The Good You Ought To Do

Please turn in your Bibles with me to the epistle of James and chapter 4

James chapter 4 What to remind you that this is

God's holy and infallible word I'm going to read the entire chapter Where do wars and fights come from among you?

Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members you lust

And you do not have you murder and covet and cannot obtain you fight and war

Yet you do not have because you do not ask you ask and do not receive

Because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

Whoever therefore wants to make himself a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God Or do you think that the scripture says in vain the spirit who dwells in us yearns?

jealously But he gives more grace Therefore he says

God resists the proud But gives grace to the humble Therefore submit to God resist the devil and he will flee from you

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double -minded lament and mourn and weep

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up Do not speak evil of one another brethren

He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother Speaks evil of the law and judges the law

But if you judge the law you are not a doer of the law, but a judge

There is one lawgiver who is able to save and to destroy who are you to judge another?

Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go such -and -such a city

Spend a year there buy and sell and make a profit Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow for what is your life?

It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away

Instead you ought to say if the Lord wills We shall live and do this or that But now you boast in your arrogance

All such boasting is evil and now the singular verse that we'll be considering today therefore to him who knows to do good and Does not do it to him

It is sin May the Lord be pleased with our consideration of his most holy word.

Please pray with me now. Oh Lord, I pray for these your people

That you would appropriately convict and Show the error of our ways, but also

Lord that you would comfort us with The wondrous love of Christ Oh Lord show us the good that we ought to do that.

We might more faithfully lived up to the holy name By which we were called and we ask all these things in the name above all names in the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ our King Amen Please be seated The title of the message today is the good you ought to do and We're going to get hit with a convicting subject and that is the sins of omission

Today, I've created a six -word thesis for the message.

Hopefully all of this will be reflected under this heading Idleness in the face of duty idleness in The face of duty the sins of omission the good you ought to do and this good that we ought to be done ought to be done by us is

Performed toward God and toward our neighbor idleness in the face of duty sins of Omission, this is the central point.

I want to lay out some general scriptural principles our confessional standards offer a great question and answer to this question of what sin is and We blow through the first part because we're more familiar with the ideas of committing sinful acts so the question is what is sin and The answer is sin is any want of conformity unto

It's very important or Transgression of the law of God when we think about sin

We normally think about the transgression of the law of God The first part of that answer is equally important It's the want of conformity unto the inaction is sinful

The locus classicus text of this subject which we would turn to most commonly

I'd like us to do it is found in Luke chapter 10 Please turn to Luke chapter 10 and I have a couple one of them, which will be a little bit more

Surprising there are many texts so you shouldn't feel that this list is exhausted We could not go through all of the sins of omission nearly every command that we could state in terms of transgression.

We could also State and talk about in the sense of inaction so we could list almost every command in the scripture in these two ways

We're going to focus on a couple just to help us understand the concept that James is relaying to his hearers

Luke chapter 10 and this is starting in verse 25 and behold a certain lawyer

Stood up and tested him saying teacher What shall

I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him what is written in the law, what is your reading of it and He answered and said

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself

Jesus responds the text says he said to him you have answered rightly do this and You will live

I should point out to you in verse 27 the summation of the law of God a further summary of the ten words of the

Ten Commandments a Huge portion of our duty and obligation is found in our action

We are called to love God in a certain way We're called to love our neighbor in a certain way and you could say well,

I haven't violated the third commandment today I haven't taken the Lord's name in vain

Am I keeping the spirit of this command? The sin of omission is the failure to worship

God and to honor him in this way To love him with the entirety of our person

To not only not steal from my neighbor But to promote all the good for my neighbor that I possibly can you see it's the activity in our inaction

That is the thing we have to worry about now for us We should be under some conviction today

For us. I feel that our sins of omission They're they're quieter.

