Why are so many families over-extended financially?
• Are you in a position where things are really tight financially, or are you about to drown in financial debt?
• Does it seem as though your paycheck is getting dumped into a big bottomless pit?
• You are you are not alone.
• According to Money-zine.com Americans carried approximately $886 billion in credit card debt, and that number is expected to grow to a projected $1,177 billion by the end of 2010. This works out to over $5,100 in credit card debt per cardholder (not household) and that number is expected to increase to over $6,500 by the end of 2010.
• That is only CREDIT CARD DEBT, not cars or other issues.
• Statistics also tell us that the average new car loan is over $27,600,http://www.money-zine.com/Financial-Planning/Debt-Consolidation/Consumer-Debt-Statistics/
• The question gets to be “how much is enough?” How much would does it take to make a person happy?
• Life has become a money pit for many. When you have an insatiable appetite for things, you will NEVER be happy no matter how much or little you have.
• Our life becomes about trying to pay for all the stuff our appetite demands.
• Why do you thing many if not most families up to their eyeballs in debt? They are missing something!
• Let’s get personal for a minute.
• How many of you like being in debt up to your eyeballs?
• What if through God’s Word you can transform life from one of being a worry infested money pit to a life with less stress and more joy filled?
• Would it be nice to have less financial stress and to have the ability to more deeply participate in taking care of the needs of others along with being able to participate in furthering the ministry of God’s Kingdom?
• Today turn in your bibles to Philippians 4:11-15
• SLIDE #2
• Philippians 4:11(ESV) 11Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
• If we want life to stop being a money pit we need to:
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. Learn how to be content with your life. (11)
• Paul had some very rough times AFTER he became a Christian.
• Before he was a Christian he was a Pharisee with an excellent pedigreed.
• He most likely was doing pretty well from a material standpoint.
• People looked up to him, they envied him, and they wanted to be like him.
• As a Christian, Paul did not always have it easy, shipwrecked, beaten, and let out of town in a basket among other things.
• In the previous passage Paul speaks of being blessed by the fact that Philippian Christians were concerned about him especially since he was in prison at the time.
• Throughout it all Paul learned something very important. He learned how to be content with whatever he has and whatever circumstance he was in.
• The word “content” in original text means “self-sufficient” and independent of others.
• As a matter of fact, this word is only used in the place in the New Testament.
• In the ancient Greek world the word was used to describe the independence that WISDOM brought, however; this is not what Paul had in mind with this word.
• He gives it a new meaning. It now gives the idea of independence of dependence on Jesus.
• In other words being content biblically is knowing your sufficiency comes from being in Christ. Being content is like being Jesus-sufficient instead of self.
• Remember how last week we examined the fact that Jesus will take care of us if we put Him first.
• When we lack contentment, we are never satisfied.
• We see life in the wrong light. The chief end of man is not to have all his needs and desires filled, but rather it is to glorify God.
• Solomon was a man who seemed to have it all, wealth, power prestige. He had the ability and means to do anything he wanted. AND by the WAY HE DID.
• SLIDE #4
• Ecclesiastes 12:13(ESV) 13The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
• Notice that Paul says he LEARNED to be content. Why did he have to learn it? Because contentment is not natural for us.
• If we do not learn to be content with God and what He is blessed us with, we will never be at peace, nothing we do; nothing we buy will fill the void in our heart.
• Does being content mean that we do not desire some things? Not necessarily.
• Just because we may desire things does not mean we are not content. It boils down to; are we joyful and blessed over what we have from God NOW?
• I have had times in my life when I did not know what contentment meant. I would want something to the point that I felt cheated with what I had at the time.
• I would love to have some of the money and resources I threw down the money pit in my life because I was not content with my current blessings.
• Let’s look at verse 12
• SLIDE #5
• Philippians 4:12(ESV) 12I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
• SLIDE #6
II. Learn how to live above your life circumstances. (12)
• How many of us are victims of circumstances. We allow circumstances to control our emotions, relationships, faith, and our finances.
• Paul knew how to live with little as well as lot.
• He even experienced living life in hunger.
• It is so easy to feel blessed when all is well, but how easy is it when you just lost your job or just had your house foreclosed on.
• True contentment transcends circumstances. Contentment does not mean you LOVE losing your job and your house, but it means that you know God is still in control, that He is still your Lord.
• There is an art to being able to do this, notice again this word LEARNED is used.
• Who wants to be hungry? Even during lean times we can be content.
• The word “abound” means to overflow.
• Now, as hard as it can be to be content when we have little, have an overflowing abundance can also present challenges. (AS FOR ME, I THINK I WOULD RATHER…) 
• When we do not know how to live with little, all we will be able to think about it getting more, we will be discontent with God and we will spend what we have foolishly on items we cannot afford.
• When we do not know how to live with much, we will not be satisfied until we have more and more and more.
• SLIDE #7
• Luke 12:15(ESV) 15And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
• Are you discontented because you don’t have what you want? Learn to rely on God’s promises and Christ’s power to help you be content.
• If you always want more, ask God to remove that desire and teach you contentment in every circumstance. He will supply all your needs, but in a way that he knows is best for you. (Life Application BIBLE)
• Let me tell you something from personal experience. Until I learned to be content with what I had and where I was, I did not experience peace.
• When I finally started to get a grip on contentment, it really changed how I saw things.
• The desire for more and more was under control, I was no longer willing to put my family at financial risk for stuff.
• Let’s see what we gather from verse 13
• SLIDE #8
• Philippians 4:13(ESV) 13I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
• Slide #9
III. Learn where your strength really comes from. (13)
• Paul’s contentment was not gained through self-discipline. Instead, it was through Christ alone, literally “the one empowering me”
• In context, the all things refers to the list in 4:11-12. In every possible circumstance, Paul could truly be content because he did not let outward circumstances determine his attitude.
• This verse is not about saying I can do ANYTHING I WANT; it is about being able to accomplish all things for Him through Christ and His power.
• Think of the issue of forgiveness. When YOU do not think YOU can do it, you can do it through CHRIST who strengthens you.
• What seems impossible, contentment in all circumstances can be done through Christ who strengthens us!
• This happens when we are in Christ.
• SLIDE #10
• Galatians 2:20(ESV) 20I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
• When we really get into a relationship with Jesus you will be amazed at what God can do through you, you will be amazed at what can change in your life through Christ.
• Many times we fall short because we rely on our own strength to get through issues we were not meant to deal with on our own.
• Contentment can be achieved through your relationship with Christ!
• Let’s look at our final thought in verses 14-15
• SLIDE #11
• Philippians 4:14-15(ESV) 14Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. 15And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.
• SLIDE #12
IV. Learn to be a blessing to others. (14-15)
• When we start to be content in life, we will realize that God put us here to also be a blessing to others.
• When we are not throwing our finances down the money pit of discontent, we will have more finances to help others and to be more involved in the advancement of the kingdom.
• The Philippian Christians were a blessing to Paul and his ministry. Then were one of the first to support him.
• Imagine where we might be today if there were not folks who could finance the work Paul did on behalf of Jesus.
• When we are not so focused on self, we will be able to be a blessing to others. When we are content with what we have been blessed with, when we are thankful for what we have been blessed with, we will be more generous with what we have.
CONCLUSION
• Contentment will keep us from throwing our finance and ourselves down the dark, lonely money pit.
• This is one lesson that if we will prayerfully implement into our lives, it will change our lives and how we see life.
• A lot of the stresses we face will disappear over time!

