Take your Bibles and turn with
me to Proverbs 20. Proverbs 20. I'd like to look at verse 4.
Proverbs 20, verse 4. The sluggard will not plow by
reason of the cold. Therefore shall he beg and harvest,
and have nothing." Fourteen times in the Scriptures,
and always in the Proverbs, there's a group mentioned, referred to
as sluggards, or the slothful. A sluggard One that is lazy,
habitually lazy, idle, inactive. Now you know, if this is found
to be, just humanly speaking, in the daily life of a person,
it's bad enough, you know. But for one to be referred to
as a sluggard. When it comes to life eternal,
the end of that person is disastrous. One who is lazy, a sluggard,
when it comes to his soul, is one that considers God's Word
to be not worthy of being heard. That's what, you know. Now let
me ask you this. Has the Spirit of God not revealed
in these scriptures a man as he's born in Adam? Has the Spirit
of God not revealed man's state before God as being ruined? Romans 3.23 says this, for all
have sinned and come short. That means they've missed the
mark. Everybody. Everybody has missed the mark
when it comes to the glory of God. From the sole of the foot
even to the head, there is no soundness in it. Has the Scriptures not borne
that out? Has the Scriptures not clearly borne out man's necessity
of hearing the gospel of God's free grace? Now I'm not talking
about going to church. I had a guy back in Louisiana that
had a big filling station. and had a great big sign. I think
I told you this before. One day I was going past his
filling station and he had a great big sign. He was so proud. He
stopped me the next time I went in there to get some gas. And
he said, Marv, look at that sign. It says, Go this Sunday to the
church of your choice. And he was so proud. But what
if you make the wrong choice? What if you go somewhere where
the gospel is not preached? I'm talking about the gospel
of sovereign grace. I'm talking about the message
that gives all the glory, all the honor to God who chose a
people unto salvation, who Christ who redeemed those people, and
the Spirit of God that calls out those people. I'm talking
about the gospel of pardon and redemption by the blood of Christ
according to God's purpose. I'm not talking about a message
that says everybody's got a free will and God wants to save you
if you'll let Him. I'm not talking about that. That's
a lie. I know that's a lie. I'm talking about, as the scriptures,
not borne out, the necessity of hearing the gospel of God's
grace. Listen to Romans 1, 14-17. Paul said, I'm a debtor both
to the Greeks, to the barbarians, both to the wise, to the unwise.
So as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that
are in Rome also, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first, also to the Greek. For therein, in that gospel,
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. Now let me ask you
this. Has the Scripture not set forth the necessity of hearing
the gospel of God's grace? That man's ruined, that hearing
the gospel is the only hope that a man has. It pleased God through
the foolishness of preaching to save them that are lost. Have we not been told from heaven
that the only haven of security, now listen, man by nature will
distort this scripture so quickly, John 3.36, he that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Let me
tell you why that is distorted so quickly. He that believeth
in his free will, he that believeth in the waters
of baptism, He that believeth in speaking in tongues, he that
believeth in his faith, he that believeth in him coming down
to the altar and praying through, he that believeth in his faithfulness, he that believeth on the Son,
that Christ has finished the work. and that I had nothing
to do with it. Now that's what it's talking
about. I had nothing to do with it. Well, you believed. You had faith. Yeah, after He
gave me life. But He saved us, called us. Life is going to come before
the exhibition of that life. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not on the
Son, meaning he that believeth in something else, hath not life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. Has the Scriptures not told us that? Has the Lord not
revealed our life upon this earth to be a fleeting thing? James
4.14, Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow, for what
is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth
for a little time and then vanisheth away. Here is the reason that the spiritual
sluggard will perish. He will not plow by reason of
the coal. What do you mean? You remember
that scripture that says, that hath put his hand to the plow,
and look back, is worthy, is fit for the kingdom of heaven.
