Glorifying God by Working Diligently - Nate Yarbrough

This is a good -sized pulpit, I like this. Well, it's

December, but it's not six o 'clock yet, but I'm still gonna say good evening, everyone.

It's getting dark out there. Thank you for having me, first and foremost. I appreciate that you would have me out here to preach the word this evening.

I look forward to any opportunity to do so. And this one is a sweeter one than some other occasions, because I have joy for a couple of reasons.

I have joy tonight because I get to look and see people who I haven't seen in a long time, who

I miss, who have been dedicated to come and plant this church and to work hard to glorify the

Lord in this local church. I'm thankful for you. And I also have joy because there's a lot of people here who

I do not know. And so, praise God that he will grow his church as he sees fit.

I'm thankful that all of you are involved. And third, I'm thankful tonight that I get to preach and you get to receive the truth.

You get to receive God's word, and I get to preach God's word, which is proven and true.

And God comes through 100 % perfectly on his promises. And that's what we get to focus on tonight.

This is not my good advice to you. That would be worthless. But this is

God's word and practical advice from Proverbs to you this evening.

And that fills me with joy that I don't have to come up here and try to fake something, but I can come up here and I can preach the truth.

And so, Brandon asked me for a short bio. I apologize,

I did not get that to you. I am the short pastor at Ecclesia.

And so, I wondered, does Brandon ask Brett and Brandon, the other pastors, I wonder if he asks for a tall bio from them.

No, but no, I am the short pastor. And so, if you're ever wondering which pastor is

Pastor Nate and you're with the three of us, I'm the voice that's coming from down low. You have to look down too.

But anyway, I make up for being short with really long sermons. Now, more to the point though, a little bit of housekeeping, a little bit of a preface to this sermon.

Tonight, I'm going to be preaching from Proverbs chapter six, verses six through 11.

Proverbs chapter six, verses six through 11. But before we dive in here, there's a couple of things that I want to preface this sermon with.

The first one, this sermon is dealing with work.

And in the text, you'll notice potentially that it is under a heading that says practical warnings.

So this is some practical application and it has physical application is what it's dealing with.

But it is dealing with work and it can be applied to all sorts of different labor.

I want to be clear about that on the outset here. This is not only dealing with what we would think as far as provision for yourself or for your family, for the home.

This is dealing with certainly can be applied to men providing for their families. It can be applied to women working in their homes to care for their families.

It can be applied to children doing their chores well, can be applied to many different physical things.

And it will be this evening. But also we know that we are not just physical beings.

We are creatures created by God. Yes, with physical bodies, but we also have souls.

There is a spiritual aspect to our existence, certainly. And that spiritual aspect, the state of our souls often, and I say often,

I can't think of an example when it's not the case. That is the motivation, the driving force for what we physically do with our bodies.

And so our bodies reveal the fruit of our souls. If we bear sweet, good fruit with our bodies and what we do with them in this life, it does reveal a good, healthy tree as far as our souls are concerned.

If we bear sour fruit, bitter fruit, poisonous fruit with the work that we do with our bodies, so it reveals that the tree itself, the soul is rotten.

And so tonight there will also be spiritual application from this text.

And lastly, before we begin, I want to make clear to you that I have preached this sermon to myself first.

So every pastor, everyone who goes out and preaches, so they must do,

I have preached this sermon to myself first. And I'll be honest, I found myself lacking in areas.

I found myself needing to repent of my own laziness. And I pray that God would help me to bear with that repentance and to keep on keeping on in repentance there.

God's word has a way of doing that for us. And so I pray that it would be beneficial to you today in the same way, that as this scripture is applied, as we study it and as we apply it, that you would open yourself up to the

Holy Spirit's work. Seek to apply this in your life. And where you find comfort, praise

Jesus. And where you find conviction, praise Jesus. That's one of the key identifiers of a saint is that when you hear of your error, you say, that does not feel good,

I must change. And where you hear of where you have done well, you say, thank you,

Jesus, for letting me know that. And so let us keep with the goal of being here tonight and let's glorify

God together by submitting to his word. Now, let's hop in here.

The title of this sermon is Glorify God by Working Diligently.

Glorify God by Working Diligently. I'm gonna read the scripture and then

I'll pray for us. Proverbs 6, six through 11.

