I entitle this message, Go to
the Ant. It's a quote out of that first
verse that he read. But before we look at verses
6, 7, and 8, which is actually a divine word
of instruction, and you know that's what it is. The Scripture
sets forth and is telling us to do something.
Go to the aunt. Consider her ways. Be wise. And I'd like to look at those
three passages of Scripture, but I'd like to look at them
after I start in verse 9 and go through verse 15. Come back
and hear that word of instruction. I've got three things that I'd
like to look at. First of all, not just three
things, but three things that I'd like to look at in looking
at verses 9 to 11. The first thing that I'd like
to look at in verses 9 to 11 is this. God's question to man. Now, here's a good question. And here's the question. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy
sleep? Now that, there's God's question. That is to man. How long will you neglect the certain
approach of eternity? How long will you sleep? When do you think, O sluggard,
that the appropriate time is going to come for you to call
upon the mercy of God in Christ? How long, O sluggard, are you
going to waste the days that you have left on this earth with
your foolish earthly games. How long are you going to play
with these toys? When enough is enough. How long will thou sleep? How long do you think that you
can continue just to love your ease? When do you think that
the time will be right to deny yourself, take up His
cross, follow Him? When is that going to be a good
time as far as you're concerned? How long wilt thou sleep? You know, that question ought
to stir a man to think. But it doesn't. Man by nature, he's in a death
sleep. His heart is hard against God. Psalm 14, 2 and 3 says, The Lord
looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand and seek God. And they're all
gone aside. They are altogether become filthy,
that is, they stink. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. False religion tries to play
upon a man's emotions and appeals to his senses, but to no avail. Man is dead as he is born in
Adam in trespasses and sins. Now, that's a good question. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy
sleep? Now, here's the second thing
I wanted to look at out of those three verses right there. Man's
answer to God. Now, here's man's answer. It's found in verse 10. Yet a
little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands,
I have time. I've got time. I'm only 22 years old. Well,
42, 62, 82. I've got time. That story about the foolish
virgins that made no preparation, have oil in their lamps, oh,
that makes good reading. And it's biblical. I don't know
where it's found. But I remember something. It's
in the Bible, I think. I think that was a Bible story. five foolish virgins that really,
to be honest with you, that has no significance whatsoever to
me. You had a little sleep, a little
slumber, a little fold in the hands. I can hit the snooze button
on my life. I got time. Oh, the deceitfulness of our
wicked heart. It will tell you that you have
time to disobey God. You got time for spiritual things
later, that's no big deal. It's not, you know, you got time
to burn. Yeah, you might. I've got, I've got, I've got
time. It's not a big deal. In fact, besides that, the Lord's
not coming back today. And I'm not going to die today. Well, then here's the third thing
I want to say out of that particular passage right there. The result
of a man left to himself. The result of a man that's, you
know. Oh, man. In fact, I'm kind of
sleepy myself. I don't know. If I've got enough
energy to even finish listening to this message right now, I'll
be honest with you. Here's the result. Verse 11,
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy
want as an armed man. This is the end result. Think of those that have left
this world and are leaving this world right now. They have neglected. They have loved the foolishness
of this world and they have neglected. Here is the end result. So shall
thy poverty come, one that travelleth. I want as an armed man All that neglect Almighty God,
this is a given. Here it is right here. So shall
thy poverty come. All that neglect Almighty God,
it's slow in their seeking and longing and hungering after Him,
they're going to come to poverty in reality, in their knowledge
of it. They're in it now. Oh, they're
going to know it then. What have I done? Everything that I thought was
so important, everything that just stole my heart, that I thought
was so very, very needful, I am standing now before God Almighty
And what is all of that, as Paul says, dung? What's that dung
now? The Lord said it's going to come
as one that traveleth step by step, mile by mile. When you're traveling, you know,
you get in your car and there you go. How far you got to go?
Well, I got 800 miles to go. But I tell you, every mile that
you go, you just clicked off another, you know, 65, 70 miles. It's just like one traveling.
Here it comes. Just like one traveling and just
like an armed man, one that you're not able to resist. Put your
hands up. Give me your money. How foolish is the sluggard The
one that just ignores any word to wake up. You've got folks in your family,
folks, your neighbors, folks, you'd like just to say, listen,
listen, listen, listen, listen. Would you do something for me?
Would you just come? Would you just come and sit?
That's all I'm asking you to do. Just come and sit. Hear the
Word of the Lord. Hear the Gospel of God's grace.
