Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 22. Proverbs 22. I'd like to look at verse 13. Proverbs 22, 13. The slothful man saith, there
is a lion without. I shall be slain in the streets. Solomon dealt under the inspiration
of God's spirit much with this spirit called Slothfulness. Or slothfulness, they're both
correct. And not merely natural slothfulness. That is laziness, foolishness,
self-seeking, undisciplined, procrastinator. That's what a
slothful man is. But spiritual slothfulness. spiritual idleness, spiritual
laziness. One that absolutely has no heart,
no willingness to be found a laborer in the vineyard of the master.
Just no heart for it. He's an unbeliever. That's a
slothful man. Proverbs 12, 24 says, the hand
of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under
tribute." What does that mean? The hand of the diligent one,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall rule. He's going to
rule. He rules in heaven and earth.
He's going to rule in His people too. He's going to accomplish
His good pleasure to show mercy and compassion to whoever He
pleases. That's what's going to happen.
The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful, one left to himself, one deceived
by sin, he shall be found answering for a debt that he cannot pay. That's what's going to happen,
slothful. Proverbs 15, 19, the way of the slothful man is a
hedge of thorns, but the way of the righteous is made plain,
the way of the spiritual foolish, the spiritual sluggard. In his attempts to be able to
find peace with God by his works, it's going to be like a hedge
of thorns to him. He's going to find himself in
eternal pain and destruction. But the way of the righteous,
one trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the way, truth
and the life, his way is going to be made plain. He's going
to see. He's going to see. God's going
to give him eyes to see. So in light of the scriptures
concerning this spiritual sluggard or slothful man, let's consider
this passage today. Now, from just the reading of
this passage, there's some things that we can conclude. Number
one, the slothful man saith. So what we know is this, he's
answering something. He's making an answer. He alleges something. And just to cut to the chase
so we can get right to the heart of what the command is that he's
answering to, we might just consider what the Lord Jesus Christ said
to his apostles. There's a call now, there's a
call of faithfulness to Christ. There's a general call, there's
an effectual call to some, but what is that call? What call
is that soulful man answering? The scripture says, Acts 17,
30, in the times of the ignorance, God winked at, but now, now listen
to this, commandeth. all men, Jew and Gentile, everywhere,
universally, to repent. Now, here's a general call. And what I'll do, in this message,
you're going to hear this. What I'm going to say is this.
Come to Christ. Come to Christ. That's scriptural. Now commandeth all men to repent. What does it mean to repent?
To think differently. It's concerning how God saves
a sinner. God doesn't save sinners by their
exercising of their free will. Here's the command that the Lord
Jesus Christ gave his disciples, Matthew 28, 19. Go ye therefore
and teach all nations. baptizing them in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo,
I am with you always, even until the end of the world, to the
end of the age. So, I know for a fact that it's the right thing
to command all men to repent. Now listen, everybody, I'm telling
everybody right now, Myself, us, all of us, young, old, man,
woman, adult, child, everybody, listen to me. God commands all
men, all women, repent. That's right. Those that the
Lord is pleased to call out of spiritual darkness and unbelief,
what's going to happen? God Almighty is going to make
them wise unto salvation by granting them faith to believe in Christ. Almighty God is going to regenerate
by His Holy Spirit. What happens if God leaves a
man or a woman to themselves? They're going to perish. But
does that eliminate the responsibility to repent? No. What will happen? They'll stand before God and
answer. They're going to answer for it.
Books are going to be opened. I'm telling you, God commands
all men to repent. It's only by the grace of God
that any are saved. It's because the Lord is going
to have to give a new heart. He's going to have to give a
heart to do what He's commanded men to do. And He's going to
have to give them faith to believe it. So salvation is by the grace
of God. But it doesn't change the responsibility
that men and women have to repent. Why is God going to put men and
women in hell? Why? Because they didn't repent. And whose fault is it? It's theirs. He commands all men to repent,
but left to themselves. Here's going to be the universal
answer. There's a line without. I shall
be slain in the streets. What is that? It's a foolish
excuse. That's what it is. That's a foolish
excuse. Man by nature makes excuses. and refuses to come to Christ.
When a man or woman gives an excuse, makes an excuse for not
following, for not obeying, it's always a plausible excuse to
him. It always, it's a good one. It's always a good one. But let
me tell you what it always is too. It's always dangerous. Any man, any woman, that comes
not to Christ and gives an excuse for disobedience is in danger. Now listen, I'm
telling you, he's in danger. Hold your place and turn to Acts
24. Acts 24. Let me show you some examples
of excuses. Acts 24. It always has amazed me as you're
turning here when I listen to the excuses that people give
for disobedience. You know the church is just filled
with hypocrites. I agree with you. Well you know this book, this
book right here, this book was written by men. I mean just men
wrote this book. That's not what God said. But
that's what men said. You know what that is? That's
an excuse. That's an excuse to disobey. Listen to this. Acts 24, verse 24-25. And after
certain days, when Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, which
was a Jewess, he said to Paul and heard him concerning the
faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness,
temperance, judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered,
go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient season,
I will call for thee. Felix and his wife were wicked,
wicked, wicked people. Ruler, his wife, and they heard
Paul preach of righteousness. Now what does that mean? It's
the setting forth of what God demands concerning holiness,
or else for man to be consumed in God's wrath. Now we know this.
