Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 21. Proverbs 21. I would like to look at verses
4 and 5 this morning. Proverbs 21, 4 and 5, and high
look and a proud heart and the plowing of the wicked is sin. The thoughts of the diligent
tend only to plenteousness, but everyone that is hasty only to
want. Now, the scripture reveals that
a man's true attitude is not necessarily, I know that out
of the abundance of a man's heart, his mouth speaketh. But there's a way in which men
for a while can speak and be deceptive. But the true issue
concerning what a man's true attitude, how it truly exists,
is really what he thinks. I can hide from you what I'm
really thinking. I can smile on the outside when
I'm not really smiling on the inside. But the scripture reveals
man looks on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart.
As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. That's the way he really
is. Now, I want us just to consider
for just a minute two lines of thinking, lines of Thinking,
not merely this fleeting, passing, insignificant thoughts that we
all have, but thoughts concerning life eternal, or eternal damnation. Let's just think for just a minute. What does the scripture say about
a man's thinking? Now that first line of thinking
is a line of thinking that we all are born with. This is the
way every one of us are born. There's no exceptions. Everyone
thinks this way. That first verse right there.
And high look and a proud heart and the plowing of the wicked
is sin. Now, these thoughts, that kind
of thinking, and what we all want to do is just, let's just
all be just honest. God knows and we don't. Now that's
just the way it is. God's true and we're liars. That's
the way it is. Man can argue with God, but it's
not going to make a difference. God's Word is going to stand.
So I bonus, let's just all think. A high look, a proud heart, and
the plowing of the wicked is sin. Now that's truth. That's
the way it is. These are the thoughts of a man
that has not yet begun to know the depth of his guilt. of his depravity, of his spiritual
impotence. He has no power, spiritually
speaking, with God. He's ignorant of himself. He's
ignorant of his carnal nature. He's ignorant of the presence
of a body that is within him called the body of sin. And we've got an old nature.
We're all born with an old nature. When we're born, that's the only
nature we got. We just got one nature. That
nature is summed up this way. A sinner. That's what a man is,
a woman is. Born in Adam, he's a sinner. And that heart of that sinner
has got one attitude. proud. It looks at itself highly, thinks
way too highly of itself. And it's a lying heart. It's deceitful. That's what the
scripture says. It's deceitful. There's nothing
more deceitful than a carnal heart. Isn't that right, Fred?
That's it. It's desperately wicked. Who
can know it? Who can know the depth of a deceitful,
lying, carnal heart? And it's blind. It's born just
exactly like God told Adam he was going to become if he ate
the fruit. He said, in the day you eat,
you're going to die. You're going to die spiritually. So man's got this high opinion
of himself. That's the way he thinks. Unless
he's born again, born from above, unless God gives him a new nature,
he's going to die that way. He never sees himself except
for the grace of God as being wrong. He doesn't see himself
and that sin that's within him as being the source of that high
look, that haughty, elevated examination. Here's what he thinks, a man
born with a high look to himself. There's no need in his mind of
being saved by grace. You know the scripture that says,
for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself.
It's the gift of God. Man born in Adam with one nature,
one heart, dead unless God does something for him. He can't do
anything for himself. I've said before, what can a
dead man do? Nothing. He did. But he sees in that old
state there's no need for the God of all grace. You think,
okay, now tell me again what grace means. Here's what it is. Undeserved kindness. I looked
it up again today. What does grace mean? Undeserved
kindness. that has no deservingness in
the sinner. There's nothing in us that deserves
God's grace. So he sees no need of grace and
in himself he has no need to be saved. Now there's another
word we hear a lot about. Now you know, I got saved. What
do you mean you got saved? What does that mean? What does
that word really mean? Here it is. Number one, to be
rescued from destruction. To be rescued from destruction.
I grew up in false religion. And I was always given this example. You know, there's sinners that's
out there treading water, going down the river. We're going to
throw out the lifeline. Well, you know what that insinuates?
that they're going to grab it. I'm going to throw out the lifeline.