Hear the message of Christ. Don't do what you're doing. Don't
do that. No. Let me tell you what God's
Word says is going to happen. Sluggard. One that has no interest
whatsoever. No interest in the Gospel. Just
like that one The sower went to sow and he sowed some seeds
and some of it, it fell by the wayside. And the birds came and
picked it up and gone. Sluggard. Sluggard. No interest in the gospel. No
interest in Christ. No interest in His glory. No
interest in His kingdom. No interest at all. But don't
worry about it, they say. I got time. Well, there's another one mentioned,
starting at verse 12. And he's not outwardly a sluggard.
A sluggard is one that just, he just, he just don't care about,
he just don't, he's not going to come, he's not going to hear,
he's not going to do anything. He just don't have time. I don't
have time for this. I've got time for other stuff,
but I don't have time for this. Here's one that is mentioned
starting in verse 12. It says, a naughty person, a
wicked man. A naughty person. It means actually,
I looked it up, a naughty person, a son of Belial. Son of Belial. son of the devil, hypocrite,
worker of iniquity. Now what this is, this naughty
person, he's actually a false professor, a false professor
of religion that makes claims to trust God. But he has no heart
for the glory of God as he set forth in the Scriptures. Now
let me show you. Turn to Matthew chapter 15. Matthew 15. Here is the naughty person, the
naughty man. Matthew 15, starting in verse 1. I'm going to read
the first nine verses. Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees
which were of Jerusalem saying, Why do thy disciples transgress
the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands
when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto
them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your
tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour
thy father and mother, and he that cursed his father and mother,
let him die of the death. But you say, Whosoever shall
say to his father and mother, It is a gift, whatsoever thou
mightest be profited by me, and honor not his father and his
mother, he shall go free. Thus have you made the commandment
of God, of none effect by your tradition, you hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy of you,
saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and
honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. For in vain do they worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." The Scripture says in 1 Samuel
2.12, Now the sons of Eli, now these were religious boys. These
were sons of Eli. The sons of Eli were sons of
Belial. They knew not the Lord. They
went through the rituals. They went through the motions.
They went to the temples. They went to the ceremonies.
They had the sacrifices. Go back and read about those
two boys. And God killed them. And you know what Eli said? It's
the Lord. Religious, they knew not the
Lord. in the way of communion and fellowship."
Well, they knew Him in their head. They knew Him in an outward
way as being their Maker, but they didn't know Him in a way
of grace and mercy and truth. New five points of Calvinism. Our Lord gave an account of their
end in the day of judgment. Matthew 7, 22, 23. Many will
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied?
Now here is the naughty man. Sluggard is one. He just don't
show up. He don't come. I don't have time
for that. Church. The naughty man, oh, he's a church
goer. He's a church attender. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? In thy name we cast
out devils. In thy name we've done many wonderful
works. We were on fire for the Lord. Man, I was at Bible class. I was at Sunday you know, services
for, you know, and I had daily Bible readings and I, you know,
and I, in fact, Tuesday night I was at visitation. In fact,
I led visitation. Then while I professed unto them,
I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers,
ye that work iniquitous. The naughty person, the sons
of Belial, they're men Women that are left to themselves preaching
a false gospel. That's who they are. Church people. They've got their stuff. They've
got their things. They've got their mess. They preach a gospel that makes
salvation before Almighty God to be man's works. If you want to know what a naughty
man is, a naughty woman, here's what it is. One that thinks that
something they can do is going to establish a relationship before
Almighty God for them in righteousness because of what they did. I'm saved because I gave my heart
to Jesus. That's naughty. Because I've got baptized. That's
naughty. I'm saved because I... No, this is how a believer speaks. I am what I am by the grace of
God. Almighty God in His infinite
mercy and compassion revealed to me that of myself I can do
nothing. And God Almighty saved me in
spite of myself. Well, I was doing basically the
same thing that Saul of Tarsus was doing. I was riding down
on my high horse to Damascus, to my Damascus, whatever it was,
and stopped me. And when he stopped me, I was
ignorant of who he was. I didn't know who he was. Who
art thou, Lord? He had revealed to me who he
was. I thought I knew him. Paul thought
he knew him too. Naughty man. Naughty person. Wicked. He exerts himself in
doing evil. Deuteronomy 13.13 says, certain
men, the children of Belial. I looked up that word Belial
right there. Do you know what the definition of it is? Naughty. Certain men, the children of
Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants
of their cities, saying, Let us go and serve other gods which
ye have not known." We'll find us a new God. We'll find us a
God that fits our fancy, a God that feeds our flesh, a God that
tells us, You're good. The Scripture says a naughty
man, a wicked man, he walketh with a froward mouth, a mouth
that is habitually given to disobedience. That is what a froward mouth
is. Habitually. He behaves in his trade by lying
in direct opposition to God's Word. That scripture I just quoted
a moment ago when the Lord says, without Me you can do nothing.