When we talk about righteousness, There's not a believer in this
congregation this morning that thinks that he has established
his own righteousness. He knows better than that. God
demands absolute holiness and what holiness is going to be
accepted of God? The holiness of Christ. This
is my beloved Son whom I'm well pleased. You hear Him. Only the
righteousness of Christ that robes a man Establishes that
man, that woman to be accepted of God in the beloved. Paul told
it. This is what God demands, Felix
and you, Drusilla. God demands righteousness. Then he preached of temperance.
Temperance. Self-control. But spiritually,
self-control of being brought, made willing in the day of God's
power by the Holy Spirit, to bow to the dominion of the Lord
Jesus Christ, to trust Him by faith. He said, this is what
God demands. He demands submission to Christ. And he preached of judgment to
come. He warned them. He said, I'm
telling you, Felix, I'm telling you. except you repent. You're going to die. You're going
to perish. You're going to perish under the judgment of Almighty
God. And Felix trembled, trembled, Scripture says. He wasn't convicted
by the Holy Spirit had he been convicted of God. He would have,
by the grace of God, repented. God would have given him a new
heart. He had life. But this slugger, This slothful
man, this undisciplined procrastinator. What did he say? Go thy way for
this time. When I have a convenient season,
I will call for thee. Now listen. Listen to what I'm
saying. This is what an unbeliever says.
I've heard you preach before, but not today. Not today. Another time maybe. I'm going
to keep my attitude of rebellion. I'm going to resist God, and
I'm going to resist you. I'm not going to bow to what you
say. I'm going to bow up, and I'm going to do what I want to
do. I've got some things that need
to be done, and this is just not a good time, I'll be honest
with you. Another season, maybe, but it's never recorded that
another season ever came. I can tell you, according to
the Scripture concerning that rich man, Lazarus, the rich man
died and lifted up his eyes out of hell. I wonder, when the Lord
told him, he said, remember, remember. You, in your lifetime,
you had all the good stuff. I just wonder, Jimmy, what men
in hell remember right now. I'll guarantee you they'll remember
every time they ever heard the gospel. If they ever heard it,
I'll guarantee you they'll remember every time they looked at creation,
when God said they're without excuse because the power, majesty
of God is revealed in creation. How many times they looked, and
God said you're without excuse. Go thy way. Turn with me to Matthew 8. Matthew
8. I'm just talking to all of us
here for just a few minutes. All of us. We all got excuses. We all got excuses. And every
one of our excuses, they're not worth the powder to blow our
heads off. Every excuse against this word is rebellion against
God. And it's only by the grace of
God that all of us are not in hell. Matthew chapter 8, verse
19. And a certain scribe came, said
unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, the birds of
the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay
his head. Another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me
first to go and bury my father. You know what he was really saying?
He wasn't saying that his dad had died. Would you just give
me a few minutes just to go, I need to put my dad in the ground,
he's dead. His dad wasn't dead. What he's saying is, I gotta
take care of my dad until he dies. I don't have time. Let
me bury him. Let me just go through what I've
got to do the rest of my life. And whenever he dies, and I don't
have the responsibility to take care of my dad anymore, then
I'll follow you. But Jesus saith unto him, you
follow me. And let the dead bury their dead. That's what he was
saying. All these excuses, the amazing thing about man's rebellion
concerning coming to Christ for life is that he's got an old
heart that deceives him to hold on to a false hope of security. Let me tell you what a man's
false hope of security is. Now you listen, what his false
hope of security is. He thinks he has time. He thinks he has time. The sluggard will refuse to come
because he doesn't believe God. He doesn't believe that he'll
suffer the wrath of God without cry. He doesn't believe that.
There's no fear or reverence for the God before whom we're
all going to stand. All men by nature make excuses Romans 1, 20 and 21, the invisible
things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made. That's what I
was talking about a few minutes ago. When we walk out of this building,
we've had a two-fold witness this morning. Number one, we've
heard what God has to say out of these scriptures. And as soon
as we walk out, now you listen, as soon as you walk out this
building, and you look and see what's around us, Being understood
by the things that are made, even His eternal power in Godhead,
when you see the creation of God, they are without excuse. Because that when they knew God,
they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkness. By nature, we are all foolish
and giving excuses. Hold your place again. Luke 14.
