Let's take our Bibles once again
and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 21. Proverbs 21. I'd like to read verses 24 to 26. Proverbs
21, verse 24. Proud and haughty, scorner, is his name, who dealeth in proud
wrath. The desire of the slothful killeth
him, for his hands refuse to labor. He coveteth greedily all
the day long, but the righteous giveth and spareth not." The scriptures are ever faithful
to set forth the true character of man. Man born in Adam, man
born from above. The scripture sets forth the
true character. Verse 24 says, proud and haughty
scorner is his name who dealeth in proud wrath. Now this is what
we know first concerning a man born in Adam. He's presumptuous. He's swelled up in himself. He overrates his own worth and
he underrates the worth of God Almighty. and God's people and
the reason is because he's proud. Therefore, he's haughty, he's
arrogant, he's lifted up in his own eyes and eventually he expresses
those characteristics by outwardly scorning others. He mocks others. The scripture says he's proud. Pride is the reason for him having
a haughty attitude, haughty spirit. And then it manifests itself. Obviously, he sees himself beyond
reproach. He sees himself as above men. But actually what he sees is
no need of mercy. He sees no need of compassion.
He sees no need of forgiveness before God. Hold your place and
turn to Exodus 5. Exodus chapter 5. I could think
of no better scripture to prove this point. Man is proud, he's
haughty in his attitude, and eventually, It will manifest
itself out of his mouth, because out of the abundance of a man's
heart, his mouth is going to speak. Moses and Aaron have come,
being sent of God, to Pharaoh. Exodus 5 verses 1 and 2, And
afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith
the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold
a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, who is the
Lord that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I know not
the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. And here was two men
sent of God to a godless heathen. Two men that spoke on behalf
of the sovereign of all things, two men that revealed that there
is a God in heaven. That there is a judge. A God who has a people. You let
my people go. A God that is going to deliver
and save them from their sins. And this proud and haughty scorner
speaks with contempt of Almighty God before whom He's going to
stand. He is, Pharaoh is. Now there's
a fit picture. That is all men by nature born
in Adam. That's everybody's attitude as
they're born in our federal head, the first Adam. Here's what they
say, who is the Lord that I should serve Him, that I should obey
Him? I'm not going to obey. That's
us. All men without Christ, all they
do, is deal in and indulge themselves in presumptuous anger and wrath
and passion against God and against his people. In their eyes they
can do no wrong. This is what scripture says back
in Proverbs 21 verse 24. Proud and haughty scorner is
his name who dealeth in who makes his way of life in, who has his
job as, doing nothing more than being
proud and wrathful against God. Verse 25 says, the desire of
the slothful killeth him, for his hands refuse to labor. Now, I've often said the book
of Proverbs is up top of my Bible. It says moral virtues and their
contrary vices. You know what that says? These
Proverbs right here, this is good advice. Now I don't doubt
that. I believe that. I mean there's
no doubt about this. That is good, sound advice. But if that's all that it is,
if that's all that we see out of it, we've missed Christ. The
Lord told the two on the road to Emmaus, beginning with Moses,
the prophets and all the scriptures, he expounded unto them those
things concerning himself. So if I don't see Christ in this
passage right here, Now, naturally speaking, I just want you to
know that I absolutely know and agree that this, in the natural
sense, it says the desire of the slothful, the slugger, the
lazy man killeth him for his hands refuse to labor. I'll tell you, I agree with you,
naturally speaking, the wish, the lust, the covetousness of
the lazy slugger that One that's not going to do anything profitable
for his own good. It's just going to keep him in
a continual state of dying or starving. What it is, I mean.
Why? Because he won't work. If you're
hindered, if you're hurt, you can't do it. I understand, I
understand. But if you're just lazy, if you're
just lazy, Well, then don't eat. You know, I just don't want to
do anything. Well, you know, the scripture
says 2 Thessalonians 3.10, for even when we were with you, this
we commanded you, if any man would not work, neither should
he eat. But let me cause us to look at
something, spiritually speaking, right here. The spiritual sense
of not working and not eating goes much deeper than we would
initially realize. A man that will not work. Hold your place right there again.