Go to the aunt, O sluggard, consider her ways and be wise.

Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an armed man.

This is the word of the Lord. Praise be to God. Let me pray for us.

Our Father, you are holy, holy, holy. I thank you that you have seen fit to bring us together in this place this evening.

That what we do here, this work to worship you by sitting under the preaching of your word, by preaching your word, it's not a vain endeavor.

Oh, but because Christ, this is a good thing that we must do.

I thank you for Christ and what he has accomplished and what he is currently even doing for us, presenting even these prayers to you.

And Father, I thank you for what he will do and that you come through 100 % on your promises.

I pray, Father, help us this evening. I pray you'd keep me from error, help me to preach well. I pray that it would be received well, the

Holy Spirit would carry along the truth and would apply it in the lives of these saints here this evening.

May it be so for your glory, not for vanity's sake, not for our own pride,

Father, but because you are due it. May it be so in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

So the doctrine that we'll be focusing on here from this text is this.

God has you here for a reason. Christians have much work to do.

And as a Christian, you must have the best work ethic by looking to Christ and imitating him whose ethic is perfect, who perfectly worked out your justification by his work.

That is where we're going with all of this. Christians in the room, saints, we must look to Christ's work and know that we cannot be lazy.

We must look to his work and see what he was willing to do to exhaust himself unto death and a brutal death at that.

For us, saints, look at how your Savior, your King has worked on your behalf and let that spur you on to more love and good works yourself.

That's what we see here in this passage illustrated in the ant and the sluggard.

So by way of introduction, as we are coming to the close of 2024, and as we are coming to the day on which we celebrate the glorious King Christ's birth, it is good and appropriate to perform a year's end audit, not only of our souls, which certainly we must, but also our bodies and the work we have done with them, which is certainly connected to our souls by way of motivations and reasons for the things we do or do not do.

Here today, as far as all the things that we do or do not do,

I'll be focusing on that specific aspect of working to the glory of the

Lord and slaying the sin of laziness by such work. There is much in the

Lord's scriptures about the work we must do, the law we must obey to love

God, how he says he is to be loved, out of great gratitude because of how he has first loved us, this being illustrated namely in Christ, his own son, and the gracious fulfillment of promised salvation, the good news.

This must be a righteous spur to our side to get out of bed each day in a timely manner and be about the work of the

Lord. The book of Proverbs is certainly a help to that end.

Consider the purpose that it was written, Solomon writing to his own son wisdom to give him so that he would go out and not make a shipwreck of his life, but that he would go out and be wise in his day -to -day living.

Again, chapter six, it's got the heading practical warnings. This is practical application in our lives.

This is boots on the ground. This is day -to -day application in how we live with our physical bodies.

It's what we're focusing on here. Again, it certainly has spiritual implications for the reasons we do what we do.

So yes, Proverbs is certainly a help to that end and we'll be utilizing it today as we ought to in light of 2

Timothy 3 .16, which says, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

So join me in this aim. That we may attain the goal of submitting to God by submitting to his word and thus be sanctified by it for his glory.

Lord, help us. As I work to preach it, may you work to receive it and apply it in your lives.

And may it have its visible effect. That is us living lives further aligned to Christ's way, us living better lives further aligned to Christ's way in all things, including how we work.

So to walk through this passage, I have three points today. If you're a note taker,

I've got three main points and then a few specific applications at the end.

So three points and a few specific applications in the end. And the way that the author has this passage parsed down, the way that it's organized and ordered is very helpful to flow naturally in a sermon like this.

It starts with what we must do. And then there is an example of what it looks like not to do that.

And then God in his graciousness reveals to us, as we have in the last point, what happens if you don't do what you're supposed to do.

Here we have God's own word that gives us practical wisdom, how to live our lives.

And then he presents to us what it looks like not to do that. And lastly, what happens if we disobey him and seek to be unwise or don't seek to be wise.

So first we have this main point.

God says there is wisdom in working well. That's our first point.

God says there is wisdom in working well. And we see that in verses six through eight.

Go to the aunt, O sluggard, consider her ways and be wise.

Without having any chief, officer or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

Here we see it. Look to the aunt and be wise. We must consider the natural life of an aunt to become wise here.

It's presented to us. It's scripture. It's the truth. And this is oftentimes too humbling for the proud of the world.

