Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Proverbs chapter 13, in reading
from our text, verse 4. The soul of the sluggard desireth
and hath nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made
fat. Proverbs 13 and verse 4. In this chapter we have many
contrasts. In fact, only verses 14 and 22
are verses that don't have a contrast. And all the contrasts except
one, verse 7, are joined together with the word but, including
the word of our text. It has pleased Almighty God to
often use contrasts in the Word of God. So if we can't see something
from one side, then we shall see it from another. We think
of the difference between putting a speck of coal dust on a black
sheet of paper and putting it on a white sheet of paper. It
can be seen so much clearer on the white because of the contrast. And we have that right through
the Word of God. If we think of Abel, Cain, two
brothers, and then immediately we get a contrast how one is
worshipping God and how the other is, one according to the pattern
that God had showed in killing the animals, in clothing Adam,
in the shedding of blood, typifying the sacrifice of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. But Cain, he took of that which
his own hand had gathered from the earth that was under the
curse, And so we have immediately a contrast there. One that had
faith and one that did not have faith. Then we see a very vivid
contrast with the flood and Noah's Ark. All the world destroyed
with water except those in that ark. What a stark contrast. How few that were saved. How safe they were in the ark. at how underdestruction outside
of it, a vivid illustration of what it is to be in Christ, what
it is to be safe in the arm of our Lord Jesus Christ, shut in
by God into Christ and not destroyed with the world and with the wicked. How vital that we take notice
of contrasts like this, repeated again with the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah, and then the pulling of Lot out of that
destruction and saving him. You have contrasts in the lives
of the people of God. We may say every one in some
way. They are not now what they once
were. Grace has made a difference.
And what a difference we see in the Apostle Paul before and
after his conversion on the Damascus Road. A real contrast, a real
difference, a real change. And so with our Lord's teaching,
very often in teaching in parables, He didn't just use one illustration,
but used two in each parable. We think of the parable of the
two that went up to the temple to pray, the publican and the
Pharisee. One prayer is contrasted with
the other prayer, One pleading for mercy, the other not asking
for anything, simply telling all the good that he saw, he
had done, and how that he is better than the other. And we
have these contrasts right through the parable of Lazarus and the
rich man. Again, what a contrast, a double
one there. In this life, there was the rich
man, in all his riches, there was Lazarus with his saw us lying
at his door, a beggar. And then we see a glimpse within
the veil, and not because Lazarus was a poor man, no, but because
he knew the grace of God, the blessing of God in his soul,
trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. But he was found in heaven, in
Abraham's bosom, in the covenant, but the rich man opening his
eyes in hell and in torments. These things are the way that
God teaches in his word, they set forth in a stark way what
the truth is. And sometimes with the people
of God, if they cannot see themselves amongst the people of God, then
the Lord, as it were, says to them, well, dear soul, if you
cannot see yourself amongst the people of God, and maybe there
are those gathered this evening, and one that feels like that,
you cannot see, yourselves amongst the people of God. The Lord said
there is only two peoples. There are only those that are
his and those that are not. There's only heaven and there's
only hell. And so he gives a glimpse of
what those are that are not the people of God. And maybe that
in getting a picture of that, you'll see more clearly that
you are not numbered amongst them, but numbered amongst the
people of God. You know, dear Ruth said to Boaz,
He wondered why he had taken knowledge of her, seeing that
she was a stranger and that she was not like one of his handmaidens. She felt to be different. Many
of the Lord's dear children feel to be different than their brethren. They know their own hearts. They know their sin. They know
what they are in the sight of God. They cannot see into others'
hearts, but they do know their own, and that is what humbles
them. and makes them low, and put their mouth in the dust,
and do esteem their brethren above themselves. So we have
in this chapter the contrast, and our text is one of them.