 
But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be
hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13). 

 
Exhort means to share with others a loving spirit with a loving hand to hold
them from drifting in sin.
 
The song we just sang, “Throw Out the Lifeline,” is an exhortation to you and
me. We have friends, we have brothers, we have sisters who do not have the grace
of God, who are not saved. We must exhort them. We must reach out with a loving
spirit to win them, to bring them to serving the Lord, to bring them out from
under the power of sin. It is our duty.
 
Let us look at the verses before and after our text. Verse 12 says: “Take heed,
brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing
from the living God.”
 
We must be so careful about this for ourselves. We must also exhort one another,
our friends, our brothers, our sisters who are departing from the living God. If
they are departing from the authority of God’s Word, we must exhort them. We
must exhort one another daily. We must do it with urgency.
 
Sin is so deceitful, and sin has such power over the human mind. If we see
someone taken under the power of sin, we must exhort them daily. 

 
We are so responsible to our brethren for their soul’s sake to exhort them if we
see them departing from the living God through an evil heart of unbelief. When
we see this in our brethren we must exhort them. We must lovingly reach out to
them and try to draw them in.
 
Let us see how responsible we are. Turn with me to Ezekiel 33:12: “Therefore,
thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the
righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the
wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth
from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his
righteousness in the day that he sinneth.” 

 
If we see someone who professes to be a Christian beginning to turn cold with a
heart of unbelief, and they are beginning to depart from God, then we must
remind them that what they have done right will not save them when they turn to
do what is wrong.
 
Watch verse 13: “When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live;
if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his
righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath
committed, he shall die for it.”
 
If he looks back and says, Well, I have lived a good life, therefore, now I can
start to do evil, all of his righteousness will not be remembered. We must
exhort one another daily that we do not depart from walking where it is right.  

 
We must realize the urgency of our responsibility to “exhort one another daily,
while it is called To day.” I want you to see Ezekiel 33:8: “When I say unto the
wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the
wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood
will I require at thine hand.”
 
It is our duty. We must warn them. If we do not, the Lord will require their
blood at our hand. Do you see how important it is that we exhort one another
daily? The Word of God commands us to do this, and if we do not, then their sin
is on our head. 

 
Watch verse 9: “Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from
it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast
delivered thy soul.”
 
You have warned him. He did not turn from his wicked way, but you are clear. His
blood is not on you, but it is our duty to warn him. 

 
As the direct result of our neglect in exhortation, the heart is “hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin.” If we walk in sin, then we become hardened
against sin. Then our hearts are no longer tender, and sin no longer bothers us.
We must exhort each other daily lest we let them walk in sin and they become
hardened and no longer desire to walk with God. 

 
God’s clear command is to plead with and “exhort one another daily, while it is
called To day,” saying as we see in Ezekiel 33:11: “Say unto them, As I live,
saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the
wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why
will ye die, O house of Israel?”
 
This is the message you and I are responsible to take to our brother, sister,
friend or fellow man. 

 
When we see one of our brethren with “an evil heart of unbelief, in departing
from the living God,” we are exhorted in Galatians 6:1: “Brethren, if a man be
overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit
of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

 
If I come to someone as a proud man, and say, Look, you cannot do this as if he
was sinning against me, I am wrong. I must come to him in a spirit of meekness.

 
We must plead with and “exhort one another daily, while it is called To day” for
them to hear God’s voice. I want you to turn with me now to Hebrews 3:15: “While
it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the
provocation.” It is the voice of God that we must hear. It is not my voice when
I come to exhort my brethren. It is the voice of God, because I come with the
word of God. That is why I must exhort them to hear the voice of God. 

 
To hear God’s voice and do His will is to exercise faith, but to harden the
heart in rebellion is “an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living
God.” When I hear His voice and do His will, that is faith. When I hear His
voice and do not do His will, that is unbelief.
 
Watch what we see in Luke 6:46: “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the
things which I say?”
 
Salvation is in that we hear and do. In verses 47 and 48 we read, “Whosoever
cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he
is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the
foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon
that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.”
 
Whose house was founded on a rock? It is those who hear and do. That is building
on the rock.

 
Watch verse 49: “But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without
a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat
vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”
 
This man heard, but he did not do. These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How can Jesus be our Lord and King, if we do not do what He says?
 
If you come before the Lord and say, Lord, would you do this and that for me,
why should He do that when you do not do what He says? If you disobey the Lord,
why would the Lord answer your prayers? He will not.
 
Turn with me to John 15:7: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye
shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
 
God says, If you do what I say, ask what you want, and I will do it for you. If
our prayers are not being answered, sometimes we can understand why. It is
because we do not do the things He says.
 
This is why “an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God [is the
first, and greatest occasion to] exhort one another daily [that is, frequently]
while it is called To day; [that is, without delay] lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin.”
 
If you see someone who is not doing what God’s Word says, it is the greatest
occasion to exhort them because they will not have God’s blessing. God will not
hear their prayers. If you are walking in rebellion against God, He will not
answer your prayers.
 
We must exhort today. Do not wait until tomorrow. If I see someone doing
something, maybe telling a white lie, and do not say anything, he gets in the
habit of it, and the next thing you know, it becomes his character, and he does
it without even knowing it. He becomes hardened in it. I must reprove. I must
exhort. I must caution him not to do this.
 
I want you to see how the necessity is so great. It is so urgent. See what the
Apostle Paul says in Galatians 4:19: “My little children, of whom I travail in
birth again until Christ be formed in you.”
 
When a woman is in travail, something must give. Either a child must be born or
the mother is going to die. This is how urgent it is when we pray and beseech
and exhort our fellow man. His soul is at stake.

 
Paul wanted to see that spiritual birth. He wanted to see them born again. He
had no rest. He could not take it easy and say, Well, the Lord will take care of
them, or someone else will talk to them. He could not do that. It becomes
urgent. It becomes as if you are in travail until Christ is formed in them. That
is how urgent it is to exhort one another.
 
Now see the urgency in Paul’s exhortation to the church at Philippi for what
appears to him as their “evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living
God.”
 
We read in Philippians 3:17-19: “Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark
them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. (For many walk, of whom I have
told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the
cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose
glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)” 

 
See how this exhortation was prompted by their lack of the mind or Spirit of
Christ, which was revealed by their conversation. See how urgent it was. He had
no rest.

 
I do not care what their profession is, if their walk of life is against the
will of God, they are enemies of the cross of Christ.
 
Watch verses 20 and 21: “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we
look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”
 
We want to be changed. We want to be fashioned into that glorious image of
Christ. We do not want to spend our time in the conversation of the world. Our
hearts and desires are in heaven. We want all of our evil inclinations subdued
unto Him. 

 
We must exhort one another, and exhortation is not pleasing to the flesh. It is
not easy to go to a friend and exhort him and tell him, Look, you should not do
that. When we see that never-dieing souls are working out their eternal
damnation and  becoming “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin,” then it
becomes more urgent than if their house was on fire. If your friend’s house was
on fire, would you not call him immediately and tell him? That is not as
important as if you see his soul is on fire for eternity.