And this is what a froward mouth says. I can give my heart to
Jesus. That's a lie. You can't do that. Why? Because you're dead. God's going to give you life
before anything happens. Here's what He does. Verse 13,
"...he winketh with his eyes, speaketh with his feet, and teacheth
with his fingers." This naughty person, son of Belial,
son of the devil, he's never satisfied to preach the gospel
of God's grace, preach Christ. That's not what he's going to
do. He never believes that the gospel
of God is the power of God unto salvation. No, what he does is he invents
an original language. They got him a new language.
Have you ever heard of a language where he winks with his eyes,
speaks with his feet, teaches with his fingers? He yields his members as instruments
of unrighteousness and sin. That's what he's doing. What does it mean though? He
winks with his eyes. Psalm 35, 19. Just listen to
this Scripture. Let not them that are mine enemies
wrongfully rejoice over me. Neither let them wink with the
eye that hate me without a cause." Now, I didn't want to take that
winking with the eye, I didn't want to take that lightly. I'll
be honest with you. I wanted to know what it meant.
I wanted to know what does that mean? This naughty person, this
wicked man that walks with a forward mouth, The Scripture says, he
winketh with his eyes. And I thought, what does that
mean? I looked it up and everything that
I could find concerning that right there. It means it is a
wink or a sign of congratulation in the ruin of someone else. It is a filthy signal to filthy
friends that I've got this under control. Man speaks a lie. And then he hears someone say
the truth. This is the insinuation. This
is what I could find of that winking with the eye. He hears
someone speak the truth. He's telling people, you can
give your heart to Jesus. You can be baptized and be saved.
You can speak in tongues. Whatever. Just go on and on and
on. And then the Word of God says, thus saith the Lord. And
that naughty person will look at the one that he's lying to
and he says, That's what it means. He winks
with the eye, kind of like a signal. Don't worry about it. I know, I hear what they're saying,
but don't worry about it. Let not them that are mine
enemies wrongfully rejoice over me, neither let them wink with
the eye that hate me without a cause. That little cute signal
of I don't worry about it. I know what this book says. Don't
worry. Here's what else he does. He speaks with his feet. Or he utters. with his walk. That's what it means. He speaks
with his feet. Proverbs, we looked at this.
Let me just read this to you. Proverbs 1.10. My son, if sinners
entice thee, consent thou not. My son, walk not in the way with
them. Refrain thy foot from their path. For their feet run to evil and
make haste to shed blood. This naughty man, naughty person, He speaks what he believes because
of what he does, the way he walks. He exposes with his feet how
a man walks, what he gives himself to, where his love, his interest
lies. That's what he does. The naughty
man. My sheep, the Lord said, they
follow me. They walk after Me. Walk in the
Spirit. Let me tell you what walking
in the Spirit is. Here it is. Believe God. What does the Spirit
of God teach? He teaches concerning Christ.
He's going to teach, I'll pray the Father and He'll send you
another Comforter and He shall speak of Me. That's what it is
to walk. I'm telling you, the Spirit of
God is going to direct God's people according to these scriptures.
And this is where they're going to walk. They're going to walk
after Him, believing Him. This naughty person, he winks
with the eyes. It's a wink of disrespect. Refuting by that little sarcastic
attitude what this book's got to say. And he speaks with his
feet, and thirdly, he teaches with his fingers. You need to
turn to Isaiah 58. He teaches with his fingers.