The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing, but the soul
of the diligent shall be made fat. What is the word diligent? What does it mean? If you look
up a dictionary, then it will tell you, having or showing care
and conscientiousness in one's work or duties, careful and hard
working, or deeply immersed in your work. And one of the aspects
of it is not distracted, not turned away, from our work. I want to look this evening really
under two headings, though we divide the second into some more
points, but the two main headings. Firstly, there is a natural illustration. We never need to pass over those
natural illustrations. Sometimes they have a much powerful
effect when we look at them first and then applied spiritually,
which is what I want to do in the second place, the Lord helping
me, the spiritual application. So first there is a natural application. The soul of the sluggard desireth
and hath nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made
fat. So we have a picture and When
I was meditating on this, I was thinking on it, and you know,
some scriptures they speak of going past the field, of the
sluggard all over, growing with weeds and not well kept or anything
like that, and you might go many miles to get some contrast like
that. But quite a few years ago now,
I had an allotment down here in Cranbrook, And so when I was
there working on my allotment, I could see another 30 or so,
or probably more than that, allotments that other people were attending
and looking after. And many of them, they would
come down, they would see a nice, well-kept allotment, and before
they'd got an allotment themselves, and they would think, oh, I'd
like that. I'd like to have some vegetables, and I'd like to have
a nice garden like that. So they apply to the council
and they're given allotment. The first thing they do is they
come down and they look at the allotment they've been given
and it's all unkempt, there's weeds over it, there might be
boards on it, all sorts of things on it. And immediately they start
to get discouraged. This is not the nice, beautiful
allotment that others have got. Why have they been given something
like that, not realising But those that are well-kept took
a lot of work, diligent work, constant work to bring it up
to that standard. And so just in that short or
small compass of ground, you could observe these different
allotments and the marked difference. Some of them very well-kept,
others very neglected. Some that only come once a week,
others they'd be coming every day, tending it, And the difference
would really reflect the diligence or the care and the work and
the energy that was put into it by the allotment holders.
And yes, there was the desire. Those that wanted an allotment,
they desired a nice allotment. They desired vegetables. They
desired to have things. They weren't prepared to work
for it or to spend the time on it and to be diligent in it. And this is the picture that
here, the soul of the sluggard hath desireth and hath nothing,
but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. The one who
diligently sowed his seed, then he got something from it. The
one that took care to prevent the badgers getting in, or to
stop the blight taking all the potatoes and all of the tomatoes,
those that actually took care and observed the seasons, planted
in season, those who when it was so hot they didn't just leave
it just the same as usual but went down and regularly watered
and cared for it, and you see the difference. This is the illustration
that is here in a very visible way. You can notice the difference,
you can see the difference. The difference is reflected in
the fruits that are gathered from it. And when it says, the
soul of the diligent shall be made fat, you think at the end
of the day, the one who has spent all his diligence and care and
time and effort on his lotment, there he's got his baskets full,
full of potatoes and beans and pumpkins or whatever he's planted. and the others, they haven't
got much at all. And this is the picture that
is set before us that is to be applied in a spiritual way. Now, before we come to that,
we might say, well, who does give the increase? However diligent
we might be, it is still God that gives the increase. It's
still God that makes that plant to grow. It is still Him. that causes the seed to germinate,
and those that fear God look for the Lord to do that. But
they don't just sit in their armchair or sit at the chairs
that sometimes were at the end of the allotments that they came
down just for social time and stood sat there looking at their
weedy allotment. It is not them that came with
the goods, but it wasn't their diligence. the one that was diligent,
that commanded it. The increase is of the Lord,
but without that diligence, because that is ordained by God and appointed
by God, they wouldn't have anything. Just trusting as it is in the
Lord to work a miracle when the Lord would say, I've appointed
a means. You use that means, I will bless
that means. I won't bless carelessness. I won't bless a sluggard. I won't bless those that just
desire. But that is all we think available. He desired the death of the righteous
and that his last end might be like his. But he didn't desire
to live their life or to live with them. In fact, he died fighting
against them. is one thing to desire, it is
a great blessing to desire. Very often the Lord will begin
with his people with desires, but those desires must not be