 
We must learn to see what we read in Ezekiel 33:13: “When I shall say to the
righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness [that
is, in his experience], and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not
be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for
it.”
 
Even though he may claim to be a Christian, if he is walking in sin, all of his
past righteousness is of no value because he has departed from the living God by
an evil heart of unbelief. This is what we must exhort for.  

 
Many people claim their salvation in their experience. They feel that God has
blessed them in that experience, and now they think they have salvation. Then
they turn away from God.

 
Balaam was very rich in experience. He was widely known as a prophet of the
Lord.
 
Turn with me to Numbers 23:5: “And the LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and
said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.” The Lord spoke to Balaam.
Balaam was a messenger of the Lord, but that did not mean he was saved.
 
We read in Numbers 24:2-5: “And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel
abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon
him. And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and
the man whose eyes are open hath said: He hath said, which heard the words of
God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his
eyes open: How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!”
 
See the rich experience of Balaam. See how close he was to the Lord. He saw the
beauty of the righteous. He saw the beauty of serving God. He saw how precious
it was for those who die in Christ. Look at Numbers 23:10: “Who can count the
dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death
of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!”
 
Balaam was a man rich in experience, but he was not saved.
 
We see in Revelation 2:14 that the Lord Jesus Christ is warning against the
doctrines of Balaam. “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast
there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a
stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto
idols, and to commit fornication.”
 
He is warning us against making a religion out of our experience and not walking
with the Lord. Balaam was guilty of gross sin in spite of how close he walked
with the Lord, and in spite of how much it appeared that he was a God-fearing
man. 

 
The danger of the doctrine of Balaam was not a lack of experience, but it was
his “evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God” as we see in 2
Peter 2:14-17: “Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin;
beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices;
cursed children: Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray,
following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of
unrighteousness; But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with
man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet. These are wells without water,
clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved
for ever.”

 
This was why Balaam was not saved. He forsook the right way. He knew it. He had
walked in it, but he turned from it, and he became hardened in sin. He wanted
that which he could gain for the flesh with unrighteousness, and he perished.

 
Balaam was destroyed eternally, even though he had all this rich experience,
because he departed from the living God through the deceitfulness of sin.
 
We must be careful. I am not a stranger to rich experiences, and certainly I am
thankful to the Lord for every rich experience I have had of His nearness and of
His love, but that is not the basis upon which I can claim salvation. Balaam had
it all and still perished.
 
The Lord Jesus says, If you hear my sayings and do them, then you are building
on the rock, walking in the ways of the Lord.
 
This is why we are admonished in our text, “But exhort one another daily, while
it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of
sin.”

 
This is so urgent because every step our poor, unbelieving brother takes in
departing from the living God makes his recovery all the more difficult. The
more we depart the more hardened we become, and the more difficult it is to gain
them back. This is why we must exhort daily.
 
The deceitfulness of sin has such a hardening effect, which causes one to loose
his love for the truth. Balaam, I believe, loved the truth, but he lost it by
departing from the living God. We must be careful not to lose our love for the
truth. This places us beyond the reach of the voice of exhortation.
 
Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians 2:10b-12: “Because they received not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
 
This is why Balaam was damned. He had pleasure in unrighteousness.  
 
It would not be as important to warn a brother that his house is on fire as it
would be to warn him if you see him departing from the living God, because his
soul is at stake.
 
As we see our text in context, let us be admonished with Hebrews 3:15-19: “While
it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the
provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that
came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not
with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom
sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed
not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
 
Unbelief is departing from the living God. Faith is walking in the ways of God. 

 
Who can you find to tell of more or richer experiences than the children of
Israel? They were brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. They could stand on
the banks of the Red Sea, and they could sing the songs of redemption. They were
able to go through the wilderness and that Rock, which was Christ, followed
them. They drank from the rock. They saw God descend on Mount Sinai, and they
felt the mount shake. They heard the voice of God as a man speaks with his
friend.
 
Look at what they had seen of God, and yet they rebelled.
 
So what was their sin of unbelief? It was departing from the authority of God’s
Word after having seen so many deliverances from His hand.
 
I want you to turn with me to Deuteronomy 29:2-3: “And Moses called unto all
Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes
in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his
land; The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those
great miracles.”
 
You have seen all of this and you still have a wicked heart of unbelief. You
still refuse to obey. That is why they were destroyed. That is why they were
damned, not because they lacked experience, but because they refused to obey.
They departed from the living God with a wicked heart of unbelief.
 
I am sure that many of those Israelites who perished in the wilderness could
tell of experiences that you and I would never dare to claim, but they perished
in unbelief, in rebellion.

 
With all this experience they were the more accountable, yet they believed not.
We read in Deuteronomy 9:23: “Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea,
saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled
against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor
hearkened to his voice.” They refused to obey even after they saw Him destroy
the Egyptians and how He had delivered them 40 years in the wilderness and
promised to them the Promised Land.
 
See how important it is that we understand the authority of God’s Word. When we
rebel against the Word of God, we are departing from the living God with a
wicked heart of unbelief. 

 
The Lord calls to us daily, like He did to Cain, where is your brother? Where is
your sister? Where are your father and mother? Where are your neighbors? Are
they walking on the broad road to hell? Are you doing something to reach out to
try to warn them?

 
Genesis 4:9 says: “And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And
he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?” 

 
I want to ask you, Are you your brother’s keeper? It was Cain, a murderer, who
replied, Am I my brother’s keeper? He had just slain his brother.
 
We are our brother’s keeper. The first message I had on this subject, I
explained the scriptures that call on us to be our brother’s keeper. We have a
responsibility. If they depart from their righteousness and you do not warn
them, their blood is on your head.
 
Our text says in Hebrews 3:13: “But exhort one another daily, while it is called
To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
 
Do not wait until tomorrow. They may not be here anymore. You may not have the
opportunity tomorrow. They may not be within the sound of your voice. They may
have become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin and no longer be within
your reach. Every passing day that we neglect exhorting our brother who is
departing from the Lord through an evil heart of unbelief, he becomes all the
more “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Satan goes about as a roaring
lion seeking whom he may devour through his deceit. Sin is so deceitful.
 
I want you to see what we read in Matthew 24:24: “For there shall arise false
Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch
that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” 

 
There is such a blessed consolation for those whom the Lord has chosen, although
now in this lifetime we are often bowed down with heaviness through manifold
temptations.
 
We have a consolation here. It is not possible to deceive the very elect. God
sits above it all, and He will not allow His elected to be deceived, but we have
to live by the revealed will of God, and the revealed will of God is that we
must exhort one another.
 
If the Lord is going to save my brother, and He has ordained that He is going to
use me to do it, and I do not do it, the Lord will use another means, but He
will call me to account. Then I must give an account because I have neglected
the duty, the call, of the gospel.
 
We have such an assurance for those whom the Lord has chosen, that they will
never be deceived.

 
I have eight children, and sometimes my heart falters when I see the
deceitfulness of sin, and I see how crafty Satan is. Then sometimes I see that
they have gone beyond the call of my voice: Daddy, we are grown up now.

 
Then I have this consolation that we see here in 1 Peter 1:3-6: “Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly
rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through
manifold temptations.”
 
