will speak with you for the commandment is a lamp and the law is light reproofs of instruction are the way of life to keep you from the evil woman from the flattering tongue of a seductress Do not lust after her beauty in your heart Nor let her allure you with her eyelids For by means of a Harvard a man is reduced to a crust of bread and an adulteress will prey upon his precious life Can a man take fire to his bosom and his clothes not be burned Can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be seared? So as he who goes into his neighbor's wife, whoever touches her shall not be innocent People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving yet when he is found He must restore sevenfold He may have to give up all the substance of his house Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding He who does so destroys his own soul Wounds and dishonor he will get his reproach will not be wiped away for jealousy as a husband's fury Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
05:33
He will accept no recompense Nor will he be appeased though you may give many gifts So as I said to you as we began I want to take this chapter and break it in half and I will pass over verses 12 through 19 and also some of the latter verses from verse 30 After we talk about the thief, but the areas where he brings up again the idea of the adulterous And and the consequences of that brother Keith has spent three weeks on it now and as we go into chapter 7 you're gonna see it comes up again and again and again as I said some of the Principles that Solomon's laying out are going to continually be given to us and at certain times We'll pick up on him and on certain times.
06:29
We'll just leave him Mm-hmm So if I had a title to message and I thought about this a little bit and I'm not the biggest on titles But I would have titled this chapter in these two messages as promises sluggards worthless and thieves And you might say what that almost sounds like a new plot for a Netflix series And and there's a reality to that that you you know There's nothing new under the Sun And and when we come to God's Word, it's very clear to us But I would have titled it promises sluggers worthless and thieves I mean as we look tonight in the first 11 verses we'll deal with the two First ones that of the promiser or as the word is used here Surety and I want to look at some scriptures on surety what it is Is it right to be surety for someone else? and then we'll in the second half just look at some thoughts on the sluggard and how we are to consider that So just a couple thoughts before we actually drill down on these thoughts some of the Some of the brothers who have looked at this chapter have said that it almost seems as if this chapter is disconnected from chapter 5, although there is the reality again of the adulterer and the the The holid but but some believe that this chapter because of the way it begins And how it ended in chapter 5 Something that that this chapter really was added in actually later on at a later point because Solomon seems to if you will jump tracks and he goes from the adulterous and as the chapter opens up in Verse 1 my son if you become surety for a friend And again, it seems as if he goes from the adulterous to the surety and you might say well How does that connect? Well Although some might suggest that I do believe there is a connection in the connection at least in my mind Is this that Solomon through the book of Proverbs? And God using Solomon is seeking to lay out to us principles of living and that he is going to cover every Every area and that it's not disconnected because again in chapter 5 What was that chapter about although was about the holid and and the consequences of being lured in? There is still the idea of relationships There's the relationship that we have with one another and there's the relationship we have with our God And so I do see a connection and again That this is something we need to really remember particularly as you go through This book Proverbs and and some of the other Poetical books and even in some of the Psalms that because even in the Psalms if you follow through in the book of Psalms There was a great connection between the Psalms And and and sometimes they come in groups Where a psalmist might speak about judgment for six psalms and then you might speak about God's faithfulness For an amount of Psalms and and then and then the Word of God and so there is a connection And so I would suggest to you that there certainly is a relationship between how he ends it in chapter 5 and Where he begins in chapter 6, but I would also say It is a little bit of a jump if you think about it what where he leads off In chapter 5 the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord.
10:28
He ponders all his paths his own iniquities Entreat the wicked men and he is caught in the cause of his sin.
10:36
He shall die for lack of instruction Again, because he's embraced the arms of an adulterous and in the greatness of his folly He shall go astray and that's how the chapter ends.
10:46
Remember we're not bound by chapter breaks But he then says my son if you become surety for a friend If you take if you've shaken hands in the pledge for a stranger You are snared by the words of your own mouth You are taken by the words of your own mouth.