They're more acceptable They're not as loud For us the sins of omission may be greater than our violations and transgressions of the law

They won't see that more in a few minutes continuing the lawyer asks a lawyer like question and who is my neighbor and Jesus answered a

Certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves

Who stripped him of his clothing wounded him and departed leaving him half -dead

Now by chance a certain priest came down that road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side

So The context here is there is a obviously a man who's a part of the nation

Israel he's going from Jerusalem to Jericho and he's going to be passed by by two men

Who according to their understanding of the law by birth and by occupation they know better They know the good they ought to do but they don't do it

The priest comes he sees him verse 31 the ending he passed by on the other side

Likewise a Levite when he arrived at the place came and looked and passed by on the other side but a certain

Samaritan Think John for the woman at the well Jews have no dealings with Samaritans Half breeds worshiping on the wrong mountain accepting only the five books of Moses Detestable in the sight of the

Jewish people. They are dogs Maybe worse than a

Gentile because they betrayed the heritage that was given to them in some measure

This is a very convicting very powerful very sharp very piercing

Heavy blows from Christ here in this explanation a

Samaritan as he journeyed came where he was And when he saw him he had compassion

So he went to him and bandaged his wounds Pouring on oil and wine and he set him on his own animal brought him to an end and took care of him

The Samaritan knew the good that he ought to do and he did it it was very costly to him personally and He's in effectively ministering to and helping his enemy here

The next day verse 35 when he departed he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said to him take care of him and Whatever you spend when

I come again, I will repay you So he's made this great sacrificial act to patch him up in this triage to give him a place to stay

He has to travel on his own business and he says whatever is charged to this man's account

I'll pay it when I come through The question is answered asked by Jesus.

I should say verse 36. So which of these three Do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?

And he said he who showed mercy on him and Jesus said to him go and do likewise

You and I May not run over our brother in the road

But do we stop to help him? We may even say hey brother. I'm gonna pray for you.

I hope that tire gets fixed and keep going This requirement is a higher moral and ethical obligation and duty to our brethren

Not only in the church, but without to seek their good to help them

To do the good that we know we ought to do. This is very costly.

It's very messy It's very very inconvenient to love this way well, there's another important one who

Section I'd like you to consider still in Luke. I chose these to be close together somewhat turn to Luke chapter 12

Just a couple chapters over this one's going to be very short Luke chapter 12

Again, we want to understand this category of sin Sins of omission that the good that we are to do that we often fail to do and the

Lord has given us ample Evidence in Scripture to for us to understand

I'll begin reading in verse 42 Who then is that faithful and wise steward whom his master will make ruler over his household?

To give them their portion of food and do season Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes

Truly I say to you that he will make him ruler ruler over all that he has

But if that servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming Here's the the sinful part

The master's eyes aren't on me. I'm free to kind of do what I want

Integrity demands that we do the right thing even when no one's looking right an Integrity before the

Lord tells us the Lord is always watching So we have an obligation to do right no matter what the circumstances inconvenient

It's not expedient in every occasion. We must do the right thing

My master is delaying That he begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and be drunk and it's obvious That this behavior is very contrary to the will of the master verse 46 says the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and An hour when he is not aware and will cut him in two and appoint his portion with the unbelievers

It's a pretty harsh penalty Verse 47 says and that servant who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself or do according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes

But he who did not know yet committed things deserving

Of stripes shall be beaten with few. I Want you to listen very carefully

For everyone to whom much is given from him much will be required And to him to whom much has been committed of him.

They will ask the more O people of God how much Have you been given?

Salvation union with Christ communion with God unity communion with his people

The Apple of God's eye his affection rests upon you his children

He has lavished grace upon grace upon grace on us and to us

Much has been given to us and much is required

We can't be those who give inaction complacency apathy laziness when action is required

We'll talk more about that in just a moment One that may be a surprise to you.