the desire of a sluggard, it is the soul of the diligent that
shall be made fat. So let us not forget the natural
illustration, let's remember that, Remember also that it is
God that giveth the increase. And I want to look now at the
spiritual application of this and looking at it in several
ways. But first I want to recognize
and set before us reminders that the soul of men, by nature we
are dead. We are dead in trespasses and
sins. And whatever is set before us,
if we were to speak to a dead person, we would never expect,
and thinking of this again as a natural illustration, we would
not expect a dead person to listen to what we are saying. And one
that is spiritually dead, they do not hear, they hear outward
words, but they do not really hear. I know perhaps I've used
this, illustration before because I feel it is a good one. So if
we were planning to go away on holiday or to use a relevant
illustration tonight that we were due tomorrow to go up to
Birkenhead to travel right up north. Now if we were to, so
we made all of those plans and someone came in or I came back
from Heathfield this afternoon I said there's an inch growing
of snow upon the ground is heavily snowing. We say, oh yes, that's
all right. And then you would say, well,
do you hear what I'm saying? It is heavily snowing. And what
you're really meaning is, do you really understand the implications
that it may prevent us from traveling in that distance? And there's
a linking between what has been said and what is actually being
planned and to realise there's an implication to it. And so
when we have in the Word, when we are told that the only way
of salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ, there is only one name
given among men whereby we must be saved, then there is a realisation
any outside of Christ are damned, they are cast away, they are
lost. If you believe not that I am
he, you shall perish in your sins. And there's this implication,
the same as when I was speaking several years ago to the children
at the school, actually the school we just sent the Bibles to again
for this year, but not able to actually speak to them this year.
But I spoke to them, and the young lady says, so what you
are saying is, If I do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, I will
go to hell. And I answered, yes. And there
was a gasp from the students and the teachers. She, that girl,
had understood, at least in a natural way, I hope in a spiritual way,
the implication of what I was saying. She grasped it, realized
what actually was being said. You think of one of our hymns,
nor are men willing to have the truth told. The sight is too
killing for pride to behold. We recently got a newsletter
from Mombasa, and very striking there. The people that are learning
the language, at first they come along, many of them to the services,
then when they start to understand the Bible, when they realize
what it's message is, there are many of them that are turning
back and going away. Some, thankfully, remain. but
it is when the word is really understood. There's many that
will have a Bible, nice to have a Bible, but when they start
to read it and realize what he's saying, what he's telling them,
then they're offended at that. The Lord says in John 17, I've
given them thy word and the world hath hated them. And so it's
vital that being dead in trespasses and sins, we actually are quickened
into life. First act comes from God. It is God that quickens a sinner,
not the sinner quickens himself. It's not a sinner exercising
saving faith, it is God giving him saving faith and that faith
is that which keeps him and that which justifies him. Justified
by faith that God has given in that he trusts in the Lord Jesus
Christ and what he has works are. And so, if one is
quickened, what has been given in the new birth is a hearing
ear, is as what is repeated seven times to the letters to the churches
in Asia, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches. So when we have a verse like
this, the soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing, but
the soul of the diligent shall be made fat, those who are still
dead in trespasses and sins will read over that, look at it, and
not take any instruction from it, won't apply it, it won't
be any good, we won't really hear it at all. But if the Lord
has quickened us, then words like this, The scriptures of
truth will begin to speak to us. The Lord says, my sheep,
they hear my voice, and they follow me. You might say, this
is Proverbs. This is not the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not him speaking. Yes, it
is. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God. The written and incarnate word
in all things are the same. And that which was written aforetime
is written for our learning that we through patience and comfort
of the scriptures might have hope. And this is one of these
words of wisdom, words of wisdom directed to the people of God
whose ears are open, who desire and who really stand on really
this knife edge as to whether they're just going to be one
that desires or they're going to be a diligent soul, and this
is why this contrast is here. The word of God is to shepherd,
encourage, and to draw the people of God so that it becomes a profitable
word to them, a strength unto their souls. So I want to look
at several aspects. The first is this, and this really
goes back to the hymn that we have sung as our middle hymn.