Turn to John 6, 27. Turn to John 6, 27. A man that
will not work. Now here again, if we miss Christ
here, Then we missed everything. Somebody said, well, you know,
all I see in that is if a man won't get up and go to his job
every day. Well, let me tell you something
that is much more important than even that. John 6, verse 27. The Lord is speaking to a group
of people. He says, John 6, 27, labor not
for the meat which perisheth. for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life. Now he just said that there is
a labor that is greater than laboring for something for right
now on this earth. Something's temporal. Labor not
for the meat which perishes. What is that? Well it's our needs
that we use and we have them right now but they're gone. Then
they're gone. You know? I had pot roast last night. for
supper. I had pot roast, and I had some
potatoes, and I had some broccoli. And it was good. It was very
good. But you know it's gone. Now I'm going to have to get
something else to eat in order to fulfill my hunger, my natural
hunger. Labor not for the meat which
perisheth. but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life. Now the Lord's giving us some
instruction here. Which the Son of Man shall give
unto you for him which God the Father sealed. Then said they
unto him, well what shall we do that we might work the works
of God? And Jesus answered and said unto
them, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom
he hath Now, the scripture sets forth in Proverbs, it said, verse
25, the desire of the slothful, the lazy, killeth him for his
hands refuse to labor. He who refuses by an old dead
heart to work the work of God. Now what is the work of God?
to believe on Him whom God has sent. That is the work of God. Labor not for the meat that perisheth,
but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. A man
born in Adam, let me tell you what that spiritual sluggard
will do. He will not. He's dead. He's dead spiritually. He will
not. He cannot. He refuses to work. the work of God. If that man
born in Adam who refuses to come, no man can come. The Lord said
you will not come that you would have life. But a man who refuses
to work the work of God, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, neither
should he eat. Eat what? Well eat of the bread
of heaven. Eat of Christ, the heavenly bread,
the heavenly manna. He that will not work, who has
no heart to work the work of God. By faith, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, he's not going to eat either.
Why? For without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that He is and He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him. And unless a man eats, the scripture
says, verily, verily, this is John 6, 53, verily, verily, I
say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, drinketh
my blood, hath eternal life. I will raise him up the last
day. Believers work the work of God. Why? God's given my heart to. He's
given a heart made willing in the day of His power. They eat
by faith because God's given them faith. It's given unto you
to believe. It gives them a new heart, a
new desire, and it grants faith. And they eat by faith. Now this,
every believer in here right now is by faith eating the flesh
of the Son of Man. What does that mean? He says,
except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man. What does that believe? By faith, they truly believe
that He was made flesh to save His people from their sins. They
truly believe that as a man, the God-man mediator, He lived
before God as their federal head. This is what they believe. They
believe that He, by His goodness and grace and will and power. He obeyed God. He earned the
righteousness that is imputed to all that believe. And by faith,
they drink the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that
mean? That means that by faith, they believe that when He died,
for them, on their behalf, I lay down my life for the sheep They believe that he satisfied
the law's demand for justice and righteousness. And they drink,
they eat and drink with thankfulness and gladness and pleasure and
believe that when he shed his blood at Calvary, he paid their
debt before God and redeemed them from the penalty and judgment
of God's wrath. The scripture declares, The desire,
verse 25, the desire of the slothful is the reason for his death.
What is? He wishes or longs for a standing
before God of his own making. That's what he wants. The slothful,
the lazy. He refuses to bow before God's
word. He refuses to come to Christ. He will not work the work of
God. Oh no, I believe, he says in
his heart, salvation is by my work, it's not by faith. I desire
to have the glory. Verse 26, he coveted greedily
all the day long. He prefers that which he thinks
is the best as long as he gets all the honor and glory and praise. He would want to have long life
and good health and life in heaven. When I die, ask anybody, do you
want to go to heaven when you die? Well, yeah. I would prefer
that to go to hell. You believe that salvation is
of the Lord? That you have no power whatsoever?