11:05
So do this my son and deliver yourself For you have come into the hand of your friend go and humble yourself Plead with your friend give no sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter and like a bird from the hand of a fowler and so this is where again, he brings up this thought of Assurity or The word really comes from the root word, which which means to be intertwined Almost as if you are braided together And if you think about it, and we'll look at some scriptures on it And even has brother Keith brought up last Sunday this past Lord's Day and I'm gonna allude to one of the verses he brought up that how a Surety is not an isolated subject in the scriptures and I will show you that and matter of fact It's I Found it ten times in the Bible the word surety.
12:07
I Found it nine times in the Old Testament one time in a New Testament Remember the Old Testament is is not as the New Testament being written in Greek And the one time in the New Testament it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ being the surety of the new covenant But in the in the ten times it's it's spoken in the Bible six of those times Solomon brings this subject up of being the surety and so I want to spend a few minutes and Ask us to think about a couple of things and it might not be something that we normally think about But it is certainly something we ought to think about again God's Word is given to us to be practical and and we have to be ready and Prepared to be able to use it in any given situation in other words, you might let's just say you might never have to deal with the issue of Infidelity or adultery or things like that.
13:01
You might be totally shielded from that Does that mean that we shouldn't understand the instruction there? Absolutely not.
13:09
And so certainly as we look at this thought of of being a surety Or if you will taking a pledge because really this is what it means and I'm going to show it to you that it really means where you take a pledge on behalf of someone else and That because you insert yourself into it as a surety or you become interwoven in it Or if you want to use the word Substitute that you then become obligated To fulfill Whatever that pledge is that you put yourself into and so I want us to think about that Let me just read to you and you don't certainly have to turn to it I'm gonna read them to you.
13:53
I have listed them of the six times that he talks about a surety Certainly here in in Proverbs chapter 6 in Proverbs 11.
14:02
It says he who is surety for a stranger will suffer He who is a surety for a stranger will suffer but one who hates being a surety is secure And another proverb says a man devoid of understanding shakes hands in a pledge and becomes surety for his friend Again in Proverbs chapter 20 It says take the garment of one who is surety for a stranger and hold it as a pledge when it is for his seductress Proverbs chapter 22 do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge one of those who is surety for debts Proverbs 27 take the garment of him who is surety for a stranger hold it in as a pledge When he is a surety for a seductress again The word and and as I believe Psalm is using here.
14:59
There's there's a couple of different Ways in which we can understand a couple different levels of understanding but certainly one of them is even in a Legal way and I want us to think about that a little bit.
15:12
In other words he I believe Psalm is warning us about putting ourselves in someone else's situation and Guaranteeing whatever that situation calls for and if it and if that person who was The one who originally owes that debt or that pledge or whatever it is Then we then become in his place and we are obligated to fulfill the responsibilities for that pledge and I thought I thought about how a bondsman is a good example of that think about that someone goes to to jail and What happens the judge does what he sets bail? Sets a bond and many times what then happens is they go to a bondsman and The bondsman puts up the bail and of course the bondsman will take his collateral take his cut, but he pledges In a sense to be a surety that that person whoever had the bail set on them that they will appear in court at their Due date, right? Well, otherwise the bail is forfeited so he inserts himself into that situation and Takes on the pledge that the court the judge has assigned to that person who has been charged in whatever charge that has been presented you could think of it as a Let's put it this way and maybe as a parent you've done this before if you co-sign for a car or a house for your kids for a relative For anybody guess what? You then become the surety that that obligation that note is going to be cleared And again, and if you begin to think about the implications of this and As we go through this I want us to think about it and don't have to answer but I want us to Let this if you will turn in your mind a Bit is it right to become a surety for someone else? Is it always right to? Insert yourself into a deck of any kind.
17:37
Is it always wrong? What other stipulations for it do we have biblical evidence of when we ought to and when we ought not to Is it is it just I don't know.