Luke 14. 14 verse 16 to 20. Luke 14. Verse 16. Then said He unto him, a certain
man made a great supper, bade many. The Lord's made a great supper. And the word goes out, preaching. He bade many. Sent his servant,
suppertime, sent his preacher, saying to them that were bidding
come, for all things are now ready. And they all, with one
consent, began to make excuse. Now listen, this is what the
scripture is going to say, but I'm going to tell you this. Starting
right here, right here. Every excuse to refuse to hear
the gospel preached, every excuse for not being where God has raised
up the hearing of His word, every excuse, every excuse is dangerous. They all with one consent began
to make excuses. The first one said, I bought
a piece of ground, I must need go and see it. Isn't that the silliest thing
you've ever heard in your life? Not any more silly than any other
excuse. I pray thee have me excused.
Another said, I bought five yoke of oxen. I bought them, already
bought them. I need to go prove them. I need
to go check them out, test them. Is that not the most foolish
excuse? I pray thee have me excused.
Another one said, I married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
That's the most foolish excuse a man could give. I got married,
so I can't hear the gospel. So the servant came, showed his
lord these things, and the master of the house, being angry, said
to his servant, go out quickly into the streets, lanes of the
city, and bring in hither the poor, the lame, the halt, the
blind. The servant said, Lord, it's done as you commanded. And
yet, there's room. May we all consider the danger. Now listen, I'm serious. My heart,
as I thought upon this message this morning, I thought, you
know, there comes a time when we just need to stop for just
a minute and all be reminded, all of us, all of us, these ridiculous
excuses, this silliness is foolishness. Our excuses, evidence, that we
love darkness rather than light. Someone said, I don't. We have
got an old man in us that doesn't love anything but darkness. There's
an old man in us that hates God, that gives excuses for God, to
resist God. But now, if the truth of man's
depravity Stopped right here. That scripture in Proverbs has
set forth nothing but the depravity of man. The excuses of man. But if I stop right here, and
I'm not. I'm going to finish and I'm wrapping this up right
now. I'm not going to stop right here. If that's where I stopped,
there's no joy in that Mark. There's no peace in that. I mean
man makes excuses. Man's a rebel against God. Man's
got all kinds of silliness to say. That's right. But you better
give me some hope. You better tell me something
that's going to give me some hope in Christ. Right now. Now listen. Right now. In the
midst of the backdrop of hopelessness in me, in us, I've got some good
news from heaven. Good news for sinners. Those
to whom the Spirit of God has moved in power and given some
understanding of man's true need. I need for God to have mercy. I need for God to have compassion
on me. Why? Because I am the slothful
man. I am the slothful man. You say,
I never make excuses for rebellion. I make them every day. every
day. I make them every day. I'm making
them right now. I can come up with good reasons
to resist God. Christ Jesus, listen to me, came
into this world to save slothful men and women, sinners. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. I'm not making any excuses for
any of us. Every excuse, I remember those
of you who've been in the military, whenever one of the first things
they taught us in boot camp was this. If you're asked something
by a superior, let me tell you what the answer is. No excuse,
sir. No excuse. Why'd you do so and
so? I don't have an excuse. Because
anything you say is going to go bad. It ain't going to go
good. No excuse. I have no excuse. But listen, there is a remnant.
There's a remnant. According to the election of
grace, Almighty God, before the foundation of the world, chose.
He's going to save a people. And we're all slothful people.
We're all rebels. All of us are rebels. But God
has chosen to show mercy and for that remnant, the Lord Jesus
Christ died, was raised, and now ever liveth to make intercession
for a chosen race of slothful men and women. Some sluggards. And the Spirit of God is going
to absolutely, without doubt, He's going to call out that remnant
when it pleases God and He's going to do it one way. He's going to do it through the
hearing of what we've just been talking about. God is going to
declare to His people and going to give them some ears to hear.
Now all I'm saying is this, if the Lord has given you ears to
hear, I am. the slugger. I'm the one making
excuses. If God's given a heart for honesty,
it's only by the grace of God, because I'm going to tell you
right now, if you think in your heart, sure I'm glad he's almost done.
That means one message will be down for sure. But if the Lord's
given you a heart to say, I am the man, I am the sinner, then
I've got some good news for you. God has given you life. God has
given you a new heart, a new spirit, a new attitude, and for
the first time in your life, maybe, who knows, there was a
first time for all of us to hear. For the first time you think,
that matters to me. And the evidence of life imparted
by the Spirit of God is going to be manifest like this. Instead
of an excuse for rebellion. Instead of an excuse to disregard
what God has to say and say there's a line without. There's a line
out there. I'll be slain in the street.
Let me tell you what you'll say. though he slay me, yet will I trust him. I pray God bless this to our
hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.