But God in his most intelligent design, even at such a minute and seemingly insignificant scale, has given us an example, an illustration by his purpose of the work in all things.

The work of all his creation concerns him. And here we have this specific picture in the smallest form, an aunt.

And it is oftentimes too much for the proud to look at something like an aunt and learn, even if God commands it.

God has a way of doing this, chopping the legs out from under the proud and lifting up the chin of the humbled.

We Christians, those who must be humble, hear the words, go to the aunt and say, all right, my king says it, let's get it.

And so let us this evening look to the aunt. And as we look to the aunt, let us learn from the sluggard.

Let us learn from the sluggard. It is not too late for slug -like people.

If you're in the room and at the end of this sermon, you say to yourself, I am doing all of those things.

I am doing all the things that the sluggard does. It's not too late for you. The sluggard in this passage receives the warning.

The warning is to the sluggard. It's not too late for you to repent. While you still have breath in your lungs and a heart that is beating, mind that's thinking right now, you can repent.

If we get to that point and you say, ah, I had no idea how fallen

I was, how short I was of coming to the requirements. Know that you can turn to Christ and know that he has fulfilled all the requirements for you.

That none of us could do on our own. Praise God, it is not too late for slug -like people.

The second part of verse six says, oh, sluggard. The mere thought of, as a child of God, acting like someone

God refers to as having the characteristics of a slug should make us shudder.

Here again is a comparison drawn from his design. And order in the natural world.

The slug, slimy, gross, slow, and lazy.

Something more for the ditches of life rather than the path of life.

Yet this is who receives the warning that all may profit from it. And this has serious spiritual considerations.

If, again, you are in this room and you have never submitted to Christ, if you're in this room and you've heard often the good news of the gospel, of what

Christ has done, which I am sure you have if you've been coming here very long at all, you've heard the gospel, but have you been sluggardly in coming to Christ?

Have you been slow and lazy and not wanting to take up your cross and follow Christ? What a shame.

What a shame for what Christ has done. Won't you flee to him? Won't you get up and go to him quickly knowing that he is trustworthy and true and he says that he will forgive you of all your unrighteousness.

He's purchased it by his own blood. He is the way and the truth and the life and none come to the

Father but by him. And that does mean that there are those who come to the

Father and it's through him and him alone. Won't you rouse yourself, sluggardly center and won't you sprint to Christ knowing that he will do all he promises to do for you?

All that you've heard proclaimed from this pulpit, from his word and spiritual considerations for the saints.

Saints, do not be sluggardly in your zeal for the Lord. Repent of your sin, believing on Christ still and continue to follow him.

If you see here in a few moments, ah, I have been sluggardly in living for Christ's glory on this earth, then join with me and repent of that and follow him better because he is do good following and he is worthy of it.

And join with me and the rest of the saints in that for we have much work to do. And this also has serious physical considerations.

Stop being lazy. If that is you, stop being lazy.

God cares about all the work of his creation. He cares that it would be done well and in accordance to his will.

And so as the ant labors tirelessly, won't you? I'm right there with you.

We have much work to do, certainly physical labor to provide, but also spiritual labor.

Also, we must remember that the reason that the gospel has come to this place, Tulsa, Oklahoma, is because God works in his church and he works through his church, calls the church to the bride of Christ and the members, the different members of the body, the hands and feet of Jesus here on the earth.

We have a lot of work to do. There are many just outside these walls who are perishing, who are spiritually starved, even if they're in some local churches, who are deceived oftentimes by crazy doctrine there's much work to do here in Tulsa, which was at one point in time, the ends of the earth that Christ told his saints to go to.

So we must take up that work. And a lot of it is physical, physically going and sharing the gospel, physically going and serving your neighbor, loving your neighbor as yourself.

No Christian should think that that is a, something that is below them. We look at how low

Christ stooped to save us. There's nothing beneath us as far as service oriented.

There's nothing that we should not be willing to do. There's nothing that we should say,

I'm too good for that. I'm not gonna go mow their lawn. I'm not gonna rake their leaves. I'm not gonna drive them across town if they're sick.

We should be about the work of the church here today, knowing full well that God does work through his church.

And so the physical side of that for the saints is to stop being lazy. We have work to do.