17:50
I'll just Figure it out when I get there See, that's the whole point of the Word of God, right? The Word of God is to prepare us so that when we do get into a situation We already have understanding from God on how to handle it and it behooves us to take that Understanding and to put it into practice.
18:08
So as we go through this for for a few minutes Think about that And again, maybe you've never become a surety for somebody and I'm not saying you should But I would I'm going to Venture that most parents as their children grow and I've always said and I'll continue to say it little kids little problems big kids big problems and and as you kids begin to grow and and they want to Have a car or maybe it's even a house Well, maybe it's a creditor The you and I have to be careful about When do I become a surety because again the point being and this is important as we go through this If you take on that debt you are obligated.
18:59
I am obligated before God to fulfill that debt So we need to think about these things rather than just being led by emotions being led by All Kinds of things other than do we have a clear example in the Word of God should we become a surety shouldn't What is the stipulations? What are the the parameters for it? And so I want to think about that and ask you to consider that a little bit And as I said, there are a couple examples There's two of them in Genesis and brother key that brought up one remember when they go back to Joseph and remember what Ruben said He said what I will be a surety tells Jacob I will be a surety to make sure that I bring Benjamin back Oh as brother keep up you killed the two grandsons, which kind of blows your mind anyway But the point was he inserted himself into that situation took on that pledge that he would make good on it and That he would be interwoven within that situation and that he brought that to Jacob to In a sense persuade him and to encourage him concerning the fate when they went back to Joseph And again in Genesis a little later on in Genesis, you'll see again, that whole idea of One of the sons of Jacob becoming a surety for another son of Jacob Now in the New Testament and in Hebrews chapter 7 in this verse many of us know he was 722.
20:46
It talks about Jesus has become a surety of the what New covenant of the new covenant of a better covenant.
20:57
He is the one who has pledged to fulfill the obligations of that covenant on our behalf And again, you could bring it to it the thought of substitution But there still is a reality for you and me where we have to understand and certainly I don't believe any of us would want to say well Jesus should have never done that But had he not done that, where would we be? So again as you think about these things and as Solomon continually brings it up you and I need to ask ourselves Is it right to become? involved in that kind of a situation Again I Remind you what Proverbs 22 26 says do not become one of those who shakes hand of in a pledge One of those who is surety for debts Certainly the Lord Jesus Christ paid our debt so again Something to consider and Hopefully we begin to think about okay.
22:02
So then what what what is this? What is the parameters for it? if it's not If we come to the conclusion and and this is my understanding it that it's neither always right Nor is it always wrong? Then where do we find ourselves in between that and I will submit to you that as I understand it that it depends on both the situation the character of the person you are pledging for and Your ability to make good if you insert yourself into that situation So so use it as an example, and I'm not gonna say I haven't done it I've co-signed for some of my my kids cars, and it was always a big thing Well, you know he could be the we'll put your name second because you in Florida guess what that baloney? Because once you co-sign you signed No, there is no such thing as he's first you're second, that's a good sales pitch Oh, it's not really gonna affect you.
23:14
It will affect you if you do that if the one who is buying making the purchase fails to meet the obligation, so Let's think about it If I can only afford and this is where I think we have to be careful before we enter into a Situation like that and by the way Solomon says Particularly not to become a surety for a stranger, and I'll address that in a minute But let's just say you are going to insert yourself into a situation for someone that you know well besides their character besides the Situation here's another thing that must be considered before you go any further if that Debt is $1,000.
24:03
Let's say and I only have the ability to pay $100 Then I have no right to enter into that as a surety because again once I sign my name once I Agree to become the surety once I agree to become into woven into that situation I'm obligated and the obligation brothers sisters for us from a Child of God standpoint we're not just obligated to the creditor.
24:34
We're obligated to God and again because Everything that we do is regulated by the Word of God and everything that we do ought to be in light of what the Word of God teaches us.