Well, the only problem is, yeah, they're out there, but they're
dead. They're floating corpses. And what's a floating corpse
going to do if I throw him a lifeline? Save means to be rescued from
destruction. Secondly, it means to be preserved
from danger. I need to be rescued because
I can't rescue myself. Again, remember, I'm dead. I
need to be preserved. I need to be rescued. I need
to be preserved. And then I need to be, here's
the third meaning of the word saved, restored to spiritual
health. I need to be rescued, I need
to be preserved and kept, I need to be restored. Now how am I
going to save myself? I can't do that. And why does
a man not believe these things? Why? Because he's got a proud
heart. He's got a high look and a proud
heart. He sees no need to confess what
he is. He doesn't see himself as a sinner. He got a high look and a proud
heart about himself. And the scripture reveals the
deepness of his sin. Now listen to this part of the
scripture. It says a high look and a proud
heart. And then it says something that
just seems almost out of character. The plowing of the wicked is
sin? Why did it say that? A high look, a proud heart, and
the plowing of the wicked is sin. Now, you know, just humanly
speaking, If we want to talk about plowing as a natural act,
a physical work, just plowing. That, you know, the man's out
in the field and he's got horses or he's got a tractor or he's
got whatever and he's plowing. He's plowing. If that was all
it was talking about, which it's not, I'll just go ahead and tell
you the obvious, it's not. But if that was the only thing
it was talking about, even that for the wicked, if the plowing
of the wicked, the plowing of those that are aliens from God,
the ungodly, the condemned, if he's out there, he doesn't know
God, And he's out there and he's working. You say, that's a hard-working
man. He's a hard-working man. Well,
he probably is. But even what he's doing right
there is sin. Why? Because of his motive. Because of his thinking. He's
out there thinking, I'm a hard-working farmer. I'm a hard-working man. I do my job. I've made a living
for myself. I love my family, I love my wife,
I love my country, and I'm a veteran, and on and on and on. But the only problem is there's
no thought of God's honor. There's no thought of God's mercy,
there's no thought of God's grace, no thought of His need. of casting himself upon the mercy
of God. He labors for himself. Therefore, what that man is doing,
hard-working American. Man, I'm telling you, I love
this country. I love veterans. I love patriotism. I love it. I love it. But when it comes
to standing before God. All of that love for stuff that
doesn't matter, doesn't matter. And it's sin because of the motive
of it. Listen to this scripture, Titus
115, unto the pure, all things are pure. But unto them that
are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. Even their mind
and conscience is defiled. There's nothing that a man can
do, nothing that God Almighty will accept done of Himself. Only that which Almighty God
gives does He accept. So, but now, that plowing, if
we consider it being concerning the Scriptures, and you know
this is why you always have to look at Scriptures. These scriptures
speak of Christ. These scriptures speak of God's
honor, God's glory. All scripture. So what's this
plowing talking about? It's concerning the spiritual
action of a man or woman. The diligence or the tillage
of a man's attitude toward God. Listen to this. Hosea 10, 13. You've plowed wickedness. You've reaped iniquity. You've
eaten the fruit of lies. Why? You've plowed wickedness. You've plowed wrong. Why? Because of a high thought, a
proud heart of yourself. That's what you've done. You're
out there plowing. Plowing is work. And this is
talking about the works of self-righteousness. Not by the deeds of the law.
A man thinks he's obeyed God because he's been able to do
something. He's been able to obey the Lord. The plowing of the wicked, the
work of the wicked is sin. You've plowed wrong, wickedness. And you've reaped iniquity. What does that mean? What's iniquity?
Unrighteousness. Everything that a man or a woman
thinks that they can do for God. It's wrong. Why? The motive. The motive. Here's the problem. They've done what they've done
thinking that they've done something for God. And why was it not accepted? In that scripture, you've eaten
the fruit of lies because thou didst trust in thy way. Here's the reason. because you
trusted in yourself, in the multitude of thy mighty men. Every sinner,
every person that trusts in his own way, in his own decision,
in his own ability, in his own will, in his own... He's got
a high look and he's got a proud heart and foolishly assumes that
he's obeyed God. That's what that Pharisee did.