I want you to turn to Luke chapter 15 In the parable of the prodigal son,

I appreciate you turning with me Because I believe this is a neglected part of the church's understanding of sin the sins of omission now the parable of the prodigal son

Usually focuses and and we think about that the son who went away

The son who took his father's wealth and treated him as if he was dead and spent it on profligate living

Begin reading in verse 11 Luke 15 Again we're looking for Not so much the sins are that are committed the transgressions obviously of the law of God but the want of conformity the omission a

Certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father father Give me the portion of goods that falls to me

He's viewing his father believe me in the context that his father's dead he wants his inheritance

So this is an ungrateful son saying I want you dad to give what's coming to me. It's very wicked

So he divided to them his livelihood verse 13 and Not many days after the younger son gathered all together journey to a far country and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living

But when he had spent all there arose a severe famine in that land and began to be in want and he went and joined

Himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

Of course the picture is He is a servant to unclean animals.

You can see the depth of his fall. He's a Jewish man He doesn't have any dealings with unclean animals.

And now his job is to feed the unclean animals He's fallen to a low place the lowest of places

He says he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate and no one gave him anything

But when he came to himself He said how many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger

I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him father I have sinned against heaven and before you for I am no longer worthy to be called your son

Make me like one of your hired servants and he rose and came to his father but he was still a great way off his father saw him and Had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him

The son said to him father. I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and I am no longer worthy to be called your son

But the father said to his servants bring out the best robe and put it on him put a ring on his hand and sandals on His feet and bring the fatted calf here and kill it and let us eat and be merry

For this my son was dead and is alive again He was lost and is found and they began to be married now pay close attention now

We forget about this part of the parable there is a lot of sins of omission and the older son

Now his older son was in the field And as he came and drew near to the house

He heard music and dancing He calls one of the servants and asked him what these things meant

He said to him your brother has come and because he has received him safe and sound your father has killed the fatted calf

But he was angry and would not go in Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.

So we answered and said to his father lo these many years I had been serving you. I never transgressed your commandment at any time and yet you never gave me a young goat

That I might make merry with my friends But as soon as this son of yours came who has devoured your livelihood with harlots

You killed the fatted calf for him And he said to him son, you are always with me

And all that I have is yours It was right that we should make merry and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found

What were the sins I want you to start thinking now, what are some of the sins of the older brother?

First he did not rejoice in his brother's repentance When a sinner turns back to the

Lord the angels sing in heaven the people of God should respond with Rejoicing and encouragement.

He should have been running out and kissing his brother and saying oh, I'm so glad you returned home he doesn't rejoice in his brother's repentance and Deeply abiding within the responsible older brother it seems

He was very ungrateful for the provision in the Lord that he had He was not one who was giving.

Thanks It seems That this brother may have had the same heart within him, but he was playing the long game

He wanted his father's wealth. He wanted his father's property and he knew he had to comply to do it

Maybe I'm speculating maybe his heart wasn't so different than the younger brother.

It was quiet It was hidden. It was concealed. He was a crafty wise kind of man

How many of us are Can only see the want in our lives. Oh The Lord has abundantly supplied for us as people

I wonder If we spend too much time thinking about what we don't have

Instead of giving thanks for what we do and maybe Most profoundly.

I think the older brother doesn't honor his father He breaks the fifth commandment.

It's evidenced by his ingratitude Look how selfishly he responds and how

He's almost seething. Look how many years I have been serving you I've never transgressed your commandment at any time.

You have owed it to me You won't even give me a young goat

That I might make merry with my friends you and I Can certainly be prodigal sons, but I fear that we might be the older brother

That we fail to actively love our father and our brother our father in heaven and our neighbor as we ought

So we can get away with this sin. The other ones we can't this one we can get away with by the

Lord and his glorious mercy reveal these things to us that That we might be those who repent and turn from our sins of omission well

I'm not going to turn there But I want to bring to remember it's one last one

And that is the sin with David and Bathsheba and as has been recounted by many great scholars

Essentially all of the commandments are ultimately broken in his dealings with Bathsheba But in 2nd

Samuel 11 in verse 1 we have a very important interpretive clue as to why all of these things happen and It's a sin of omission that gets the ball rolling for David with Bathsheba David's sin with Bathsheba Started with David's idleness in the face of duty.