24:47
That's why I say to you that as Solomon Lays this out in chapter 6 in these opening five verses.
24:53
It's not disconnected from what he has said Before because he's really again talking about relationships Situations of life.
25:02
How do you handle this? How do you handle that? So think about it.
25:09
Is it what determines whether we should become a surety? I do believe it depends somewhat on the character of the person There's my understanding if you disagree with me, we can look at the Word of God together And you can go back and I'll give you those verses and Proverbs if you if you want to look at them But I do believe it depends somewhat on the character where we need to know and we need to be Comfortable not only that we could pay the debt should it become ours But that the character of the person for whom we are becoming a surety for is a such character that we believe that they will make good on That which they have entered into agreement with And so again, I do believe it depends on a number of things the character of the person That's why I don't believe it's wise to become a surety for a stranger because you don't know what you're getting Right.
26:05
That doesn't mean we aren't to do Good works.
26:09
That doesn't I'm not In any way saying it we shouldn't help a stranger.
26:14
Don't misunderstand me But this this whole idea in Proverbs chapter 6 where he's talking about becoming a surety It needs to be guarded because again once we enter become interwoven become braided become the in in essence enter into the contractual agreement of Any any kind we are then obligated before God to make good on it.
26:40
So again If I can only afford $100 and someone says to me, well, you know, I'll pay it back and they owe 10,000 I better be careful Because nobody the law certainly will not care.
26:55
Well, I'm not gonna be able to go before the judge and say your honor I really thought that they were gonna be able Yeah And Before you know, you'll have Uncle Sam and whatever other names want to attach to the IRS and they'll be garnishing you checks and dying Hammering away at you and it gets really messy, doesn't it? We've never been entangled in it then perhaps this all sounds a little bit but again I think through as we go through life we find ourselves in situations where we do enter into some sort of surety situation where we become a We take a pledge and Stipulate that should that person fail to meet their obligations we then Will meet those obligations.
27:43
So Again the character of the person for whom you are becoming a surety for it is to me very important You need to know Who you are? substituting yourself for And again going back to that to the point of the Lord Jesus Christ being the surety of the better covenant He knows exactly who we are he knows we can't fulfill that pledge and We know that he can right so he he's able to save to the uttermost why? Because he is boundless endless glorious righteous sinless So so the debt held against us certainly can be met by him and was met by him on Galgotha's cross But for you and for me we need to again be wise Wise as serpents harmless as doves and that we just can't get caught up with.
28:42
Oh, I really want to help them in this Again, I'm not saying you shouldn't and I'm not saying I'm not One who has done that.
28:50
I mean anybody that's raised any number of kids knows exactly what I'm talking about We need to determine first of all the character of that because again if you perceive just think about it Offer this and we'll get to the slug it but just think about this if it's let's say it's your child Oh, let's say it's a friend a dear friend.
29:15
Oh, and you love them greatly Oh, and you want to see them prosper and you want to see good things happening? And you know if you could just give them a start they'll they'll they'll be okay I'm not saying that's something that we shouldn't consider but If at the same time, you know that Your child or your friend is a bit on the as we look here a bit on the lazy side Not as hard worker as you are Not as willing to go out and make sure there are there are countless people today that enter into agreements That even before they enter into the agreement.
29:59
They know they're not going to make good on the agreement Then we get into this whole area of debt collection and also the so again, I I submit to you It depends on the character of the person depends on the situation It might be right.
30:18
I don't believe there's a black and white answer and again I I look at these powers and I look at what Solomon is saying This and what's interesting? Just read it again He says if you become surety for for your friend if you've shaken hands in a pledge for a stranger You are snared by the words of your own mouth again.
30:37
You then become Obligated in it You have taken you are taken by the words of your mouth So do this my son and deliver yourself for you have come into the hand of your friend Go when you humble yourself and plead with your friend another another characteristic or another Ingredient into whether I become a surety for someone is that I am Responsible not only if the debt fails to top to pay the credit.