The Lord has preserved, and He has protected all His own. He has preserved them
in Jesus Christ.

 
These verses are the comfort I have for my children, my brothers and sisters and
for all of God’s people. They are kept by the power of God. The Almighty, with
His restraining grace, will spare them. He uses you and me as His instruments to
warn them. This is the calling He has given us. The fact that He says He will do
it does not excuse you and me. This does not mean that we may neglect our duty.

 
We have many struggles in this life, and many times we have to struggle against
the powers of sin, but we have that blessed consolation that He will keep us
through His power. This is where we have our comfort. This is where we have our
hope.
 
We may not govern our lives by the secret will of God, but we do have such a
blessed consolation in our heavenly Father’s unchanging love.
 
I cannot say, Well, if God is going to save my son, He is going to do it, so let
him go ahead and drink the rest of his life. That is not the will of God. The
will of God is that he walk in the ways of the Lord, and that if I see him
walking in a way that is not right, that it is my duty to warn him. That is the
revealed will of God.
 
Jonah had to go and warn Nineveh. The secret will of God was that they were
going to repent, but Jonah presumed upon this.
 
We read in Jonah 4:1-2: “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very
angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this
my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish:
for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of
great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.”
 
Jonah presumed upon the secret will of God, and he disobeyed God’s revealed
will. Do not get caught in that. The revealed will of God is that we must exhort
daily as their soul is dependent on it because that is the means God uses to
bring them in.
 
We have a blessed consolation in our heavenly Father’s unchanging love. I want
you to see this in 2 Timothy 2:19: “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one
that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 

 
The Lord knows who are His. He has chosen them from eternity, and not one will
ever be lost. His revealed will is to warn them. If the Lord’s secret will is
that He is going to save them, that is His secret will, and we may not impose
upon that. We cannot govern our lives around His secret will. We must obey His
revealed will.
 
If everything depended on you or me, we could have our hands on the door knob of
heaven and still go from there straight to hell because we would still fall
short. Our only hope and expectation is on the fact that Christ has done it all,
and the fact of God’s eternal, electing love, which He has given us as that
foundation.
 
Continuing in verses 20 and 21 we read: “But in a great house there are not only
vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to
honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he
shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet [that is, fit in character]
for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” 

 
We are made fit in character by the work of sanctification, by the work of
regeneration, by the work of grace.
 
Just say that this afternoon, the Lord may have used this very message to save
someone. Do I take the credit? No. The Lord has called me to preach the gospel,
but in the foolishness of preaching, He has chosen to save some. That is His
secret will. I must obey. I must preach the gospel.
 
Now, if I would come back and say, Lord, I do not think anyone is going to be
saved this afternoon, so I disobey and sit in the bar all afternoon.

 
The Lord is warning us against an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the
revealed will of God. We must obey the revealed will of God, because it may have
been God’s eternal purpose that this very afternoon some person may have had an
arrow shot that struck his heart, and the Lord used it for his conversion. If
that was the Lord’s secret will, would I have been just in leaving it to others
and going about my way? No, that is not the revealed will of God. The revealed
will of God is that we do what He tells us to do.

 
Along with such blessed consolation also comes this admonition in 2 Timothy
2:22: “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity,
peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
 
This is my evidence of salvation. It is not the cause of it. I am not going to
earn salvation by anything I do. When my heart has been changed, and the Lord
has given me new desires and worked grace in my soul, my evidence is that I flee
all unrighteousness, and I associate with others who do the same. This is my
evidence that I love God. I cannot spend my time with people who are cursing and
swearing and using God’s name in vain. They are enemies, because they blaspheme
the name of the God I serve.
 
My evidence that I am of God, that Christ is formed in me is that I desire to
follow righteousness. I have faith and I have charity, that is, I speak of my
brother in the best possible light. I do these things because I love God.

 
Following after righteousness includes the admonition that is synonymous with
our text. Galatians 6:1 says: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye
which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
 
I must have a spirit of meekness in order to restore him. The Lord Jesus told
Peter before Peter cursed, swore and denied he ever knew Christ, When you are
converted, strengthen your brethren. Then Peter could come in a spirit of
meekness. Before this, he was so big and proud. He could claim, I will follow
you to death, and I will do all these things.

 
After he learned to know the evil and the plague of his own heart, then the Lord
turned and looked on him with a look of love. Then he could come in a spirit of
meekness. He could now come to his brother and say: Oh, be careful, I know how
slippery those places are because I have been there, and I fell. I know what it
is to feel so strong in myself, and then find out what a fool I made of myself.
Do not do these things. I know how painful they are.

 
That is the spirit of meekness. I am not standing above you. I am not telling
you that I am too good to fall in the sin I am telling you you are in. I am just
telling you I have been there. I know what the lessons are. Do not do it. I know
how grievous it is. I know what it is to go out and weep bitterly.
 
Believe me friends, I am not a stranger to this. I know what it is to weep
bitterly over having done something that was done in just a thoughtless moment.
I can look back and think what a fool I was for being able to be so thoughtless,
and then I can see the fruit of one of my own children and what the consequences
were.
 
The Lord sometimes lets that weight hang there a while before He turns and gives
us that look of love.

 

Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage (Psalm 119:54). 
 
The statutes of the Lord are not to be looked at with drudgery. We do not ask:
Well, do I have to do this? Would God keep me out of heaven for this little sin?
If we do the will of God rather than the orders of God, then it becomes our
highest joy to know His will so we may do it.
 
Have you ever noticed that if a child is really going to show you gratitude for
the love you have shown to them, they will do so by a tender respect for your
will. They will look for what they can do to please you by wanting to know what
would be your will. They would do this to return with love and gratitude for the
love they have received. If we rightly understand the parental relationship
between us and the Father, then His commandments are not grievous. They become
our chiefest joy and our greatest pleasure.
 
David said that God’s commands were his song. Joy bursts forth into singing when
our joy reaches a high note. Then we start to understand the joy there will be
in heaven as read in Revelation 15:2-4: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass
mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over
his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea
of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant
of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works,
Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall
not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all
nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made
manifest.”



The result is the perfect harmony you and I have when His perfect will breaks
forth in such a melody. Everyone sings with one voice. The song of Moses is the
victory we gain over the world, death and the grave. The Word of God becomes our
songs in the night. The Word of God becomes our highest delight.
 
Holding our text in its context, we find that the entire Psalm is devoted to
David’s expression of his delight in God’s perfect will. It begins with the
blesseds as the beatitudes do as we see in Psalm 119:1-4: “Blessed are the
undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are they that
keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. They also do no
iniquity: they walk in his ways. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts
diligently.” It is a blessedness, not a grievous servitude. This is a little
taste of heaven to be able to rejoice in knowing and doing the will of God.
 
This Psalm so powerfully teaches that our walk of life revealed to the world
must correspond with our profession. If not, we do not have salvation. The new
birth is being renewed in the spirit of the mind. We must put off the old man
with its bitterness and hatred. We start walking according to the law of love.
 