Isaiah 58. I think this Scripture gives
good understanding to this. Isaiah 58, beginning in verse
3. Isaiah 58, 3, Wherefore have
we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we
afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold,
in the day of your fast ye find pleasure in exact all your labors. Behold, ye fast for strife and
debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye shall
not fast, as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard
on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict
his soul? Is it to bow down his head as
a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou
call this a fast, an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this
the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of wickedness,
to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free,
that she break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to
the hungry, that thou bring the poor, that they are cast out
of thy house when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him,
that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy
light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring
forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee. The glory
of the Lord shall be thy reward. Then shalt thou call, and the
Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry, and he shall
say, Here I am, if thou take away from the midst of thee the
yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and the speaking of vanity." Lord, Ed, we've served you. We've
fasted. We've done all these marvelous
things in your sight. The Lord says, I'll tell you
the true fast. That broken heart, the evidence
of it. No more with the teaching, that
last verse right there, verse 9. He said, I'll tell you, there
will be a putting forth of the finger, speaking vanity. Same speaking with the finger
is the same thing back in verse 4, to smite with the fist of
wickedness. Let me give you the insinuation
here. This speaking with the finger,
it's that spirit of accusation, arrogance, and resentment, and
haughtiness, and self-righteousness that points at others in the
accusation of telling them, who do you think you are? Korah. You remember in the Old Testament
when Moses, the spokesman of Almighty God, and he said this
is what the Lord has to say. Korah and some of his followers said to Moses, and here it is,
You take way too much on yourself. I don't know who you think you
are. I don't know where you come up with this arrogant attitude
that you people that preach this, as a man told me one time, these
theories of grace. I don't know where you come up
with this theories of grace stuff. Telling people that that's the
only way That's the spirit of the naughty man that teaches
with his fingers. Verse 14 says, "...Frowardness
is in his heart, he diviseth mischief continually, he soweth
discard." Continually planning schemes of how to disturb and
distress and to ruin men. "...Give it time, and tares among
the wheat, will be exposed. And do you know
what the exposed attitude is going to be? It's going to be
against the man that has stood on this book right here. Frowardness is in his heart.
He deviseth mischief continually and he soweth discard. That's
one of the things In the next time we meet together, Lord wills,
verse 19, that God hates. He that soweth discord among
the brethren. God hates it. That's the naughty
person. Verse 15 says, Therefore shall
his calamity come suddenly. Suddenly shall he be broken without
remedy. He that diviseth mischief against
others will have no warning of his own ruin. It will be over
just that quick. Here again. He didn't even get
to finish the sentence. No time, no means to prevent
it. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 3, For
when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction
cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they
shall not escape. Well, okay. We've looked at the state of
the sluggard and the naughty man. Now in closing, I want us to
go back to the beginning of this, and I want us to consider the
message of divine mercy, the voice that is heard only by those
that have been given ears to hear. A sluggard, a man that
has no interest in the gospel, no interest in the assembly,
no interest in nothing, The naughty man, he's religious, but he's
just a religious bigot, troublemaker, hates this gospel, despises this
gospel. What do we do? The Scripture
says, and this is the Lord speaking, the Lord Jesus Christ speaking
by His Spirit, go to the end. Thou sluggard, consider her ways,
and be wise." Now here we've got a realization
of the true need of a man. By nature, I'll be honest with
you, we're all sluggards. We're born sluggards. The evidence of being born a
sluggard is that you find some to be naughty. It is just religious. Go to the ant. Because of our
falling in Adam, our nature of sin, we have been found to be
in such a state of degeneration from the nobility of creation.
You remember man was made in the image of God. That an insect is a pattern to
man, an ant. Go to the ant. An ant? You're
talking about just an ant? Yes, I mean an ant. Go to the
ant. Listen to the instruction of
Scriptures. Job 12, 7 says, But ask now the
beast, and they shall teach thee. And the fowls of the air, they
shall tell thee, Jeremiah 8-7, Yea, the stork in the heaven
knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle in the crane and
the swallow observe the time of their coming, but my people
know not the judgment of the Lord. The birds know when it's
time to fly south. The birds know when it's time
to build a nest. Isaiah 1-3, The ox knoweth his
owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel does not know.
My people does not consider animals, all creation, sets forth
the glory of Almighty God. But when by the grace of God
we go to the ant, we learn something about ourselves.
You see, before regeneration we are taught that We're without
excuse, but we're still not taught. Only we see something of the
depth of our need where we cry out. It's evident that the Lord has
done something for a man when he realizes that creation does
what man in his fallen state won't do. Creation does. Psalm 69 and 34, let the heaven
and the earth praise Him, the seas and everything that moveth
therein. Consider, go to the ant. What are we going to do? The
Scripture says, consider her ways and be wise. Look at the way she marches is
what it says. Consider her ways. Now, here's the result of the
instruction of considering the ant. Now, I want you to consider
the ant. Here's what it is. Verse 7 and
8, "...which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth
her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest." Now,
there's the instruction. That's what we're to do. You
consider the ant. No guide, no overseer, no ruler. And this
ant provides for herself. That's what the Lord says. Now
you consider her. And this ant is going to die
without an eternal soul. You may step on one walking out
of the building today. You may step on an ant. And if
you do, it's not going to be that big a deal as far as you're
concerned. Me either. It's just an ant. Man who will stand before Almighty
God and give account is born with
a heart that doesn't care. Learn from creation that there's
coming a time when there's going to be a harvest. This aunt right here, the Scripture
says, she has no guide. She has no guide. We have guides. Number one, man's got a conscience.
And I'm telling you there's the witness of God in his conscience.