Remember the Pharisee and the Republican that went up, two
men went up to the temple to pray, Luke 18, and here's what
the Pharisee prayed. Now listen to his prayer. He
prayed thus with himself, and he said, God, I thank Thee, and
I am not as other men are. Well now, if all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, if all have done that, what
makes a man think that he's not as other men are? What are you? Well, here's what he said. He said, I'm not an extortioner,
I'm not unjust, I'm not an adulterer. Well, maybe not outwardly, but
you are in your heart. Yeah. Somebody said, I've never
done those things. Yes, you have. Yeah, you have. The Lord said in Genesis 6-5,
God looked. God looked. Every thought of
the imagination of every man was only evil continually. So yeah, we're guilty. But he says, I fast twice in
the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. I've made my peace with God by
my own goodness. The Spirit of God, through the
prophet Isaiah, declares something concerning the wicked's thoughts
and his covenant with death. And he says it's going to be
dishonored. It's not going to stand. His
agreement with hell, it's not going to stand before God. Listen
to what Isaiah said in Isaiah 28.20. He said, is shorter than a man can stretch
himself on it. And the covering is narrower
than he can wrap himself in it. You know, if you've ever slept,
I don't know if you have, I have, slept on a bed that was just
too short for me. And, you know, it's just not
comfortable. Or you've just got a little bitty
cover and it's cold and you're trying to cover yourself and
it's just, when you get it all wrapped up, there's some part
of you that you, you can feel it, it's cold. And you try to
cover that and it's just, it's still cold. Well, the Scripture
says those that have thought that they've made their peace
with God and they've made a covenant with hell and death I've made
my decision, I've walked down the aisle, I've exercised my
free will, I've done all these things. He said, your covenant
is going to be disannulled. It's not going to stand. And
he said, you're going to stand before God and you're going to
be like a man that's sleeping in a short bed with a little
cover. And you're not going to be covered.
There's going to be no atonement. That's what atonement is. You
ever heard that word atonement? You know what it means? To cover.
Like an umbrella. You go outside and it's storming
outside. You hold an umbrella, just think
of that umbrella as an atonement. It's a covering. It's a shield. So laboring in order to obtain
righteousness before God, it may look good to other men. It
may look good to the wicked, but it's not going to be accepted
of God. But listen, if there's a sinner
here today, if there's one that is a helpless sinner. Now I'm talking about one that
by the grace of God that has been made to see himself as unable. What does that mean? Just labor
to rest. What do you mean? Labor to quit
trying to obey God on your own terms, by your own merit. How is God going to save a sinner?
It's going to be by God's grace, or it's not going to be. For
by grace are you saved. I want you to think if there's
a sinner today, one that believes God about himself and believes
what God has to say. One that has been made to think
differently. Do you know what the word repentance
means? To repent. It means to think
differently. Look it up. To repent. Somebody
said, well, I'm going to turn over a new leaf. I'm going to
straighten up and fly right. Repentance means to have a new
opinion. To think differently concerning
how God saves a sinner. If there's a sinner here, if
any of us are here, verse 5 said, oh, the thoughts of the diligent. tend only to plenteousness. The thoughts of the diligent,
those who by grace, and here's one of the meanings of that word
diligent, with an eager determination for God's glory. I truly want
God's honor. I want the Lord to be honored
and not me. I love the message of salvation
by grace that would save a sinner like me. That kind of thinking
tends only to plenteousness, to profit. Profit, that's what
it means. Profit before God. Grace, mercy,
those kind of thoughts. To be able to think like that.
That person has had something happen to him that wasn't there
before. The Spirit of God has created
a new man. He's given him a new heart. He's
given him a new spirit in Christ. And it was put there. He was
born from above. And that word, diligent, the
thoughts of the diligent, that speaks of a new character. Those thoughts of a man being
ruined by the fall. You know, I never thought, and
you didn't either, until the Lord called us out of darkness.
You never thought like that. Ruined in the fall. ruined, unable,
completely impotent spiritually before God. The thoughts of the
diligent, what do they think? They think Christ Jesus came
into this world to save sinners. A sinner like me. One that couldn't
save himself. One he's made to think this way. That is, the Father hath made
Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be sin for us. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. God made Him to be
what He was not by nature. He was the holy, harmless Lamb
of God and God made Him something. that God Almighty might be just. See, my sin is going to have
to be paid for. And I always just thought that, you know,
if I just call on the Lord, He'll just forgive it and it's over.
But He said, I'm a just God. The soul of sin is going to die.
He was made what I am. Sin. God dealt with Him where
sin was found. The law demanded it. I said before,
no plea bargaining with God. He's just. He's just. And He
dealt with the sins of His people. That's what He said. I laid down
John 10.50. I laid down my life for the sheep. I'm dying for somebody. And a
new thinking thinks like that. The thoughts of the diligent.
And I'll tell you another thing the diligent think. They realize
that their righteousness is not something they created. Now here's
righteousness. Righteousness has to do with
obedience. Righteousness. Righteousness. It's gonna have to start all
the way back. When I was born, and I was born in trouble, why?