The great joy spoken of in our text points to the Spirit’s witness in the soul
of how pleased God is when we truly become imitators of Christ. We should get a
glimpse of this from our own children. There is great joy when our children walk
in tender reverent respect for the will of the household. What greater joy is
there than to know that your children walk in the ways of the Lord, that they
reverence the things of God. What do you suppose causes more joy in heaven than
one sinner who comes to a change in attitude, one sinner who repents and comes
to the mind of Christ? 

 
The Father’s love in giving His Son, and restraining that love because of the
love He has for you and me, is rewarded when He sees that we restrain our
fleshly desires because of the love we have for Him. Our desires become
worthless in comparison to the joy we have in pleasing the Father.
 
We must imitate Christ. Look at Philippians 2:8: “And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross.” The Father’s command was that He lay down His life and take it up again.
He had no sin of His own to die for, but He obeyed His Father’s command to lay
down His life for His people because His Father’s love for His people was so
great. If Christ had shed His blood reluctantly, we would not have forgiveness
of our sins. His humble obedience in giving Himself at the command of the Father
made His blood an acceptable sacrifice.

 
Now see how the Father was glorified in rewarding His Son for such obedience.
Look at Philippians 2:9-11: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and
given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.” 

 
When our soul’s eyes are opened to see how the Father is glorified with humble
obedience, then we begin to understand David’s agony expressed in the verse
before our text for those who disdain the authority of God’s Word: “Horror hath
taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law” (Psalm 119:53).
The Lord is worthy that we should obey Him, and this is why it causes such
horror when we see those who disobey His law.

 
To get some insight into the joy expressed in our text, “thy statutes have been
my songs in the house of my pilgrimage,” we must understand the relationship
between God’s statutes and His promises.
 
Turn with me to Hebrews 12:2: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” He bore the pain
of the cross because of the reward the Father had set before Him. Our obedience
must be motivated by the promises.
 
Look at Hebrews 11:6: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he
that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him.” We must have faith to believe in the reward.
 
We read in Psalm 19:7-11: “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul:
the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the
LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the
judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are
they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there
is great reward.” 

 
The law rightly understood changes the attitude. It changes the very soul of
man. The man now delights to do the will of God. There is no drudgery in the law
of God. We do not need to argue that the law has been abolished. Satan wants law
and sin out the window because sin is the transgression of the law. If there is
no law there is no sin. What a crafty trick Satan has here.

 
The law was not abolished, but it was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ, and
now we become imitators of Christ, and we begin to delight to do the will of
God. We do not merit anything by obeying the law. It is our evidence that we
have salvation. This shows that we have been renewed in the Spirit of our minds.

 
When we start to understand the law of God in its right light, then it becomes a
privilege when we see a rebuke in the Word of God. We are warned when we get
into slippery places. We do not obey to merit salvation, but there is a great
reward.
 
David’s reference to “thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my
pilgrimage,” tells us we are rewarded in this life as well as hereafter. Many
think we just look forward to going to heaven and walking on streets of gold,
but in this lifetime we just have to take what comes. This is not what the
Scriptures teach.
 
“In the house of my pilgrimage” speaks of during this lifetime. The joy and
blessings we receive in this lifetime are a taste of our eternal rest. We get a
taste of heaven in this life and what it means to be reconciled with God and
have communion and fellowship with Him.
 
We read in Genesis 47:9: “And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of
my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the
years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the
life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” He is talking about this
lifetime.

 
As we learn to realize that “here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to
come” (Hebrews 13:14), then we become ever more aware of how God is glorified by
our attitudes and actions, or walk of life. We get a little glimpse now and then
of the blessedness there is in Christ, the blessedness there is in the love of
the Father. When we get to heaven we will not be strangers. We will just be
coming home. We will be coming home to a parental relationship with God that we
are not strangers to because we have learned what that means in this life.

 
I want you to see 1 Peter 2:11-12: “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers
and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; Having
your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against
you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify
God in the day of visitation.”
 
We become strangers in this world, but we will not be strangers in heaven. We
will be coming to a God we have learned to know. Our goal in this life is to
glorify God.

 
See how repeatedly scripture, as in our text, teaches the relationship between
our ability to sing of His statutes and our observance of those statutes. You do
not sing of His statutes unless you observe to do those statutes.
 
I want you to see this in Isaiah 58:6-8: “Is not this the fast that I have
chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let
the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread
to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when
thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from
thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine
health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee;
the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.”
 
The labor of love becomes the law we delight to do. Then we become lights to the
world, and we start singing His statutes. So many limit the joys of salvation to
going to heaven, but our text says, “thy statutes have been my songs in the
house of my pilgrimage,” that is, in this lifetime.  

 
The joy spoken of in our text comes from the Spirit witnessing with our spirit
that we are the sons of God in this life. In Romans 15:13 we read: “Now the God
of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in
hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” There is joy in believing that
cannot be compared to anything in this world. Having all the gold in the world
would not compare to the joy in believing. 

 
Those who believe and are baptized will be saved, and those who believe not
shall be condemned. To believe not means to defy authority. To believe means to
submit in unconditional surrender to the authority of God’s Word. Our hope of
salvation is in learning in this life to know God and Jesus Christ, whom He has
sent. This is where we find hope.

 
You cannot enter into this joy in believing when you are out of harmony with
God’s revealed will. If we are not in harmony we will not be able to sing His
praises on the sea of glass. We will not come into harmony after we are dead,
and live and serve the world while we are here. Our hearts come into harmony
with the will of God in this life, and we go from here into the celestial city
with hearts in harmony with His will.

 
Look at 2 Corinthians 5:17-19: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all
things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath
given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and
hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”
 
This reconciliation has to come from both sides. From God’s side, He was
reconciling Himself to the world by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We read of
reconciliation from our side in 2 Corinthians 5:20: “Now then we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead,
be ye reconciled to God.”
 
When we are reconciled to God we will know what it is to sing of His statutes.
When our hearts are reconciled with His perfect will, we will receive joy in
believing.
 
See the harmony in God’s Word. David said, “Horror hath taken hold upon me
because of the wicked that forsake thy law,” which is immediately offset with
our text, “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.”
 
The more we can sing the statutes of God, the more our hearts are in perfect
harmony with the will of God, and the more grievous it is to see those who are
out of harmony. Try to picture yourself singing in a choir with perfect harmony,
except for the person next to you, and he is totally off key. It would spoil the
whole assembly. Do you see why there is such horror with those who are out of
harmony? 

 
See how the Prophet Isaiah’s heart breaks forth with such blessed harmony
between God’s statutes and His promises. We read in Isaiah 58:9: “Then shalt
thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I
am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the
finger, and speaking vanity.”

 
Can you see how grievous it is to the Lord when we start accusing others and
speaking evil of them?

 
Continuing in verses 10 and 11, we read: “And if thou draw out thy soul to the
hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity,
and thy darkness be as the noon day: And the LORD shall guide thee continually,
and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like
a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” 

 
The Lord is so pleased, and the promises flow from our obedience. We stop doing
those things that are out of harmony with God’s will.

 
It is not reasonable that we should expect God to grant what we ask if we
disregard what He has commanded us under the law of love. Look at 1 John 3:22:
“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and
do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” 

 
This does not mean we have merited His favor. This means His reward is His favor
because He is so pleased with childlike obedience.