It happened in the spring of the year at the time when

Kings go out to battle That David sent

Joab and his servants with him in all Israel and they destroyed the people

Amman and besieged Ravah and Here it is Five words

But David remained at Jerusalem David should have been fighting in the battle

David should have been leading his men. And so he said all these sins of omission. They're not such a big deal these sins of omission have catastrophic consequences

What kind of consequences are there if a father fails to discipline his son?

to correct him what kind of Consequences would there be if you let an armed intruder hurt your family and he did nothing to stop them

What kind of consequences were there for Adam who? Didn't restrain and keep out talking serpents out of God's garden

The sins of omission are great They're weighty. They're heavy in action

When action is required Do you today?

Are you worshiping God? With all that you are with all that your strength.

I think we could have left some of that in reserve today Do you adore him and honor him and praise him and delight in him as?

your joy Do you hang on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God?

the word Do you have great? Thanksgiving for all that he has done

Do you go to scripture first when you encounter a problem and seek an answer there?

Do you meditate on his word day and night? Do you make use of any and all of the spiritual disciplines?

Husbands Do you love your wife as Christ loved the church

I know you love her But do you love her that way there's sins of omission there?

failures to do that Wives do you see that you respect your husband principally you do, but are you actively?

honoring and respecting your husband You're not defaming your neighbor, but do you?

Promote their good name Do you step into the

The real messiness of their life and turn them away from sin Or do you go outside on the other side of the road and go the other way?

There's lots of good that we ought to do That we do not do

How often do we say to our family I've said it to my children I've regretted it stay out of the conflict

Doesn't really concern you It could be wise or it could be inaction

We're called to be peacemakers. Maybe we're the ones who have been called to make peace between the warring parties

We really don't want to get sullied up with that. We're tired. We don't want to we have our own problems What about in the life and ministry and mission of the church someone else is doing it

Every day every week Not condemning you Someone else is paying for it.

Someone else is studying. Someone else is praying Someone else is going to clean up at the end. Someone else will do it

We're the people we have to do it Our inaction is sin

There's a couple of other words that I think fit And I want to bring that to your mind

I'm gonna try to cut this a little bit short Some of what I could say

There's some related sins and if you're taking notes, I would write them down the first is complacency

The second is abdication your responsibility, but you're hoping someone else will take care of it

The third is laziness and fourth is apathy just don't care

All of these are grand sins of omission all of these

Shorten the blessing in our lives and our sources of our conflict with one another and the reason there's a lack of peace in us

Could be partially because we're failing to address these sins of inaction

We've learned in James that Wisdom is the right application of knowledge

If any of you lacks knowledge, have you? failed to open your Bibles To make use of the means of grace

We've been learning a lot of great things about the doctrine of the church in Sunday School and many of you are not there

Have you when encountering a situation? Have you prayed and sought counsel of godly men?

Or have you tried to do it in your own? Lack of wisdom. We know that if we lack wisdom that we can ask

God and he will grant it. Have you asked him? for it It seems that the foolish man not the wise man knows the good he ought to do and Fails to do it

Ecclesiastes 9 says whatever you your hand finds to do do it with all your might

It's a hard verse for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom and shale

To which you were going Proverbs 21 whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered

Proverbs 18 whoever slack in his work is a brother to him who destroyed have you slacked off at the office a bit?

Your brother to one who destroys sins of inaction have great consequences First John chapter 3 if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need yet Closes his heart against him.

How does God's love abide in him? Little children let us not love in word or talk

And boy the reformed world needs this we got a lot of talk. We've got a lot of word

But indeed and in truth, that's how we're to love one another those things are very important We're to love indeed and in truth.