31:05
I'm responsible to Continually encourage the person whom I'm being the surety for To make sure that they fulfill the obligations that I in and I'll use the terminology that I co-signed for So so again, it's it's not just okay.
31:24
I think I can handle this debt I got enough money to cover it.
31:28
I got enough this to cover it or whatever it is But we also are then responsible to continually encourage that person to make good on their obligations Again, something to think about when we counsel something to think about when we put ourselves into situations in and to understand that there are a number of traps that we can fall in and I think the world has got many many examples of that very thing where we in certain situations Become surety become interwoven become braided together in in a situation and then This everything goes wrong.
32:14
The bottom falls out that God would have us to again to be wise wise not only in the affairs of The things of Christ but wise in the affairs of life because the affairs of life are in relation to the affairs of Christ Again, so many people can't even get that straight.
32:41
They think there's religion and then there's life.
32:46
I Don't know where you find that in the Bible There is life and there's life and everything is to be everything is to be grounded Founded established where on the Word of God so again You will see it as I said Solomon brings it up more than anybody else in the Bible about this whole idea of becoming a surety and that I don't believe that there is a straight black and white answer That is something we ought to use wisdom Something we ought to pray about Something we ought to Understand is not just a financial obligation, but there's a Obligation for us to seek to encourage that person to fulfill their obligation Because it says in verse 5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter and like a bird from the hand of the fowler In a sense make sure that you're you're pushing Because as I said Regardless of what the car salesman tells you It doesn't matter whether you're first second third or 17th on that note First 16 people don't pay that note.
34:07
Guess what? You'll get to notice So something to think about as far as the first five verses in that We'll leave it at that for now And again as we go through the book of Proverbs this will come up again as we hit those Proverbs that I gave to you and perhaps we'll spend a few more minutes on that at that point But I do hope and pray that at least that will give us a little bit of understanding On something that maybe we don't always talk about Thank God that he does.
34:35
Okay.
34:36
Have you said that just a few minutes left? I want to read verses 6 through 11 and that will be the first half of the message in Proverbs chapter 6 and it deals with The sluggard or the lazy Brother Keith told me that JJ loves Sluggards or is afraid of sluggards or has some sort of relationship with sluggards.
34:56
So That's right.
35:00
That's what he said.
35:01
It was the 11th commandment.
35:02
Okay Look look look at verse 6 through verse 11.
35:07
It says go to the aunt you sluggard Consider her ways and be wise which having no captain overseer or ruler Provides her supplies in the summer gathers her food in the harvest and how long will you slumber Oh sluggard? When will you rise from the sleep little sleep little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep? So shall your poverty come on you like a robber and your need like an armed man No, I want to make a couple points and then deal specifically on this idea But I thought about it as I as I began to think about these verses I thought about how God is so good to us even as we sang tonight In that his creation itself There's such a good teacher.
35:55
There's so much wisdom to be gained by merely Observing the creation itself.
36:03
I remember years and years and years ago a Preacher preached the message.
36:09
I guess he stuck with me and it was on God's minister the worm And it was a message on the worm that ate the guard over the head of Jonah He was hiding from the Lord God's minister the worm But but just think about it God is so good gracious to us.
36:32
So Clear in that sense of giving us understandings I mean just just the things that we think are we're told to look at the sky to know the weather We're told to consider the lilies of the field and the sparrows for for God's concern and care for us we are to consider the waves of the sea being tossed to and fro to do what to understand how the Unbelieving the wicked heart is restless and can never find rest in it And it churns up the the mud and the mire and if you've ever gone to the beach when the winds are blowing you'll know Exactly what that means But God's creation consider the grass of the field they understand the brevity of life I Mean, there's so many ways in which and Solomon makes very good use of this by the way Not only in the book of Proverbs, but in even in Ecclesiastes He will present this same truth over and so what I'm guess as we begin to think about this just for a few minutes It's important for us to again be cognizant conscious and Desirous to learn not only from the word, but from the creation that the word uses To display its wisdom God's majesty God's goodness God's authority Even as it says that God told to the The waters what you can come this far and what no father and so again, and so as we come to this and he says go to the ant you sluggard and as I Did some study on the sluggard and I'm not sure if everybody's translation says sluggard.