A diligent soul in God's way, not in man's way. I think the
best illustration of this is when the Apostle Paul writes
to the Romans and in chapter 10. And he says, brethren, my
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved. Then he says this, I bear them
record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. And in one way we have this picture,
here is those that the apostle desires that they should be saved,
and he sees them and it appears they want to be saved too, and
they have a diligence, they're not a sluggard, they have a zeal. They're really putting all their
energy and all their efforts in being saved, in obtaining
favor with God, but not according to knowledge. They're wasting
their efforts in the wrong way. He says, for they, being ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. In other words, they were seeking
through Moses In verse 5 we read, For Moses describeth the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things
shall live by them. However diligent we might be,
if our aim is by our own works and by our own efforts to fulfil
the law of God and to keep ourselves from sin with the idea, I shall
merit heaven by my efforts, I will make myself pleasing to God. Then that is abomination to the
Lord. That is, in effect, saying to
our Lord, Thou hast died in vain. There's no cause for you to die.
I can do better. I can fulfill the law. I can
make it honorable. I can pay the debt. I can bring
myself out from Adam's sin and Adam's condemnation. And though
Adam shall die and everyone else shall die, I will not die. A
diligent soul is not one that just goes about their diligence
without knowledge. And so the apostle says, but
the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise,
say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is,
to bring Christ down from heaven. Not heights of experience or
who shall descend into the depth that is to bring up Christ again
from the dead. Not how depth of experience or
how much we feel sin and experience sin. Some make their diligence
or their standing that they want more and more deeper knowledge
and experience of their sin. Or they want to be like the Apostle
Paul in the heights in the third heavens. Remember the Apostle
Paul. He had a thorn in the flesh to
bring himself down from there, and his verdict was, when the
Lord said, my grace is sufficient for thee, he would rather rejoice
in grace. And the Apostle Peter, when he's
speaking of the Mount of Transfiguration, he says, we have a more sure
word of prophecy, whereunto ye did well to take heed, as unto
a light that shineth in the dark place. That is the word of God.
We have not to look for these heights and depths, but what
is it, Paul said, what is it that we're looking for? The word
is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the
word of faith which we preach. It couldn't be put in a more
concise compass for a diligent soul, a soul that is giving diligence,
as it were, to the word that is preached. The apostle Paul,
He says to the Corinthians, I determine not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That was His determination, His
diligence, His effort, His carefulness, that He never deviated from that. And His eye was on Christ and
Christ alone, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. There is a right diligence, there
is a wrong diligence, there's a wasted energy. You think of
a person with an axe cutting down a tree, and the axe is blunt,
but he keeps on putting more and more effort to it, and the
Word of God says that wisdom is profitable to direct, and
the axe must be sharpened, and then there shall be something
done. There is a right way. You speak
to any farmer, and it's not just diligence. You can have one very
diligent, but if he doesn't break up his clods first, if he doesn't
make the ground nice and fine before he puts in the seed, then
nothing will come to good. You speak to any cook, and if
they don't agree, and go along with the recipe, and if they
take no notice of the quantities, and instead of a teaspoon of
salt, they say it doesn't matter, we put two cups of salt in and
a teaspoon of flour, or if they have the ingredients right and
the right balance, but they mix them up in the wrong order, then
they're not going to get the end result. It must be in the
right way. We're used to it in every way
in our lives. Whether a house is being built,
whether a road is being made, there's an order in how it is
done, and no amount of diligence. without knowledge and without
the right method, will have the desired effect, and it is in
the same with the things of God. The law came by Moses, the grace
and truth by Jesus Christ. As a minister of the New Testament,
we point, it's our glorious privilege to appoint sinners, sinners who
are under the condemnation of the law, sinners who feel themselves
as sinners, sinners who have a heary ear, sinners who know
they are under condemnation, to point to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, those, those that trust in Him,
those that are not under the law, but under grace. And their diligence then must
be in God's way with an aim and desire for the blessings of God
according to His terms, not our terms, that we are to seek the
Lord in due order, in the right way, seek Him by grace, seek
Him pleading mercy, seek Him humbly, seek Him as the one thing
needful, seek Him as the ark of grace, the only way that we
shall escape from the wrath to come. It is to seek the Lord
as the only name given among men, whereby we must be saved. It is to seek Him who says, come
unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. Ho, every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, yea, buy wine and milk without money and
without price. Those that are penniless, those
that have nothing, those that are weak and wounded under the