Next, continuing on through verse six. There is wisdom worth finding in how the ant works.

There is wisdom worth finding in how the ant works. So we see, all right, we should not be sluggardly, but what is there that this ant is doing that is so good?

Consider her ways and be wise. That is, it is a wise way to live, this working hard.

Working hard is a wise way to live. We know that faith alone does not remain alone.

Good works certainly accompany it. Good fruit is only born on good trees.

For bigger fruit, well then, healthier, sturdier branches are required.

Therefore, this ethic is one we must cultivate. We are told by God to consider the work ethic of the ant.

And the goal is that it would be applied. Solomon was not giving his son good advice for no reason, or that it would only remain understood and never lived.

And so, we receive wise counsel today that it would be lived.

Now, right application comes with right understanding. So let us join with Solomon's son and Christians from the ages and consider this ant ourselves.

And we will in just a moment. Next, verse seven.

If an ant can work heartily unto the Lord, surely we can.

Verse seven says, without having any chief, officer, or ruler, this ant does continue its work.

The ant just goes about its work with no leadership, no teaching, no authority over it.

What then should the expectation be of us? Us who have pastors, us who have teachers, us who have authorities placed over us, us who have minds with the capacity to reason and problem solve creatively, us who have the very word of God.

And praise be to Him in our own language. What should the expectation be for us?

If the ant has no excuse, then we are certainly at a loss for one. If your excuse is the authorities over you somehow led you to the lot of a sluggard, look to the end.

Even without someone telling it what to do, it does what must be done.

And many today sit idly by and are much outdone by ants.

So, what is it that the ant does so well? Praise God, He tells us.

As we're going through this, we've gotta realize how gracious God is to us.

That He wouldn't just give us these warnings and then not tell us what to do. That He wouldn't just say, look to the ant, but not tell us what it is about the ant that's so special.

Oh, we need this and He knows it. And He's given it to us in our own language.

We have much to be happy for. We have much to have joy for.

Because the sovereign God of all creation loves us. Let that spur us on.

He loves us enough to tell us now, what is it about the ant? If we're to look to the ant for wisdom, to be wise.

We wanna glorify you, Lord. We want to be wise for your glory. What is it? What is it that that ant does?

He gives it to us in verse eight. She prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

She prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. It may seem simple, but we must look deeper.

The ant makes the best use of the days and we know the days are evil.

The ant makes the best use of the days. That's what's being illustrated here. The ant makes the best use of the days.

Ephesians 5, 15 through 17 says, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil.

The days are evil, therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the

Lord is. Well, the will of the

Lord here is for us to consider and understand the ant as an example of making the best use of the time.

The ant makes the best use of her time by getting it while the getting's good. So must we.

We must make good use of our bodies and the faculties that the Lord has provided us and not waste them until the day we no longer have them.

All of us are growing older. It's our natural lot in life to grow older.

And those faculties that once were so strong may see those failing. And I'm here today to encourage you to work heartily unto the

Lord every day in all of your labors, spiritual and physical, so that you do not, no, for God's glory, number one, we must.

I'm here today to tell you that. What I also wanna protect you from is that you would get to the end of your life and those faculties will have faded, those abilities will have faded, and you would look back with regret knowing full well that you wasted them.

I don't want that for any of you. And it's not too late. You've all made it here.

I know that you can go and do much good work for the Lord's glory. I want to protect you from that, that you would not get years into the future and look back and think to yourself, the days were evil and I was foolish.

We must make good use of our bodies and the faculties the Lord has provided us and not waste them until the day we no longer have them.

As we can work, so we see we must work. This is applicable to God honoring labor in all things, spiritual work, planning work, work in the home, work outside the home.

The ant prepares its stores while it can prepare its stores and has them to utilize when the getting is no longer good.

So we must work to have spiritual stores, a deep well of biblical knowledge to draw from and provisional stores, the physical needs of our families to be met and maintained for times when those things are needed and may be hard to come by.

The ant is not desolated when famine comes because it has worked hard and prepared.

So we must work hard to prepare for times that feel like spiritual famine and times that are a provisional famine or even actual famine.

Friends, we can't lose sight of the actual goal here though.

The things I just mentioned are certainly blessings. They are secondary and they are not the actual goal.

To focus on those as a primary reason for working hard would make them idolatrous.