38:10
Does anybody have a different word there? everybody Says sluggard.
38:17
Okay, the word really is the same word that's used for lazy It's the same word that's that's used for lazy and perhaps that's the word that we might be more accustomed to or or slothful or Slothfulness and it's the same word But it's used in different ways whether it's a noun or a verb or an adjective and so on so on But again, this is not an isolated subject to Solomon It has to do with relationships Relationships relationship to God Relationship to man.
38:53
Let me just read to you real quick and again, we'll come back to these as we go through the book of Proverbs listen to some of the warnings of Solomon of the sluggard not only is he to go to the ant to consider the issue of being lazy and slothful he says this in Proverbs chapter 10 as vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes So is the lazy man to those who send him Pretty pointed pretty clear Proverbs chapter 12 the hand of the diligent will rule But the lazy man will be put to force Proverbs chapter 12 again.
39:41
The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting But diligence is a man's precious possession Here's another one the soul of the lazy man desires and he has nothing But diligence is man's precious possession and the soul of the diligent shall make rich the way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns, but the way of the upright is a highway a Lazy man buries his hand in his bowl and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again Get the picture of that.
40:21
I'm starving Why don't you eat the food in front of you? The lazy man will not plow because of winter and he will beg during harvest and have nothing Proverbs chapter 21 The desire of a lazy man kills him for his hands refuse to labor Proverbs have 26 as the door turns on its hinges.
40:49
So does the lazy man on his bed? I Reach out 26 again The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl and it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth The lazy man says there's a lion in the road But he never gets out of the road.
41:08
He's too lazy Get the point So what he's trying to convey go to the ant you slugger consider a ways and be wise which having no captain Overseer or ruler provides her supplies in the summer.
41:20
I don't know about you.
41:21
I walk my dog every morning And and it's amazing.
41:25
We walk on the sidewalk and the mounds that those little ants Can make I mean you'll talk, you know what I'm talking about.
41:34
I'm not even talking about fire.
41:35
It's even sugar ants the amount of Stuff they pick out of the I mean, it's it's phenomenal, right? I'm always telling my dog don't step in and don't step in it rather.
41:45
She steps in at the night, but but How they are And they just they're at it and they're at it and they're at it and they're at it and and it provides for For that generation the next generation and so on and so on and so on until somebody sprinkles something but but but the point is friends that I don't want to just Try to get off of the fact of it in a physical way because I think there is a great reality and certainly I Put this way, I believe we live in a lazy society.
42:27
I Believe and it's just my opinion.
42:30
We live in a door-to-door society, right? We want everything just brought to us We're too lazy or too preoccupied to do anything.
42:40
And so, you know Door-to-door shit uber it whatever it is grubhub it Every other thing deliver it My son-in-law was at Publix the other day as he was coming out it was a guy standing at the exit and my son-in-law went to get in his car and the guy got on his phone and he pushed the button and his Tesla Pulled out of the pocket spot And came up to him so he could put his bag of groceries In the back of his car and my son-in-law was really mad because he was stuck behind his Tesla So I guess it takes a while for it to compute.
43:19
I mean you talk about lazy You ever seen a person who waits 45 minutes to get a spot all the way up instead of parking three spots down and walking into the store.