 
What was the commandment referred to here? We see in the answer in verses 23 and
24: “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son
Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that
keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that
he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” 

 
Because we are pilgrims here, that is, because we show clearly by our actions
that this is not our place of abode, the world treats us as strangers and not
fellow citizens. When we come into harmony with the will of God, we lose our
harmony with the world. We can no longer sing their songs. We can no longer
enjoy what they enjoy.

 
I want you to see this in 1 Peter 4:1-4: “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered
for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that
hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live
the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the
Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings,
banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye
run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you.” 

 
Our refusal to run with them to the same excess of riot alienates us from the
world as we see in John 15:19: “If ye were of the world, the world would love
his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you.” 

 
The world is blinded from seeing the hope we have of a better home in the
mansions of bliss. In fact we get only a glimpse of it ourselves in this life.
The world does not understand the joy we have in believing. They think something
is wrong with us. They think we are not normal.
 
I want you to see what we read in 1 John 3:1-2: “Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that,
when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 

 
The one thing we so little realize is that we are sentenced to death, and we are
all on death row. We have committed capital crimes. We are only awaiting the day
of execution.
 
I read in the paper about a man who was sentenced to die for committing a
gruesome capital crime. He showed no sign of remorse. The judge and the
prosecutor warned him that if he did not show remorse before he was executed, he
would have to expect that Satan would greet him with open arms.

 
Now the question is: Do we realize that we have committed capital crimes? Do we
have remorse over having sinned against such love? Have we repented, or will
Satan catch us with open arms? If we have repented, we will be met with open
arms by our Saviour.
 
The great difference between the wicked and the righteous is that those who are
reconciled with their Creator not only have a better hope for eternity, but as
David they can say: “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my
pilgrimage” (Psalm 119:54).
 
While we are waiting for that day of execution, we can rejoice in yet having a
day of grace to do His will.
 
The attitudes and actions of the righteous speak louder than their words. We
read in Hebrews 11:13-14: “These all died in faith, not having received the
promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.” 

 
What is better evidence that we can claim the grace of God for our souls than
the fact that we are strangers in the world, that the world hates us because we
do not walk in their ways?
 
When King Jeroboam caused Israel to sin, Jehu came to sort out those who served
the Lord from those who served Baal. He called for a sacrifice and told the
worshipers of Baal to determine if any servants of the Lord were there. Those
who do no worship God can identify those who worship God easier than you and I
can because they are not in harmony with them. They are the ones who put us out
of their company. We are the light of the world, and that light is their
condemnation.
 
This word seek implies diligence. We use the means of God’s grace, diligently
seeking His will. See what we read in 2 Peter 1:10-11: “Wherefore the rather,
brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do
these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto
you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ.” 

 
What are these things? See their context in 2 Peter 1:2-4: “Grace and peace be
multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto
life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:
that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust.” 

 
What is our evidence that we have these things? Continuing in verses 5 to 8 we
read: “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to
virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and
to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly
kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that
ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ.”
 
We see the two tables of the law of love in these verses. Godliness is loving
God with our heart, soul and mind. Brotherly kindness is the second table of the
law, loving our neighbor as ourselves. Charity is to think and speak about our
brother in the best possible light. 

 
“If these things be in you, and abound,” you will be able to say with David in
our text, “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.”
 
Look into the lives of those who serve the Lord as their greatest delight and
you will see in Psalm 19:8: “The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the
heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” 

 
Not only do those who delight to do the will of God have joy in believing, but
their end is peace. Look at Psalm 37:37-38: “Mark the perfect man, and behold
the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be
destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.” 

 
We must examine our hearts to know whether we have grounds to believe we have
been saved. Where is our delight? Do we rejoice in the things that glorify God
or do we rejoice in things that serve the flesh? It is just that pure and
simple. The Scriptures tell us this from beginning to end.
 
Our text says, “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage”
(Psalm 119:54). This becomes the highest pleasure and delight of our hearts.
 
There is such blessed harmony between God’s statutes and His promises for us in
this lifetime. Look at John 14:23: “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man
love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him, and make our abode with him.” 

 
Could you tell me anything that would be greater fruition for God’s people in
this life than if God the Father and His Son come and make their abode in us?
They warm our hearts.

 
Jesus said in John 15:14: “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command
you.” What command was He referring to? We see the answer in verse 12: “This is
my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”

 
“Pray without ceasing.  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you.  Quench not the Spirit.” 1TH 5:17-19.
 
Praying without ceasing and giving thanks in everything cannot be separated. 
The Lord ties them together in His Holy Word.  We must “by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God,” PHI
4:6.
 
As we see sin abounding in the nation and world, we have all the more reason to
exclaim, “Pray without ceasing,” because it is only by God’s mercy that we are
what we are.  Mercy is one-sided love.  God shows us love in exchange for our
hardness, ingratitude, obstinacy, and rebellion.  To “pray without ceasing”
means we must pray for mercy, or undeserved favor.  If we realize that we are
what we are only by God’s mercy and one-sided love, then we will be truly
thankful. 

 
If I give someone a paycheck after they’ve worked all week, they might say,
“Thank you,” as a courtesy, but they will not feel the same degree of gratitude
as someone who receives a check who has not earned it.  In the same way, we have
sinned against God from Paradise to this very moment.  We deserve eternal
destruction, but the Lord condescends to us with such love and mercy and
abundantly bestows upon us health, strength, and the comforts of life.  We also
have His Holy Word, which proclaims the way of salvation: “Turn ye; turn ye. 
Why will you die and not live?  Why will you not turn from your evil ways?”  Why
do we trample upon all His blessings?  Why do we still turn away from the Lord? 
By nature, we have no place for Him in our hearts.  We see His one-sided love
and feel true gratitude when we realize what we deserve.
 
“Quench not the Spirit.”  If the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin (that which is
displeasing to the Lord), we must not quench it.  We are to fall on our faces
before the Lord and confess that sin and ask the Lord to forgive us.
 
God’s ways are so much higher than our ways.  He sends the warmth of the sun to
cause nature to flourish, but He also uses the sun to scorch the land in
judgment.  Out of the same cup, the Lord pours forth His judgment and His
blessing.  The Lord remembers us and we must not forget the admonition of sons:
that those “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,” ROM 12:6.  The Lord puts His
finger upon us and draws us to Him as a token of His love.  In AMO 4:7 it says,
“And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months
to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain
upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained
not withered.”   

 
In JER 3:1-3 we read, “They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from
him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that
land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet
return again to me, saith the LORD.  Lift up thine eyes unto the high places,
and see where thou hast not been lien with.  In the ways hast thou sat for them,
as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy
whoredoms and with thy wickedness.  Therefore the showers have been withholden,
and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou
refusedst to be ashamed.” 

 
When we were living on a farm, the Lord laid that Scripture on my heart when the
rain had been withheld and the crops were drying up.  I read that carefully and
thought, “I have not been unfaithful to my wife or done any of these other
things,” but I could see great sin in the community and nation.  I could
certainly say that the Lord was just in withholding the rain, but I struggled
with it for a couple of weeks.  Then I read again in verses 13-14, “Only
acknowledgethine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God,
and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have
not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.”  Sometimes we can see the sin of the
nation and community, but the Lord wants us to acknowledge our own iniquity. 
Where had I transgressed?  The Lord showed me in verse 14: “Turn, O backsliding
children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of
a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.”  The Lord was
charging me with spiritual adultery: my heart had become so set on a big crop,
on the things of the world, that it was because of my sin that the Lord had
withheld the rain.  It becomes personal.  The Lord reproved me and showed me how
He loved me in Christ: “I am married unto you.”  We do not have to look far to
find out why the Lord withholds His blessings.  We can look closer to home. 