law, it is those that are welcome to Christ, and those that are
the ones that Christ came to save, they are made known by
their want. You think of the woman that pressed
through the crowd, if I may but touch the hem of his garment,
and all that crowd she presses through, she so desired, she
wanted, and those hindrances before her because of that which
she desired from the Lord. But what had gone before, 12
years of fruitless labour, worthless positions, all of Ireland nothing
but one touch of his hand, of his garment. And she had what
she wanted. She knew that she had been made
whole. So, dear friends, may we hear,
may we hear the Gospel, may we hear the words of our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ. May we hear Him who is the Good
Shepherd, and may we follow after Him, desiring to know nothing
among men, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. May we be
very, very clear that it is the precious blood of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ that has put away the sin of his people
on Calvary. Those that are elect and those
that are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world,
those that he was given by his Father to redeem, he suffered
at Calvary, lovingly taking their burden, taking their debt, and
paying it to the full extent. Many times in this book of Solomon,
Solomon's book, Proverbs, where we have how the Lord delights
in a just balance, right weights, so that we don't pay more than
what we should. The Jews, they had some very
evil practices. Here's the illustration. a kilogram
of flour, and you went to buy it, and the merchant weighed
it out, he'd have a weight that said a kilogram on it. But actually
it didn't weigh a kilogram, it weighed less. And you paid for
a kilogram thinking you were getting it, but you were getting
less. And then, if you were to go and sell something to that
same merchant, and you wanted to sell him, a kilogram of something,
he would pull out a weight and put it on his scales, but this
time it would read a kilogram, but it would weigh more than
a kilogram. So he would pay you for a kilogram,
but he would get more than that. And it would be an unjust weight,
unjust balances. It wouldn't be fair. And the
teaching of the Word of God is, what the Lord paid for his people
was an exact weight. no more, no less, completely
atoning for their sins, completely writing off their debt, completely
satisfying the justice of God. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth from all sin. Then we have the life of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that which He lived from the womb to the
grave. perfect life, sinless life, fully
obedient, a righteousness, a righteousness that he had that he could give
to another. He that had two coats let him
give to him that had none. And our Lord had a coat of righteousness
that belonged to him as the eternal God. But that which he wrought
out on this earth was to give to his people. This is the name
wherewith He shall be called the Lord our Righteousness, that's
the Lord. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called, the Church of God, the Lord our Righteousness,
the same, the same surname, the same name. And it is that in
which we shall stand before God, not in our works, not in what
we have done on this earth, but in what Christ has done for us. Hemryder takes it up so clearly,
Christ's obedient clothe and wash me in his blood, so shall
I lift my head with joy among the sons of God. So the first,
in diligence, is in God's way, on his terms, through Christ
and Christ alone. The second point to make is regarding
diligence. and we mentioned this briefly
before, is not being turned aside. When we think of when the Shunammite's
son died and the Shunammite made haste to go to Elisha. Elisha had told her that God
would give her a son, though she was childless and God had
given a son, but now he had died of heat stroke. And she comes to the man of God
and Elisha, he sent first Gehazi to lay his rod upon the face
of the child. And he gave a specific charge
to Gehazi that he was not to turn aside. If any man saluted
him, he was not to salute him back. Sometimes we really need
that. Sometimes I come down to the
chapel here, half a mile from home, and then walk back, and
my dear one wonders why it's taken so long. All I came was
to do one thing. And then I meet this person,
and that person, another person, and yes, it's good to know the
townsfolk and to speak with them, but if you've got an urgent errand
and one thing to do, then to be sidetracked and use time in
the wrong way is not a good thing. And so with Elisha, with his
servant, he warned him of that. There's one thing he had to do,
and to get to that child and lay the rod, on his face. And so with us, if we are a diligent
soul, then we will be a soul who's mindful that Satan, the
world, everything, all trying to pull us aside and to turn
us aside. Sometimes we can stop and think,
oh, I've had time for this and for that, and things have come,
but I haven't had time to spend with the Lord. I haven't had
time in prayer. I've found there's no time to
attend even sometimes the means of grace when I could, and many
times we might think, well, we come to prayer and the telephone
rings, or we start to read the Word of God, and then we remember
something, maybe something even that we read in the Word jogs
our memory, and we put down the Word and go to do that. And one
aspect of that diligence is not to be turned aside. If you're
working for an employer, and we had to, in my case, when I
was in second employment as a design engineer, we had a time set to
us, an amount of money allocated, the machine had to do what it
was designed to do, the end result, and one had to be diligent that
we kept within that price, that we got it done on that time.