Because I was conceived in sin. I came forth from my mother's
womb speaking lies. I said this, I raised four kids,
and I guarantee you, buddy, I never taught one of them to lie, but
they all knew how. Who did that? Now somebody had to have done
it because it's done. Nobody was guilty. Man by nature,
he's a sinner. So when we talk about being righteous
before God, we're going to have to go back to the beginning and
realize that we're already in trouble. So here's what, to realize
and to think differently, the thoughts of the diligent, is
to realize that my righteousness was not earned by me. It was
earned by another, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that the Father
said concerning Him. This is my beloved Son whom I'm
well pleased. You hear Him. Scripture says
that God's people are robed in His righteousness. That's my atonement. That's my
covering. I don't stand before God. The
thoughts of the diligent realize I don't stand before God. But
here's another beautiful definition of that word diligent. And I
invite you, look it up, look it up and see if what I'm saying
is so. Here's another definition of the word diligent. It's one that has been made to
be as mind M-I-N-E-D, like a miner, a coal miner. Mined gold. It means gold that has been dug. That's what that word diligent
means, the diligent. Mined gold. Dug out of the slew
of despond. A vessel made in itself to be
fallen in a rebel before God. but made to be gold, gold. Listen to Job 2310. He knoweth
the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall
come forth as gold. Gold before God. I'm gonna just
read Malachi. Let me just read Malachi 3.3.
Listen to this. Malachi 3.3. The scripture says,
He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He shall
purify the sons of Levi, purge them as gold and silver that
they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Can you imagine a man that's
been made to think diligently? One that makes his calling and
election is sure he's diligent. looked unto the Lord and to call
upon Him for grace, one that has been made diligent before
God. The scripture reveals that what
God has done for him has took away his guilt, took away his
guilt. Now the presence of sin is still
with us, but the guilt of it is gone. There is therefore now
no condemnation, this is Romans 8.1, to them that be in Christ
Jesus. What? Does a regenerated sinner
owe the law of God? Nothing. Nothing. There's no
condemnation. They're justified. What does
that mean? The law looks at them and says,
no charge. No charge. But that regenerated
sinner knows what he is in himself. But thanks be unto God, he thinks
differently now. He realizes. Almighty God has
made me in Christ to be what God says I am. I am what I am
by the grace of God. And one day this old nature is
going to be taken away. It's going to fall off. And there's
going to be one nature left. And you possess it. You that
know Him, you possess it right now. There's a new nature. There
is a new nature in every believer right now that's going to be
in glory. That nature right there is created in righteousness and
true holiness. You say, you mean to tell me
that there is a nature in me right now that's going to be
in glory? Yes sir. Yes sir. This old flesh is going to fall
off. We're going to be changed and
there's going to be one pure glorified nature. Job said, I'm
going to see God with these eyes right here. These eyes are going
to be made different. And this flesh right here is
going to be changed. Again, I can't understand all
of that, but I can tell you this. That's what God says. The thoughts
of the diligent tend only to profit. profit before God, gain
before God. Proverbs in closing 13.7 says,
There is that maketh himself rich, that is, thinks that he
by his own industry is rich before God, yet hath nothing. And there
is that maketh himself poor, that has been made to see himself
poor in ability, poor in spirit, yet hath great riches. riches
with God, heir of God, a joint heir with Christ. That one who
now realizes that God has in regenerated grace given me a
heart to cast myself upon the mercy of God, he's not going
to be rejected. There's no scripture that you
can find that will refute what I'm about to say. Any person
has been made to cast himself upon the mercy of God. The Lord
will not cast him out. He will not. Him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise, not for any reason. What if I come and I'm not sorry
enough? In this life, we're never going
to be sorry enough. What if I try to cast myself upon Him and I
can't realize the fullness of who He is? We all see through
a glass darkly. We all do. We all see through
a sight that's not perfectly clear,
all but one day. One day, you know. The thoughts
of the diligent tend only to plenteousness. But, that last
part of that verse, everyone that's hasty, Everyone who presses
and hastens or insists on making himself rich before God by his
own works, what's it going to come to? Want. Want. He's going to be lacking.
He's going to be like the hand on the wall. Bill Shizer gave
that party. The hand of God. I wrote on the
plaster, you know, you've come up wanting. You're going to come
up slight. Oh, today may the Spirit of God
cause sinners, sinners, to see themselves for what we really
are in ourselves, pride and high-minded of self. It may cause us to think
differently, to repent, to think different, to be diligent, Diligent
before God, think honorably before God, giving Him all the glory
and honor and praise. For His glory and for our eternal
good. Amen.