 
God blesses the springing grain with gentle showers; He sends “the former and
the latter” rain.  We read in JER 5:23-25, “But this people hath a revolting and
a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.  Neither say they in their
heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and
the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the
harvest.  Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have
withholden good things from you.”  The Lord bestows upon us the richness of His
blessings, heaping coals of love upon our heads.  To refine metal, you put coals
underneath and above to melt the metal.  When the Lord comes with His love and
says that He is married to us, it melts our hearts.  He showed me that He loves
me, but I had spotted my wedding garments.  In His love, He put His finger upon
me.  Does His bounty and love melt our hearts?  Does it take away the rubbish
and the dross and cause our hearts to be melted before the Lord?  Does the Lord
have first place in our hearts?  “Your iniquities have turned away these things,
and your sins have withholden good things from you.”  The Lord withholds His
blessings because of our iniquities.
 
God also uses rain as a judgment by sending it in the time of harvest to show
His displeasure.  We read in 1-SA 12:17-18, “Is it not wheat harvest to day? I
will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain [which at harvest
time destroys crops]; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is
great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.  So
Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day: and
all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.”  This year has been a
bountiful year.  The Lord has not sent rain at harvest time.  He has granted a
good crop and so many blessings, but may it please the Lord now to use these
blessings to melt our hearts and show us that we have forfeited all.  Then we
will feel pure gratitude for undeserved mercies.

 
It is so sad that we, by nature, overlook God’s hand of providence in the things
that pertain to our daily lives.  There are so many ways that the Lord, in His
providence, spares, blesses and provides for us.  By nature, our hearts only
grow proud and we turn away from the Lord’s blessings.  Many times His blessings
become a judgment on us. 

 
Our text does not teach a legalistic gratitude, but prayerful humility before a
merciful God.  Our hearts must come before the Lord in true submission.  Our
text says, “Pray without ceasing.”  We should come to the Lord and confess our
guilt.  We should confess that we deserve nothing.  “In every thing give thanks:
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  Not only do we
return to the Lord with gratitude for His benefits, but we also return unto the
Lord in Christ Jesus, in thankfulness to the Lord for what Christ has
performed.  1PE 2 says that if you suffer for doing wrong, it is no glory, but
if you suffer wrongfully and take it patiently, it is well pleasing to God.  If
we realize that it is only in the precious blood of Christ, shed for our sins,
that God can have mercy on us, then we will be truly thankful in Christ.
 
Verse 19 says, “Quench not the Spirit.”  When the Holy Spirit convicts us of our
foolishness, pride, and sin, then we should not push Him away, but thank the
Lord for being such a loving Father that He sends His Spirit to show us our sin.
 
There can be a natural gratitude for benefits, which ends in the gift itself,
for such things as prosperity or deliverance from trials, sickness, and other
circumstances of life.  Such gratitude still ends where it should begin. It
never leads the soul unto Christ as Benefactor or Saviour.  Salvation includes
much more than just saving the soul for eternity.  Salvation is a state in which
we must live.  Salvation is seen in the necessities of life as well as in the
salvation of the soul.  Our text says, “Pray without ceasing. In every thing
give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  We
give thanks for the benefits that God has bestowed on us because it is only in
Christ Jesus that these benefits are given.
 
True gratitude flows from a humble sense of God’s salvation in Christ.  Christ
must be the center of our gratitude if it is to be pleasing to the Lord.  Pure
gratitude flows from a fountain of unworthiness and humility and acknowledges
Christ as the Benefactor.  We receive every blessing in Christ.  He is the King
of providence and the King of kings.  Only in Christ is there any benefit for
hell-deserving sinners.
 
Pure gratitude flows from a broken and a contrite heart in submission and unity
with God’s will.  PSA 34:15 tells us, “The eyes of the LORD are upon the
righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.”  What does righteous mean? 
Many Scriptures talk about the wicked and the righteous, of the godly and the
ungodly.  The godly are those who practice the first table of the law: to love
God with our heart, soul, and mind.  The righteous are those who practice the
second table of the law: a right attitude towards our fellow man.  It is time we
understood the golden rule.  We ask to be forgiven of our sins as we forgive
those who sin against us.  We are asking for no more forgiveness than what we
offer.  So if you come before the Lord and ask for mercy, remember that those
who show no mercy will receive no mercy and “mercy rejoiceth against judgment,”
JAM 2:13.  The Lord looks upon those who have a right attitude toward their
fellow man “and his ears are open unto their cry.  The face of the LORD is
against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth,”
PSA 43:15-16.  Do you see the contrast? 

 
The righteous have a right attitude towards their neighbor; they do unto others
as they would that others do unto them.  The Lord has His face against those who
do evil.  In Verse 17 we read, “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and
delivereth them out of all their troubles.”  If you show mercy, you will obtain
mercy.  If you are generous and loving in your judgment of your fellow man, the
Lord will be generous in His judgment of you.  This is thankworthy.  If you
suffer wrongfully and take it patiently, it is well pleasing to the Lord.  Verse
18 says, “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such
as be of a contrite spirit.”  To be contrite is to be totally, unconditionally
surrendered to the will of God.
 
Pure gratitude ends in Christ as the benefactor for all our blessings both
temporal and spiritual.  We must be grateful for our everyday, providential
blessings with the same gratitude we have for the salvation of our souls.  Fifty
different denominations might have fifty different formulas of what constitutes
salvation, but the Scriptures tell us what constitutes salvation.  Being saved
is a process of having our wills dissolved in the will of God and being
reconciled to God.   .

 
Salvation constitutes deliverance from spiritual and temporal trials.  David
rejoiced with pure gratitude over deliverance from spiritual trials in PSA
116:7-12; “Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully
with thee.  For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears,
and my feet from falling.  I will walk before the LORD in the land of the
living.  I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: I said in
my haste, All men are liars.  What shall I render unto the LORD for all his
benefits toward me?” 

 
David praised the Lord for his spiritual benefits, but he also cried out unto
God to be saved from natural enemies.  That was his salvation also, because the
Lord looked after his natural needs as well as his spiritual needs.  In PSA
69:2-4, he said, “I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come
into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.  I am weary of my crying: my
throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.  They that hate me
without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy
me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took
not away.”  David cried out to the Lord for salvation in natural things, for the
Lord to save him from his enemies.  David proclaimed his gratitude for God’s
salvation in temporal trials, as we read in PSA 69:28-30; “Let them be blotted
out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.  But I am
poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.  I will praise
the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.”  He
attributes deliverance from temporal calamities to the salvation of God. 

 
Christ is the King of providence, and every benefit we receive is from the hand
of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Anything we receive on this side of hell is a benefit
in Christ.  In order to observe the intent of our text, “In every thing give
thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you,” we must see
how Christ is the Ruler of all providence.  Every little incident in our lives
is under the control of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He rules and directs these
things.  EPH 1:19-22 says, “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to
us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he
wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own
right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and
might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but
also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave
him to be the head over all things to the church.”  Salvation is from Christ, in
His position of greatness and power, to us who believe.  The Lord Jesus Christ
is the Supreme Ruler of all things, which includes providence.  .
 