Here's what the spiritual sluggard will do, the one that is spiritually
lazy. He is ever ready to make an outward
confession of being a lover of God, but always with stipulations,
always with an excuse, and ready to neglect, because of his spiritual
laziness, his eternal soul. Turn with me to Luke 14.16. Luke
14.16. Listen to these scriptures. Luke 14.16. This said unto him, a certain
man made a great supper and bade many, and sent his servant at
suppertime to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things
are now ready. And they all with one consent
began to make excuse. The first one said unto him,
I bought a piece of ground. I must needs go and see it. I
pray thee have me excused. Another said I bought five yoke
of oxen. I go to prove them. I pray thee
have me excused. Another said I've married a wife
and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and showed
his lord these things, the master of the house being angry, said
to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of
the city. Bring in hither the poor, the maimed, the haught,
the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it's
done as thou has commanded. Yet there's room. And the Lord
said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and
compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I
say unto you, that none of those which were bidden shall taste
of my supper." Let me ask you this. This preparation of this
great supper. I'm just going to ask you something.
Has the Lord not, at Calvary, finished the salvation of the
souls of His people. Has the Lord not at Calvary? Hasn't He done this is what I'm
trying to say. When He said it is finished,
did He finish the work of salvation? Yes. It said here that a certain man
made this great supper and bade many, bade many, How many are
bade to come? Now you listen to me. Everybody. Is there anybody excluded? No. Matthew 20, 16. Many are called by the preaching
of the gospel. When the gospel is preached,
I'm preaching to everybody. If you hear me, if you have ears
and a brain, to hear and to understand what I'm saying. I'm going to
tell you something right now. I'm telling you, come to Christ.
I'm telling you right now, come to Christ. When the gospel is
preached, everyone is generally called. I'm talking to everybody. Everybody. Everybody that hears
this command to repent is commanded. Acts 17, 30-31, In the times
of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men
everywhere to repent. Why? Because He hath appointed
a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom He hath ordained, the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore
he hath given assurance unto all men that he is going to judge.
Why? In that he raised him from the
dead. Now I'm going to tell you something right now. Almighty
God commands all men to repent. Many are called. But the scripture
says few are chosen. The outward call leaves everybody
in this room without excuse. You have no excuse. You have
no excuse. It takes an inward work of grace
for you to obey. Almighty God commands you to
repent. But left himself, man's dead. How is a man going to repent?
Does that leave him without excuse? No. No. You say, well, but you said I
was dead. That's your fault. I think Brother Moose brought
that out last Thursday. Whenever God Almighty talks of
electing great, it's always unto life. God didn't kill men. Men killed men. It's man's fault. But you said I cannot come. You
sure cannot. And you're without excuse. Man doesn't have any bragging
rights. He thinks he does, but he doesn't. Those that are chosen
unto salvation, it's going to take a work of grace for them. God be thanked, Paul said. The Lord chose you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the truth.
The supper is prepared. But let me tell you what the
spiritual sluggard is going to do. The one that's lazy. You leave a man to his own will
because of the laziness of his heart and unconcern for his eternal
soul. And this is what he's going to
say. Well, I bought a piece of ground. I got to go check it
out. You know, that's kind of a stupid statement, isn't it?
You mean you didn't check it out before you bought it? I bought five yoke of oxen, and
I go to prove them. I married a wife, therefore I
can't come. Man by nature, the sluggard,
he's lazy. He's lazy. I just don't have
time. The sluggard will not plow by
faith. Having put his hands to the,
he will not plow. by reason of the cold of his
heart. It's winter in his heart. I've just got other things that
are more pressing. I just don't have time to fool
with it. I'll be honest with you. Hosea. 10 verses 12-13 says this, sow to
yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your
fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come
and rain righteousness upon you. You have plowed wickedness, you've
reaped iniquity, You've eaten the fruit of your lies, because
thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty
men. See, man by nature sees no need, there's no desire, therefore,
to seek the Lord. He'll seek everything else but
that. Man by nature, give him something
to do, and I'm telling you, he's all over that. Tell him that,
you know, the Lord wants him to do this and he'll eat that. But man by nature is destitute. Listen to this. Do we believe
we're saved by works? Absolutely not. No, sir. We're saved by grace through
faith. How does it manifest itself though? By a work of faith. Labor of
love. patience of hope in our Lord
Jesus Christ. God's people manifest the grace
of God. They believe Him. They don't
trust in their faith. They'll tell you right now, I
am what I am by the grace of God. But God's people believe
God. Not for salvation, but because
of it. He saved them. The sluggard There
is no diligence to make his calling and election sure. You know the
most amazing thing to me? A believer is assured through
God's Word, by the Spirit of God making this real to his heart.