No, no, no, no. No, he desires, he coveted greedily. If I can receive the honor and
the glory and the praise for it. Yeah, like the Pharisee. God, I thank you that I'm not
as other men are. I fast, I tithe. That's the character of
the slugger, the man born in Adam. But oh, here at the very
latter part of this precious passage right here, and here's
the part that gives us some hope. But the righteous giveth and
spareth not. Those who have been made righteous
before God, having had their debt paid by the blood of Christ,
robed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their
sins put away. The righteous giveth and they
don't hold back. That's what it means. They give
and they don't hold back. And in closing, I've got three
very short points. The righteous giveth. and spareth
not." They don't hold back. The first thing I know that the
righteous give and don't hold back, they honestly, heartily
give an honest confession concerning themselves. This is what a believer gives,
and he doesn't hold back when it comes to himself. I am a sinner, saved by the grace of God. That's
all I am. Paul said, I know that in me
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. I don't know how. I know, I know
that it's right. to obey God. I know that, but
I just don't see it in me. The righteous giveth. He gives
an honest report about himself, and he doesn't hold back. Well,
I'm not going to say I'm perfect, but I'm better than some. No,
you're not going to hear a believer say that. No, they're going to
say I'm the low man on the totem pole, and everybody else is better
than I am. I can tell you this, honestly
speaking, if you knew me, if you really knew me, if you knew
really the depravity and the depth of my heart, you'd ask
yourself this, what's he up there doing? Let me tell you the second thing,
that the righteous giveth and spareth not, doesn't hold back.
He gives all the honor and the glory and the praise to the God
of heaven. for his mercy and compassion
to a poor, helpless sinner. He's going to give him all, all
of it, all of it. Look at Psalm 40, Psalm chapter
40, Psalm chapter 40, verse 2. These words are primarily, ultimately,
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, but every believer found in Him
says the same thing also of himself. Psalm chapter 40 and verse 2,
He brought me, He lifted me, He rescued me up also out of
a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a
rock and established my goings. Look at verse five. Many, O Lord
my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy
thoughts which are to usward. They cannot be reckoned up in
order unto thee. If I would declare and speak
of them, they are more than can be numbered. Now let me ask you
this. How much praise did the psalmist
give himself? None. This is the voice, this
is the heart of a man made righteous in Christ. He giveth and spareth
not. He said, the Lord brought me
out of the cistern of sin. I was there in this absolute
death. How can a dead man pull himself
out of the clutches of sin? How do you do that? How can a
dead man do that? Took me out of the slimy clay,
the miry clay. There's no stability there. I'm
just there. He set my feet steadily on a
rock. The rock. Himself. God did that. And He established
my goings. Steps of a good man, ordered
by the Lord. He's bringing me to Himself.
He has and He shall. The righteous, they giveth, they
spareth not. They're honest about themselves
and they're honest about God. And they don't hold back about
themselves or about the Lord. They never say, me and the Lord's
got a good thing going. No, I'm just a lowlife, scum-sucking
sinner. That's all I am. And then thirdly,
and lastly, he gives selflessly to the needs of others as those
needs have been made known to him. I want you to listen to
this, 1 John 3, 17. Whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? Now,
in closing, I'm gonna just make another natural observation here. You know, there's soup kitchens
all over the place. I've seen one right over here on the corner,
going across the Million Dollar Bridge. Right there on the corner,
right there. You know, it says, meals served
every day. You know, morning, noon, and evening. You know,
no charge. And people, I heard someone say
this week, you know, talking about doing God's work. They
said, you know, whenever you're doing God's work, you get a,
now this, I'm quoting this. When you're doing God's work,
you get a pass on a lot of things. Can you imagine? I mean, I quoted
that. That's a quote. I don't have
any problem with someone If somebody is truly in need, now if you're
trying to get to me and I know it, I might be a little reluctant
to be, you know. But naturally speaking, the Lord
often causes people to cross our paths in need, providentially,
truly a need. And we have brethren in other
areas, other churches that truly are in need. And whenever God's
people see the need of other people, brethren or otherwise,
they're reminded of our need before God. The Lord allows us
to see the needs of others, to remind us of God's, you know,
but ultimately, now here's where I'm going, there's the natural
understanding of that right there. When he talks about they giveth,
they, you know, they see others in need and they, if you see
other and you don't help, how dwelleth the love of God? But
let me ask you this. He who has this world's good,
Now let me tell you the only thing that is good in this world. It is the Lord Jesus Christ, those according to God's word
found in him made so only by Christ and his righteousness.