We talk about it, but we don't do it sins of inaction

The last one I'll give today and the defense of this idea is this in Romans 12. Let love be without hypocrisy a

Poor what is evil? Do you have a profound hatred for what is evil?

I think there's a sin of omission for us. I don't think we hate it It's useful to us in some way or should say it's it's comfortable.

We're used to it We are called to a poor evil

Do you equally with with great fervency and effort and and striving cling to what is good?

Are you kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love?

Do you really love the brethren? Or is it just a principle?

Yeah, we love one another is it active love for the brethren? Do you give preference to one another?

Is your diligence lagging? Are you fervent in spirit or lukewarm?

Do you rejoice and hope are you patient and tribulation do you continue steadfastly in prayer?

Distributing to the needs of the Saints. Are you given to hospitality brethren? the people of God are failing to act

When action is required well

Quickly, let's turn back to James. I'm going to provide a conclusion There are two principles in James that I think are very important to understand verse 17 of chapter 4

I'm going to remind you of those The first is that definition at the end of chapter 1 of what pure and undefiled religion is

We pray for orphans and widows But do we actually visit them in their trouble

See the Samaritan he goes all the way in the visitation doesn't he you and I says

I'm praying for you Hopefully you actually go follow through and pray for them. But that's it

And the second description about keeping yourself unspotted from the world

I wonder do you actually draw near to God and hunger and thirst for righteousness that you might not be

Unspotted from the world the sin of omission and practical holiness would be to not go hard after God To to not be immersed in his word to not be a person who's praying

Continually, it's it's an idea that say hey I'm not going to be corrupted by the world if you are not

Drawing near to God with the means of grace that he has supplied you are going to be spotted by the world and finally

Referencing the catalog it could have I have a list of things all through James. We don't have time for that.

I think the The real question for us is do we really love God? Do we really love our neighbor if you really fulfill the royal law

James 2 8 According to the scripture you shall love your neighbor as yourself

You do well But if you show partiality you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors

Of course it continues if you stumble on one point you're guilty of all brethren

I can't spoon -feed perfectly the application for you, but I run

I want you now To to really sincerely and earnestly ask the question

What are the areas in my life that require action Obedience faith and trust in the

Lord, but I have given inaction What failures are there in your love for God and your love for neighbor?

Identify them that you might repent and walk in fresh and new obedience Should be a convicting time for us

Take just a second Have something else there is a list of Omissions that cry out against me

They cry out against you But we have a

Savior who is Christ the Lord and there are no sins of omission with him this glorious salvation of Christ encompasses not only the

Transgressions of the explicit law of God, but every failure of ours

To conform to it. Oh, if you be in Christ today, you should be rejoicing this grand

Impediment which should keep you from communion with God and fellowship with his people has been taken away in Christ He Bids you again to remember this great

Salvation that he has supplied and now with the the grace washing over you as the waters of baptism washed over Piper With that grace now you go and walk in fresh new obedience

You put to death the sins of the flesh and you look and you seek out and you ask God What are the sins of omission?

What are the areas of life the good I ought to do that I'm not doing

In what ways am I failing to act when?

Action is required Probably the most memorable theme of James is to be doers of the word and not hearers only and I think a huge percentage of that Command that imperative is found in this area of the sins of omission

We have to search it out and be doers of the word I praise

God for the Lord Jesus Christ and his salvation and his forgiveness and his

Consecration and sanctification that we too again might walk in newness of life.

Amen Let's pray together Oh Lord, I thank you for your promises

We fall so short, but we have a Savior who never does Oh my sin the thought of it

The weight of it is nailed to the cross. Oh Lord Jesus. Thank you.

I pray your people will be equally sober and circumspect about their lives and their faithfulness, but That will be eclipsed by their great joy and the salvation that you have supplied

Oh Lord help us to be a thankful and grateful people maybe one of our greatest sins and our failure to worship and honor and adore you is our failure to to act in this way