And if we got in one day and instead of doing the design on
that machine, we started sidetracking to this or that and doing other
things, then, though we may have been busy, yet in that which
was the great concern that we actually employed to, we were
not being diligent at all. And so it is, in this respect,
to be very noticed as to how easy we are turned aside from
seeking the Lord. What are the means to be diligent
in? Well, we think of prayer, of
reading the Word, but especially in the means of grace. It hath
pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. May we be like the Bereans. What a picture of diligence that
they were. They heard the apostle Paul preaching,
and then They went home, they searched the Scriptures daily,
whether these things were so. Instead of putting it that the
reading comes first, the preaching comes second, the preaching gave
them a real edge to their seeking, to their reading of the Word
of God. How many of us can we say of
that? When was the last time you came
from the house of God, you'd heard the Word preached, and
maybe the Lord's servant had said something, you said, is
that really true? Is that really in the Bible? You took your Bible
and you searched, and you tried to find it. That's what the Bereaves
were doing. They were searching the Scriptures
daily, whether these things were signed. That's the Old Testament
Scriptures. We have the whole counsel of God now. But maybe
be like them, diligent in searching based upon what had been heard
in the house of God, what had been preached to them and said
before them. Instead of the word forgotten,
then it is taken up, and like the clean animals that chewed
the card, they went over again what they had heard and received. And so it is a diligent use of
the means, not just saying, well, I've spent the hour and a half,
I've been diligent, I've been to every service that has been
available to this week. You say, but what have you profited? What have you searched after?
What have you prayed over? How has it affected your life? What has it made you stop doing?
And what has it made you start doing? And what has it shown
you in the Lord Jesus Christ that you didn't see before? How
has it drawn you to Him? And if we're diligent in that way,
our prayers will be like J-Bears of old. O that Thou hast enlarged
my coast, that Thou hast blessed me indeed. That which I see not,
teach Thou me. Keep me from evil. Our prayers,
our desires will be echoed as through the Scriptures in the
Psalms of the Lord's dear people. May all our prayer and praise
suggest, says the hymn writer, come and dwell within my breast. Where there are promises, there's
a promise here. The soul of the slugger desires
that nothing but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. Well, we think of the natural
illustration and all of the fruits. And what are the fruits of the
gospel? The fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, and peace. the fruits of pardon, forgiveness,
the fruits of the tender fear of God, the fruits of the love
of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost. You know,
these things are set before us in the Word of God as being precious
things, things that the Lord has promised to his people. In
Hebrews 11, We read this word in verse 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. Where the Lord gives faith, and
that is the gift of our Lord in the new birth, there is a
belief that He really is. and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. That there is that to find. The
one that found the pearl of great price sold everything that he
might buy that pearl. The one that found treasure in
the field sold everything that he might have that field. The
effect of it is to know that in Christ there is a treasure. In Christ there is a fullness
of grace, a fullness of joy. In him is life. He came to give
life, he says, to give unto them life, and that they might have
it more abundantly. And this is the promise here,
that they shall be made fat. That the blessings of our Lord
Jesus Christ, in all that his people know, taste of, handle,
feast upon, my flesh is meat indeed, my blood is drink indeed,
the provision of the house of God. These things are what the
soul, the diligent soul, has set before them, as we sing in
our graces, fruits new and old, laid up in store, where we shall
feast, and what no more We have those fruits and blessings of
grace here, satisfied with the goodness of God, the fullness
of God, feasting upon his words. Jeremiah, he says, thy words
were found and I did eat them. They were to the joy and rejoicing
of my soul. A feast of fat things, the wines
on the leaves, well refined. No, the word to an unregenerate
soul is no food at all. But our Lord says that man shall
not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God. And when the Lord opens up his
precious word and we feed upon it, it's finding a rich field
of treasure, a fullness of provision, for our soul. What a different
Bible that is. What a different pastor it is. The same one, but not how we