God's gospel, God's word, this light in this world. In this
world, there's nothing in this world that's good of itself.
But Almighty God has been pleased to send forth the gospel of His
grace. He who has this world's good,
who has a knowledge of it, and seeth his brother have need.
Now how many of our natural brethren, how many of our people, how many
has a need to hear the gospel? All of them. He who has this
world's good and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his
bowels of compassion for him, won't tell him the truth. How
then dwelleth the love of God in him? If God's imparted life
in Christ, believe me, it'll come out on you. A good man, Luke 6, 45, out of
the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is
good. An evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth
forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaketh. In closing, turn with me to Matthew
25, and I'll show you how this blessed truth, he who has this
world's good and sees his brother have need and doesn't meet the
need, How dwelleth the love of God in him? When the Son of Man, verse 31,
Matthew 25, 31, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory
and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the
throne of His glory and before Him shall be gathered all nations.
He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divided
his sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on
His right hand but the goats on his left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, come, you blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For I was hungered, you gave me meat. I was thirsty,
you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you took me
in. I was naked, you clothed me. I was sick, you visited me.
I was in prison, you came to me. Then shall the righteous
answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungered and fed
thee, or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger
and took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? Then saw we thee sick, or in
prison, and came unto thee. Then shall the king answer and
say unto them, barely I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done
it unto the least of one of these my brethren, you've done it unto
me. Let me tell you what a believer does spiritually. The scripture declares, the Lord
says, I was hungered. The Lord in his people. He told
Saul of Tarsus, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who was
Saul persecuting? He was persecuting God's people.
The Lord said, you're persecuting me. When was I hungry and you
gave me meat? I'll tell you when it was. When
God's people who've been taught the gospel declared the gospel. the meat of heaven himself, the
bread of heaven himself. That's when they give meat. He
said, you, I was hungry. God's people are born dead. When God gives them a hunger
in regenerating grace, God's people hear of the blessed meat
of heaven. The Lord said, you're doing that
to me. When you tell them, when, when was I thirsty? thirsting
of the water of life, the fountain of life himself. When was I a
stranger separated from the commonwealth of Israel? Strangers scattered
abroad. You took me in. You told me of
life in Christ. I was naked And you told me of
righteousness that robes the believer, the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. I was sick from the crown of
my head to the sole of my foot, putrefying sores, and you visited
me with the truth. I was in prison, bound in trespasses
and sin. You came to me and told me of
deliverance and life in Christ. He said, when you did it to one
of them, You did that to me. You did that to me. Enter in.
Well done, my good and faithful servants. I pray that the Lord
be pleased to bless this word to our heart. The slothful, the
lazy, he that will not work, that is the work of Christ, believe
on the work of God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's gonna die. He's gonna die in his trespasses
and sin. leaves him to himself all but
the righteous, the righteous made so by the righteousness
imputed of Christ. He giveth and giveth and giveth,
concerning himself, concerning God Almighty, and to others,
and he spareth not. Lord, bless these words for Christ's
sake. Amen. All right.