You know how it is? You know right from wrong. That's
just to sum it up. Here's how you know right from
wrong. You take a child, you just watch
a child. They know. I was down in Mexico
the other day and Walter's dog One night was chewing on the
hose right outside the window where we were. That dog was just
growling and having the best time. Got that water hose in
his mouth and was chewing on it. Now the next morning, now this
was 10, 12 hours later, that dog didn't more understand a
word that I said. But I said to the dog, I pointed
at the hose. And I know good and well that
dog didn't know what I was talking about. But he could tell by my
tone of voice. I said, Duke, were you the one
over there chewing on that water hose last night? And look, those
ears went down. And he just looked down. He wouldn't
even look up. That dog knew. I don't know what
I've done. I don't even remember what I've
done. But I know I did something. Creation. There's a conscience. Even an animal. He knew right
from wrong. This ant has no guides. We've
got a conscience. Here's another guide. Here's
the Scriptures. What sayeth the Scriptures? Here's
another guide. God sent prophets and preachers. Hebrews 1.1 of the first chapter
says that God now has spoken to us in these last days by His
Son. A guide? An aunt has no guide,
and we have guides. This aunt who has no overseer, and man is living daily right
now with an overseer. Proverbs 15 verse 3 says, "...the
eyes of the Lord that are in every place beholding." The evil
and the good. The ant has nobody to oversee
her. And God Almighty sees right now
and knows. This ant, according to verse
7, has no ruler. And Romans 14, 12 says, Every
one of us shall give account of himself to God. The Lord Jesus Christ right now
is seated at the right hand of Jehovah According to Psalm 110.1,
I was reading that yesterday and a word struck me. I'm not
going to preach on it right now. We're out of time. But here was
the word. Let me just read it. I'll just
turn back and read it to you. Here's the word that really struck me.
Psalm 110.1. The Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou at my right hand until. I make thine enemies thy footstool.
You sit there until. Right now in this day of grace,
I said I wasn't going to preach on it and I'm not. Right now
we're going through a day of grace. Right now. Believers and
unbelievers. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
seated at the right hand of power, the right hand of Jehovah. He
said you sit until. I make. And Almighty God, by
Christ, is ruling and reigning in this day of grace. And there's
two kinds of people in this world. There's believers and unbelievers.
And right now, there's believers in this world. Right now, they're
walking in rebellion against Almighty God. Right now. A day
of grace. A day of mercy. A day of compassion. Long-suffering. He's long-suffering
to us. We're not willing that any of
His elect should perish. But there's unbelievers that's
walking right now, and the Lord Jesus Christ is sitting until. Until. But there's coming a time
when He's going to stand up. And when He stands up, and the
trump of God shall sound, and time's going to be no more, those
that are found without Christ, no more are they going to get
up and say, I'm just tired right now. I just don't feel like fooling
with it right now. I'll be honest with you. In that
day, they will see themselves under the judgment of Almighty
God. He sits until. I'm going to preach on that one
these days. Lord willing. She has no guide, no ruler. She provides
her meat in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. She provides. Oh, the mercy of God that would
give a man a heart to consider the aunt that knows that there's
something going to happen in the future. This aunt goes around,
picks up food and brings it down in that little ant hill and stacks
it up, provides. It takes a new heart to realize
there's coming a day in which I'm going to stand before Him.
And I need an advocate. I need a mediator. I need one
to speak for me because I have of myself no way. Faith has been given from above
to see the eternal need of this soul, this needy soul right here.
Learn from the end. Just as she knows her need of
provision for the harvest, that's what it says. Go to the end,
consider her ways. She provides her meat in the
summer and gather her food in the harvest in that day. She gathers that which has been
provided by herself in this case. But in the harvest. In that great
day of the The harvest when Almighty God shall say it's over. It's
over. And the harvest is made. Gather. And there's going to be a great
separation in that day. The sheep on His right hand,
the goats on His left. Say unto those on His right hand,
He said, enter in. Well done. In that great harvest. And what's going to be the foundation
of a man's hope in that day? I am what I am by the grace of
God. Almighty God, while I walked on this earth, gave me a heart
to realize. He didn't leave me to myself
to be a sluggard, fold my hands. I've got time. I'm telling you,
a believer right now, realize I don't have time. I don't have
promise of anything. I need Him right now. Let everything
else go, but not Him. Go to the end. For in the ant
we learn of Almighty God's command and order. You look to Christ. There is coming a harvest. There
is coming a time when man will stand before God and without
a substitute he will have no hope. May the Lord add His blessing
on the reading of His Word for Christ's sake. Gary.