I know him. I know him. And in the same breath,
is diligent to make his calling and election sure. This is what
he wants to say. Now you tell me one more time. Tell me one
more time how the Lord put away my guilt. He never tires of hearing
redemption. He never tires of hearing God's
electing grace. Tell me one more time how the
Lord chose me and elected me and put me in Christ. And you're
saying that the Lord has eternally stood for me. And you're saying
now that the Lord God of heaven is not looking to my righteousness,
but He sees the righteousness of Christ upon me. And that's
what He's looking at. He's not looking at my works
because I can't even pray without wandering. I can't even preach
a message without my mind slipping away. You'd be surprised how
far my mind goes. Kevin, I'm thankful I've got
a set of notes in front of me. Tell me again how the Lord looks
upon Christ and sees me in Him and accepts me in the Beloved.
Not by works of righteousness that I've done. Is that what
you said? Okay, tell me that again. Tell me one more time. Make your calling an election. Man is born with a heart that
labors sinfully, thinking that he has the ability to justify
himself. And you leave him to himself
and all he'll do is eat the lies and the fruit of that false religion. The prophet, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, commands God's people, sow to yourselves in
righteousness. Sow to yourselves. Let the seed
of the gospel of Christ be that which you hear. Be careful what
you hear. Reap in mercy, which is the promise
of the Lord to those who, by God's grace, look to Christ alone. Reap in mercy. For it's time
to seek the Lord. Isaiah 55, 6. Seek the Lord while
he may be found. Call you upon him while he's
near. Today is the accepted time. Now, today is the day of salvation. Break up your fowl of ground.
The sluggard won't plow. Here the scripture says, break
up your fowl of ground. The ground that is left to just
rest. Break up your fallow ground.
Give a fresh plowing to the fallow ground of this old heart right
here. The fallow ground that lies by
nature. Unproductive. Here's what we're
told to do. Break up your fallow ground.
by admitting and pointing out in my heart the leanness and
the poverty of myself. I just break up your fallow ground. Lord, if I'm left to myself,
I can do Nothing. That's what you said. Without
me, you can do nothing. And how long is the believer
admonished to do this? Till he come and rain righteousness
upon you. Psalm 72, 6 says, He shall come
down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water
the earth. He that comes to his people is
going to come in righteousness. The sluggard will not plow by
reason of the cold. Therefore shall he beg in harvest."
What harvest? In the harvest of that day of
judgment. When Almighty God calls all men
to stand before Him, He shall beg in harvest. Many, the Lord said, will say
to me in that day, now listen to this begging, Lord, have we not prophesied
in Thy name? And in Thy name cast out devils,
in Thy name done many wonderful works? They're going to beg. Lord, I've got some credentials. But here's what the Scripture
says, they shall beg and harvest and have nothing. What do you
think a man or woman is going to have when the Lord says these
things? Depart from me, you that work
iniquity. I never knew you." What do you
got? You got judgment. All but for those made willing
in the day of God's power. Willing to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Willing to come to Him alone.
willing to seek Him while He may be found, willing to cast
Himself upon the mercy of God. I got some good news for you.
Listen to 1 Corinthians 9-10. He that ploweth should plow in
hope. In that day, God's people, who
by the grace of God have been given a heart, to not look to
themselves, that by the grace of God have broken up that fallow
ground and have said, you know what, Lord? Lord, help me. This is what I am. I am a weak
and frail creature. Lord, help me or I have no help
at all. Listen to what the Lord shall
say concerning them. He said, you're not going to
beg. Matthew 25, 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 divideth his sheep from the goats. He
shall set the sheep on his right hand, the goats on the left.
Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, and they're
not going to beg. This is what he's going to say.
Come. Come. You're blessed of my Father. The kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. Almighty God has said the sluggard
in that day is going to beg and have nothing. But for those that
he's everlastingly loved, that he gives a heart to cast themselves
upon the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know who they are.
They're heirs of God. and joint heirs with Christ,
predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the
praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved. The slugger, by reason of the
cold, will not plow. In the harvest, he shall beg
and have nothing. May the Lord bless the word to
our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.