To understand what our text means in Verse 19, “Quench not the Spirit,” we must
understand how God the Father is glorified by obedience.  When the Holy Spirit
convinces us of sin, righteousness, and judgment and we resist and ignore His
call and force our way forward in our sinful ways, then we are quenching the
Spirit and the Lord will remove His blessing.  The Lord is so pleased with
obedience.  Obedience is salvation.  When we are delivered from rebellion and
sin, we are saved.  We read in PHI 2:8-12, “And being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross.  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling.”
 
We have heard that we are saved by the blood of Christ, but it goes far beyond
that.  The blood of Christ was shed as an act of obedience.  The blood of Christ
appeased the wrath of the Father.  The Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself and
became obedient unto death: “I lay down my life…No man taketh it from me…This
commandment have I received of my Father,” JOH 10:17-18.  Because of that
obedience, God exalted Him and gave “him a name which is above every name: That
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

 
“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only,
but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling.  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his
good pleasure.” PHI 2:12-13. Fear is a holy reverence for God, not a slavish
fear.  As we look to Christ as the Author of our salvation, and we see how
pleased the Father is by obedience, we will work out our salvation with holy
reverence for the will of God, trembling at His Word.
 
Pure gratitude flows from a fountain of love.  In JOH 15:10 we read, “If ye keep
my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s
commandments, and abide in his love.”  The Lord Jesus Christ draws a parallel
between our salvation and our obeying Him out of love, even as He obeyed the
Father out of love.  He wants us to keep His commandments.  What does it mean to
keep His commandments?  He is speaking of the law of love, that we love God
above all with our hearts, souls, and minds, and that we love our neighbor as
ourselves because in this is the whole law.  We shall abide in His love if we
keep His commandments.
 
We need to see how great Christ’s salvation is in the way of providence. 
Salvation is not something that we receive after death.  Salvation begins in
this life.  Salvation is day to day and is seen in the providence of God.  In
EXO 33:19 we read, “And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee,
and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.”  When
He causes all His goodness to pass before us, we will see His salvation in
day-to-day things and that therein He has ruled all things according to His
will. 

 
I experienced His providence when we were moving.  We had taken our ping-pong
table apart and I started to carry the big 4x8 foot panel downstairs.  I had the
stair door open and saw one of my grandchildren sitting at the very bottom of
the stairs, playing with a toy.  I thought I could slide the board past her on
the side, so it never entered my mind to ask her to move, but as I set the board
on the steps for a moment, it slipped out of my hands.  That heavy board with
sharp metal corners was headed for the very spot where she had been sitting at
the foot of the steps, but in God’s providence, she had dropped her toy and had
stood up just then to retrieve it.  The board ripped a hole in the carpet in the
exact spot where she had been sitting.  You and I may not realize to what extent
God directs and controls everything, but He spared my granddaughter’s life by
causing a little toy to fall out of her hand so she would get up just at the
right moment.  How often we might be on the verge of eternity, but in a
split-second, as the Lord directs, He spares our lives!

 
Let us pause a moment and ponder how, in a split-second, the Lord could have
taken our lives, but in His providence He made a provision to keep us here.  How
thankful we should be to the Lord for the ways He has spared us by the
providence of His hands. .

 
The Lord told Moses in EXO 33:20-23, “Thou canst not see my face: for there
shall no man see me, and live.  And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by
me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory
passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee
with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see
my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”  The place of safety is upon the
rock.  Gratitude must begin and end in Christ.  The “clift of the rock” is the
crucified side of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Outside of Christ we have no place of
refuge.  How many times has the Lord helped us, spared us, and blessed us?  Our
text says, “Quench not the Spirit.”  The Lord is longsuffering, but He will not
be mocked; we must not turn our backs upon the Lord because it is only by His
mercy that we are yet what we are.
 
As we learn to see the love of Christ in His hand of providence, we shall
understand the meaning of ROM 2:4; “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness
and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth
thee to repentance?”  God sent His own Son, who sweat blood in the Garden of
Gethsemane, struggling under the wrath of God upon our sin, and hung upon the
cross, writing our names on His wounded hands.  If that does not melt our hearts
in subjection to Christ, then certainly no thundering of the law, hell, or
damnation will ever shake us.  If the burning coals of His love, heaped upon our
heads, do not melt our hearts and draw us unto Him, then nothing will bring us
in, and we will be hardened infidels before the Lord.
 
Pure gratitude cannot be separated from true repentance.  We cannot say, “Thank
you,” in an acceptable way to the Lord if our hearts continue in sin, and we
continue to walk against the way of the Lord.  We cannot separate the two.
 
The Psalmist recounted all God’s blessings in providence as he exclaimed his
gratitude in PSA 105:1-5; “O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make
known his deeds among the people.  Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye
of all his wondrous works.  Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them
rejoice that seek the LORD.  Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face
evermore.  Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the
judgments of his mouth.”  What marvelous works?  He remembered how the Lord had
delivered him in his struggles, trials, and dangers.  We must remember His
wonderful works and all the goodness of God that He causes to pass before us. 
We must also remember His judgment, and how He withholds the rain out of love. 
We must remember that the Lord will put His finger upon us out of love because
He wants our attention.  He wants our hearts to bow under His love and turn unto
Him.
 
Our text says,  “Pray without ceasing.”  Our hearts must be right before the
Lord.  Prayer and thanksgiving cannot be separated.  The Lord is not pleased
with a natural gratitude that ends in the gift.  The Lord is only pleased with
gratitude that ends in Christ.  That gratitude must end in looking to Him as the
Benefactor and the One who purchased our benefits. 

 
“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you.  Quench not the Spirit.”  How often we are all guilty of that. 
So often we allow our hearts to be filled with the things of this time and
place.  Our hearts are so filled with the achievements that we have in this
life, which results in quenching the Spirit.  That is why we must pray without
ceasing that the Lord will give us His Spirit in rich measure, preserve us from
quenching His Spirit, and give us a heart of contrition and true gratitude to
come unto Him with thanksgiving that is acceptable before Him.  We have so many
things today to be thankful for.  The Lord has blessed us beyond measure, but
the goodness of God should lead us to repentance.  It should lead us to a change
of attitude and a change of mind.  It should lead us back unto the Lord with the
gratitude that is due unto His name.
 
Amen.
 
When Jesus undertook
To rescue ruined man,
The realms of bliss forsook
And to relieve us ran;
He spared no pains, declined no load,
Resolved to buy us with His blood.
 
No harsh commands He gave,
No hard conditions brought;
He came to seek and save,
And pardon every fault.
Poor trembling sinners hear His call;
They come, and He forgives them all.
 
When thus we’re reconciled,
He sets no rigorous tasks;
His yoke is soft and mild,
For love is all He asks,
E’en THAT from Him we first receive,
And well He knows we’ve none to give.
 
This pure and heavenly gift,
Within our hearts to move,
The dying Saviour left
These tokens of His love;
Which seem to say, “While this you do,
Remember Him that died for you.”
Gadsby selection, 1838