The actual goal is to work heartily unto the Lord. You're here for a reason.

God did not save you just so you could twiddle your thumbs until you see Christ face to face.

God did not save you just so that you can wait around until you pass away.

You're still here. You've got good work to do. And some of it may seem as menial as an ant's work, but God made that ant to work and it glorifies him in what that ant is doing.

And so God made you to work, to glorify him in what you are doing. Whether it seems like a low task or a high task, a low calling or a high calling,

God gave it to you. You should do it as well as you can, all unto him, all for his namesake, all for Christ's kingdom growth.

God has placed you where he'd have you today. And I thank you that right now it's in this room so that I can encourage you to make the best use of the days because the days are evil.

I can encourage you to look at the ant, consider her work. Again, remember the actual goal is to work heartily unto the

Lord, to worship him in all things, including how we work. Colossians 3, 23 through 24 says, whatever you do, work heartily as for the

Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.

Inheritance of Christ, what Christ has inherited, his kingdom, the glories of heaven forevermore, you will share in those.

You will be paid well for your work here. And that's okay to be happy about.

Though you may work here and not get the pay that you would deserve for whatever job it is you're doing.

So if you work unto the Lord, you will, as he says, receive the inheritance as your reward.

He's a good father to us, far better than we ever deserve. Goes on to say, you are serving the

Lord Christ. Ultimately, you're not serving your boss. Ultimately, you're not serving the shareholders.

Ultimately, you're not serving the culture. Your work, if you work heartily unto the

Lord, you are serving the Lord Christ. That's twofold.

You may be doing that well, or you may not be. I wanna help you to understand that if you have a boss who's a royal jerk, you're not ultimately working for them.

You're ultimately working unto the Lord. And so no matter what your authority structure looks like above you, the ant doesn't have it.

It still works hard for God's glory. So must we. First Corinthians 10, 21 says, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Simply put, it serves the Lord Jesus Christ and glorifies

God the Father to work hard. And being lazy grieves the Holy Spirit.

Now concerning being lazy, we've looked to the ant. Now concerning being lazy, this is my second point.

God gives us a clear example of the folly of sluggardliness. God gives us a clear example of the folly of sluggardliness.

Verses nine and 10. How long will you lie there, oh sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. Here we have a clear picture of what it looks like to be a sluggard.

And the laziness of a sluggard is shameful. See that in verse nine.

How long will you lie there, oh sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? This is the biblical author speaking to a sluggard in this way.

This is God's word that speaks to a sluggard this way. Therefore, this is God who speaks to sluggards this way.

Here we have a clear visual of the sluggard lying around and known for lying around.

The laziness of a sluggard is often clear to those closest, close enough to ask the question here.

This is a shame that should cause one to be ashamed. Those who know you best usually see your laziness clearest.

In the home, wives and husbands know the ramifications of this sin and feel its effects harshest.

Children as well. Your parents and siblings have to deal with your laziness most.

Have you seen the frustration in your parents' eyes when they asked you to do something and you didn't do it?

When you were told to get something completed and you laid around? Has it caused them to be frustrated?

That's because sin is destructive and its evidence is clear.

It is the closest to us who see this example regularly, which is no example set by Christ.

The sluggard, much like the slug, is not affected by the questioning. Even the asking of the question implies the impropriety of the sluggard's laziness.

How long? The sluggard has been sleeping too long already. When will you arise?

The sluggard should have already been up. Sluggard living is life -wasting.

I don't want that for any of you. This is a drain to the family from husbands.

1 Thessalonians 3 .10 says, for even when we were with you, we would give you this command.

If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. This is a drain to the family from wives.

Proverbs 14 .1, the wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.

This is a drain to the family from children. Proverbs 10 .5 says, he who gathers in the summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.

Praise God for Jesus and for salvation and for the saints who have the indwelling

Holy Spirit who will not let us hear this from God's word and be comfortable in our beds, sleeping the days away.

Let us be slack in our duties. If you feel the Holy Spirit working in you, like, oh, okay,

I gotta change, I gotta change. Know that God, He is in the business of changing.

He is in the business of changing sinners to saints. He's in the business of changing stony, hardened hearts to hearts that beat flesh hearts with love for others.

So go to Him. Go to Him knowing full well that He loves you as a child and He's a good father.