are finding it. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. Or how he leads his sheep into
green pastures. He leads them beside the still
waters. And may we be a diligent soul
that desires that leading. that seeks those blessings from
the Lord, believes they are there to be had. And as we come and
use the means of grace privately, or in our family worship, in
the house of God, we're diligent, we're not careless. You know,
I've seen people working in a nursery, weeding a garden bed, where they're
sitting on a stool, and they're leaning down just in front of
them, just picking a weed out here and a weed out there, very
slowly, just leisurely sitting down. And then I've seen another
one, no stool in sight, on their knees, and they're picking out
weeds here, there, everywhere, and the ground is getting cleared,
and the work is getting done, and the difference is very marked. One is diligent, one is working
with an end in view, One is working, aiming to get work done, the
other is just to have a nice, easy and restful time and not
put any effort in at all. And may we pray that the Lord
would bless us with that that does really move us and stir
us in the things of God. Dear friends, sometimes the Lord
can answer prayers like that, and he gives us affliction, and
he gives us trouble, and he gives us those things, that shall stir
us up and shall make us then cry with more urgency that the
Lord would make us diligent and then fatsole. Before we come
to a close, there's just a couple of texts I bring before you as
warnings that are given in this way as well. Going first with
Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence. for out of it are the issues
of life. Regarding diligence, regarding
carefulness and conscientiousness, our hearts, where the Lord begins
his work and where is the warfare between Satan, how the Apostle
exhorted Timothy and exhorts us each to keep under our body
lest we be a castaway, and to watch the motions of the heart,
the thoughts, the affections, that which is not seen by men,
but to be diligent in that issue. These are the directions from
the Word of God. Then we have going on to Peter
in his epistles. And he exhorts in the second
epistle in chapter 1 and verse 10. And he says, wherefore the
rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. For if you do these things, you
shall never fall. For so an entrant shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And so our election is known
by our calling and our diligence is that we might make that very
sure, that it be clear to us whose we are and whom we serve,
that it be clear to our families who see us in our down times
and see us when the world sees us not, that it might be clear
to those we work with and those in the Church of God that these
are the people of God. They are those who are called
and separated unto Christ. The path to heaven is not a way
of slovenliness, sluggardly carelessness, desiring, but that is all. No. the same as it is in natural
things. So it is to fight the good fight
of faith, to labour to enter into rest, to pursue that narrow
way, run the race that is set before us. How? Looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. I feel in myself
that many reasons why I do not have that fruitfulness, that
fatness, and that blessing. It's because I've gone down the
track of slovenliness, not being careful, not being diligent,
or thinking, well, maybe it's been such a labor, such an effort,
such a burden, and we drop our guard. And maybe even an abuse
of grace thinking, well, if I am the Lord's, the Lord will bless
me and the Lord will favour me in spite of all what I'm doing.
And it is true, the Lord knows how to bring his people back,
but he'll bring them back and he'll bring them to be diligent
souls, seeking souls, praying souls, watching souls, souls
that are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. May we be encouraged, however
low, despondent, far off we may be, the Gospel of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ and the provision in Him is sufficient
to keep us all, to feed us all, to strengthen us all, to restore
even a fallen David to the joy of God's salvation. And may we
Heed those words that are set before us and set before us in
our text with such a simple yet vivid illustration. The soul of the sluggard desireth
and hath nothing. The soul of the diligent shall
be made fat. Why? Because of their diligence
are they to say to all of the others of the people of God,
All this fatness, all the blessing I've had because of all my goodness
and my diligence? No, but because they sought it
in the way God hath ordained and God has blessed them. I being
in the way that the Lord met with me is a blessed thing to
be found in the ways of the Lord and in the way of our text. Or may we be encouraged this
evening, may be chastened, may be corrected, and may be stirred
up, that would be a good thing for us. But may we truly be made
a fat soul, full of the goodness and blessings of the Lord. The Lord add his blessing. Amen.