43:32
I Guess what? I'm trying to say we live in a lazy society friends even from a work ethic standpoint And yet the Bible continually says the hand of the diligent Does what makes one rich? Now there are there are a number of people who will follow that principle and many of them do what become rich and so I Want to just make that point but also with this one that as the creation teaches us in very physical ways of spiritual things that this principle of being a sluggard Has a very to me clear spiritual application That the hand of the diligent Will be made rich not in the riches of this world, but in the riches of Christ that you and I are Responsible Listen you're not gonna door-dash the Spirit of God And you're not gonna sit under a tree and hope that by osmosis You'll grow in grace And the hand of the diligent will be made rich and the hand of the sluggard will suffer just like the poor guy Who's so hungry, but the bowl is so far away from him.
44:59
He just can't manage to reach down and get it Or there's a lion in the street, but I really don't want to get out of the street That is a physical application and there's a spiritual application and so few you ever Consider the spiritual application.
45:18
Is that not one of the major themes in the book of Proverbs with? Solomon talks about who the fool what is the characteristic of the fool? He's lazy lazy in the things of God lazy about his own sin lazy about his own relationship There are consequences both in the physical realm And there are consequences in the spiritual realm now You might say well Don't you believe in the sovereignty of God and that? He who began a good work in you will continue it until the day of Christ.
45:56
Absolutely Does that mean I'm not responsible to be diligent to study to seek to further myself in the grace of God To become more and more like the Son of God rather than oh I got my ticket.
46:14
I'm in the door.
46:15
I mean I might have to sit in the back, but you know Hey, at least I get in The you and I would would take these lessons Glorious lesson that great that I could walk my dog in the morning.
46:28
I see a pile of I don't know What do you call And then I could use that as a Physical principle, you know in Ecclesiastes it says this and I thought this one was good It says because of laziness the building decays and through idleness of hand the house leaks How many people in that sense will say? For one reason another I'll get to it in a minute Yep, I've been meaning to do that.
47:05
Oh You've been meaning to get up on the roof and fix that.
47:07
Yep.
47:08
I'm gonna get to it, sweetie and then one day sweetie gets up and says The roof is wet the ceilings wet again physical laziness Spiritual laziness, let me ask you to one final scripture And it's in and if you would turn their second Peter chapter 1 I just will end it on this So we've talked about the sluggard And we talked about this the one who puts himself out as a surety and then we talk again relationships situations but look at this in Second Peter chapter 1 as we end How we are? The ones who are to be spiritually diligent And Before I read these verses Do not be deceived brothers and sisters in thinking that's not what God has for you Because there are many people who do that there are many people say well God never called me to be a Preacher but God never called me to be a teacher and and perhaps that's true And certainly it is true because not everyone is called right? But but God has called us to be diligent in seeking to know him look at this It's like a Peter chapter 1 verse 5 After he talks about the great and precious promises in verse 4 That we have been made partakers of divine nature have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust now Look at verse 5, but also for what for this very reason? give all diligence Add to your faith virtue virtue knowledge to knowledge self-control to self-control perseverance the perseverance godliness to godliness brotherly kindness into brotherly kindness love For if these things are yours and abound you will neither be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ For he who lacks these things is short-sighted even to blindness and has forgotten that he was purged from the sins Therefore brethren be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure for if you do these things you shall never stumble How many people are so lazy? They say I prayed the sin is prayer.
49:47
I walked the aisle I Read a chapter a day I But they're really not very diligent at all They just take the lazy man's way And I assure you there are a lot of lazy men and women in hell So something to consider I trust as we go through Proverbs that these that these things will will help us We'll we'll we'll cause us to think Cause us to to become more mature in the faith and listen, by the way, you don't have to be really old to it says that the why the The the gray head person many times is wise But guess what? You could have gray hair and be a fool, too And you don't need to wait.
50:43
You have gray hair to be wise We ought to be diligent.
50:48
We ought to we ought to seek to promote a diligence in both Pursuing God and pursuing the Word of God in our lives to the glory of God because we live in a society that cares in Many ways for neither of those things Because it's all about me and mine and what I want and what I think I need So may God bless us as we press on in this most holy faith All right.