Yes, He will discipline you. He will also guide you as today with His word to the right way of living, to glorify

Him. The Lord's church, the entity that He's used to bring the gospel even here to Tulsa is certainly drained by this as well.

How can you give to further the work of the church if you won't work, even if it means you won't eat?

It's a shame when this is the case so often, when people expect the church to cover for them so that they can be sluggards, not that the church is not there to help people.

That's not what I'm saying. People need help and the church is there to help others, but it's with this deceptive aim that I am concerned.

It's a shame when this is the case so often, when people expect the church to cover for them so they can be sluggards, when they should be working hard so that they could give more and help more people.

Look at what Christ gave of Himself. His blood poured out for all who would come to Him.

And so we must work hard so that we can give to further the work that God does through His church.

Again, this is chiefly a disservice to God. God's children, with all

He's gone through to make us so, must not return His love with selfish sluggardliness.

Next, if only there was something I could quote to myself that would be like thorns in my bed.

If only there was something I could quote to myself that would be like thorns in my bed. Well, if you're looking for that, as I need that as well, we have it in verse 10.

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. There's not much that will get me out of bed faster than that, than to consider, oh my gosh, that is shameful.

If I'm laying in bed, it's a Saturday and I may be thinking to myself, oh, you know,

I worked hard all week, it's Saturday, I don't have my vocational duties to work right now, so a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.

I'm the guy, I'm doing it. Quote that to yourself and it certainly serves as a spur to your side to get you out of bed.

If you're needing that, just quote the status of the sluggard.

In the morning, when I reach for my phone to snooze it, again, I often quote this to myself and it has the effect of making me feel like a real piece of slug, not a piece of crud.

There is no life in crud. A slug is even worse, has life in it, but to be characterized by that is a shame.

So yes, certainly has the effect of making me feel like a real piece of slug and I get up.

I am not only preaching this sermon to you, I've preached it to myself first, as I said earlier.

This is something that I often deal with. It sneaks in on Saturdays most often when I feel

I've worked hard enough all week and the day is beginning to get wasted and you must remember there is good work to do every day and I must remember there is good work to do every day.

Look to the end, friends. Are days off or not? Days entirely off.

Yes, we must rest. It is good and right and by God's design that we would rest.

Praise Jesus, he has given us a Sunday, a day of rest, a Sabbath day.

But our days off other than Sunday are not entirely days off. Look to the ant.

Rain delays the ants' work. On those days, ants prepare their seed stores and when the sun shines again, they take their seeds to the surface and chew off the end of the wet ones as they dry so they do not begin to sprout and grow and ruin their home.

That's what the ant does on its day off. It's a rainy day, can't get to work outside. Maybe you're in construction or something like that.

Rainy day, can't get to work outside. Look at the work the ant does inside so that its home would not be ruined.

So we on our days off from our typical vocations must be about the work of correcting what could be the ruin of ours.

This is both physical and spiritual. Saturdays, if that's your day off, is a great day to dig into the

Word, to listen to sermons, to pray to God for a longer period than you might be able to on other days of the week.

If you have a day off and it's Tuesday, you can make use of that day to that end because here's what we need to know.

If the ant is so concerned about its physical dwelling place being destroyed, we who are seeking to be wise must apply

Scripture and understand that sin is a ruiner of our homes and we must protect against that.

We must take our time and make good use of it and not waste the days, but like the ant, see what could be growing and could be festering or preparing to make a wreck of our homes or our lives and dress it, whether it be spiritual or whether it be physical.

And this verse would not pack as much of a punch if it weren't for the one that follows it, where, my last point, number three,

God reveals the just fruits of sluggardly lives. Verse 11, and poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an armed man.

The bitter fruit of this sin, too, is sure.

Poverty will come upon you like a robber. Just as a robber sneaks up on its unsuspecting victim, so poverty sneaks up on the sluggard unawares.

As the robber beats its victim, so poverty will beat the sluggard. As the robber disheartens its victim, so poverty disheartens the sluggard.

Again, I do not want that for any of you. And listen with two ears here. This sermon might not be for you.

So listen with two ears. One, to receive it and to apply it and process. And the other, prepared to go and tell this to others, to be a help to them.

Maybe you can counsel people with the word here. Maybe you know people in these very scenarios and you can go and help them by telling them the truth of God's word.

When this bitter fruit comes, it will be extremely difficult to deny, second part of 11, and want like an armed man.

Want, as in need in this case, will be the lot of the sluggard and it will be like fighting an armed man to get out of that state of being needy.

Not good needy, like we are needy of the Lord, but needy as in destitute in our estates.

So it will be for the sluggard and his household. Do not want this for any of you.

If you are working hard under the Lord, I say, good work, keep it up. If you are not,

I say, repent and get to doing good work. If poverty has come for you due to your sluggardliness,

I say, Christ is stronger than any robber or armed man. Look to Christ and do not give up or grow weary in this fight.

Here we see that it will be difficult. We must know that Christ is victorious. We must look to the ant with its good work for inspiration and wisdom, and we must look to Christ and his perfect work for salvation.

Now, lastly, I've got a few points of application here. And these are just specific things that I hope will be helpful for you as you go out as a charge to you and an exhortation, a strong encouragement.

The first one is this, be wise and glorify

God with your work and the ethic that you do it with.

Go out and have a good work ethic and glorify God with that because it does glorify him.

It is worshipful unto him. Be wise and glorify God with the work you do and the ethic you do it by.

Number two, do not require anyone between you and God to determine how diligently you work.

Do not require anyone between you and God to determine how diligently you work.

Pastors are good and they have their rightful place, and we must submit to our pastors. And so we must follow their leading and we must be thankful for them.

But it's not the pastor's job to tell you how diligently you should work. God has already made that clear.

So whether you have, I don't know if you're all from this local church, whether you have a pastor who exhorts you to that end or you have a pastor who doesn't, it's not on them.

God has given you the expectations. Do not require anyone between you and God to determine how diligently you work.

Number three, be wise in the work you devote your efforts to. It's okay to look for promotions or raises or to switch lines of work, especially if you see that your work is potentially sinful or is a line of work that you don't feel like it's what

God has fit you for. Be wise in the work that you're doing and seek to do the best.

Wherever you're at, do the best you can. If it's sin, get out of there. If it leads others to sin, get out of there.

If it's something that you don't feel like you're a good fit for, continue to work heartily unto the Lord in that, but it's okay to seek to be wise in the work you're doing so that you can best glorify

God with the skills that he has specifically given you. Number four, do not waste your days seeking to be comfortably at rest.

Do not waste your days seeking to be comfortably at rest. Your work glorifies

God. Let that be the inspiration in those moments of tiredness, weariness. The work you're doing glorifies

God. Do it unto his glory. Number five, in your work, remind yourself of the saying of the sluggard.

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and let that cause you to press on diligently to not want to be that.

Look to the end. Number six, I only have two more. Number six, fend off poverty and want by being mindful about your work, planning to do good, and executing the good you planned.

Christians should be the hardest, best workers wherever they are, and that requires planning and forethought.

And in doing this, you are fending off poverty by being mindful about your work, seeking to work hard unto the

Lord. And your boss should look at you and say, they are different. They have a work ethic that I don't see a lot.

They have a work ethic that I don't see a lot. And number seven, remember that because of Christ, Saint, all your effort is no longer vanity or chasing the wind, but purposeful as service to Christ.

Remember that because of Christ, Saint, all your effort is no longer vanity or chasing the wind, but purposeful as service to Christ.

May you serve him well. In conclusion, I pray that the remainder of 2024 would see you working heartily unto the

Lord with this life, as well as every day thereafter until you see

Jesus face to face. May you work heartily unto the Lord. Lord Jesus, may it be so.

Pray with me. Our Father, again, you are holy, holy, holy.

I thank you that you have clearly shown us what you expect. I thank you for the

Holy Spirit indwelling in us who causes us to want to be wise according to your wisdom.

I pray, Father, that you would grant it to be so. Make us wise, not for selfishness or vanity, but for your glory.

Help us to be good children. I pray, Father, that with the work that you've given this local church to do, that they would take it up and do it well, that they would be a beacon of light in this city, and that you would do what you do, and that you would do it here by causing light to shine in dark hearts, shine with the light of the knowledge of you in the face of Jesus Christ.

Save this town, our state, our country, this world,

Father, and use us in it, I pray. Help us to take up the work. In Jesus' name, amen.