1924, a slothful man hideth his
hand in his bosom and will not so much as bring it to his mouth
again. Now, this is a hyperbolic statement,
an intentioned exaggeration to highlight a point. And the point is simple. There's
a simple principle here. that a slothful man will starve. He won't eat. And rightly so,
according to God, he said, if a man won't work, then don't
let him eat. It's our nature, we're built
for labor. And it's the nature of fallen man by the sweat of his face to eat
bread. No sweat, no bread. That's the
curse under which we labor physically, but also spiritually. And think, in order to understand
the comparison here, the illustration, think what it took in the days
in which this proverb was written, think what it took for a person
to eat. Take away electricity, take away
the internet, take away running water to every house, all of
the conveniences that we enjoy now, that we take for granted. No grocery
stores, there were markets, I'm sure, Trading was done, but you
didn't sit at a desk all day and hit some keys on a computer
And get paid enough to go to the market and buy food Like
we do today and I'm not saying that people don't work today.
It's a different type of work And I Believe some of the hardest
working people I've ever known or in this church. I'm speaking
to some of them that I've ever met. But what I am saying is
that very few people work like that today, like they did then. It's different. But the same
principles apply to today and its application in our text is,
of course, as always, to spiritual matters. And that application
is simple. Spiritual laziness is the plague
of this world. It's the plague of man by nature.
You remember the leper that was sitting there with his friends
and he said, why would we sit here and die? Let's go. And the
Lord gave him plenty of food in the camp of the enemy that
had been abandoned. But the rest I imagine would
have just sat there and died. There was famine in the city. but the Lord had caused the enemy
to flee and left all their food and everything. And those lepers
were able to find it by his grace and eat and tell others about
it. But the consequences of spiritual
laziness are worse than the physical kind. It's hard for us to understand
that and imagine that, People are oblivious to that.
We have no idea. We don't even realize it exists,
spiritual laziness. Religious people go in mass to
clubhouses. The scripture says they have
itching ears. There's something they need to
hear, they want to hear that scratches an itch in them. And
what they want to hear is how good they are and what they have
to do to be saved. And it's not, It's not hard,
you just walk down an aisle and repeat a prayer after somebody.
You don't even have to come up with a prayer. They've got one
ready made for you. Then you get your ticket to heaven. And the bozos that call themselves
preachers, they avoid the truth like the plague. Why do they
do that? Because it's easier for them. It's difficult to tell
people the truth. It's just like in your family,
it's hard to be a good father and a good mother. It's easy
to just let your kids do whatever they want and then yell at them
and scream at them. People like drama anyway, a lot
of people do. And they grow up with no accountability,
no discipline, no love, because that's what discipline is. It's caring enough. to raise
them right. And in spiritual matters, preachers
are the same way. They let people take the easiest route. And why do people love it? They
preach lies because it's easier on them to do that. And people
love to hear it because it's easy for them to hear. Remember
when the Lord told him the truth? He said, no man comes to me except
my father draw you. You cannot come to me except the father which has sent
me take you from where you are and bring you to me. You remember
what they said about that? That's a hard saying. That's a hard saying. It's easier
for them to hear lies. They enjoy the lies, they enjoy
thinking that it's up to them, that everything is up to them,
that their will is supreme. It's just easy, isn't it? There's
no need to think or apply themselves. Solomon pled, he said, my son,
apply that heart unto wisdom. There's no need for that in so-called
worship services these days. You know, they'll even have more
than one morning service. They'll have an early service
and a late morning service. So nobody's inconvenienced. You can't get any lazier than
that. Some have a traditional service
and a contemporary service. I guess they break out the drum
set during the contemporary service. I don't know how. But they do
that to accommodate everybody's It's personal brand of poison. The result, spiritual starvation. They're giving themselves for
that which is not bread. Isaiah 55, one, ho, everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money,
come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good. And let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me. Here and your soul shall live.
You hear the gospel in that? How do you live? How do you buy? How do you obtain what you need?
Here, listen. Your soul shall live and I will
make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies
of David. God's mercies, his covenant mercies
are sure. It's not if. It's not dependent upon man who's
not reliable in any way whatsoever. His mercies are sure because
he makes a covenant with you. You don't make a decision for
him. He makes a covenant with you and his mercies are sure. Now here's a strange paradox. Like those who have no will to
work in this world, It's not like it's a bed of roses
for them, is it? I've known a few people, I've
run with a few scallywags in my day, way back, and known of
them very well. Somebody that refuses to work,
refuses to just do what's natural, really natural to man even, to
labor, to work, they end up more miserable, more
burdened, with a more complicated and grueling life than those if they had just gone
to work like everybody else. Those who won't lift a finger
in spiritual matters to find out who God is, They just go,
they just follow the path of least resistance. They go to
the church that has what they want. You see people all the time asking
about it. Is there any churches that has a program for the young
people? It has a choir, I like to sing,
I like to be involved in my church. Do you have a visitation program?
Do you have this and that? Do you meet my requirements? Somewhere along the line, somewhere,
somehow, somebody's gonna have to think about God's requirements. But those who won't lift a finger
to find out who God is, to actually apply their hearts to wisdom,
to hear the hard saying and bow to the Lord Jesus Christ, you
know what? They're laboring under a heavy
burden that they can never carry. The bondage of the law instead,
when in Christ Jesus, they would find sweet rest, a vital rest,
another kind of rest, but the best rest. As we've seen before, believers
are those who endeavor, Ephesians 4.3. They strive, Luke 13.24. They labor, Hebrews 4.11. But
we labor to enter into rest. We don't labor under the burden
of the law. We don't labor to try to please God by what we
do. We're not going about to establish our own righteousness.
There is no heavier burden than that. We press toward the mark, but
the prize is the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Paul
threw aside all of his labors, all of his so-called righteousness,
all of his keeping of the law and his religious heritage and
pressed. He labored to enter into rest. Rather than labor under the cruel
taskmaster of the law, we are bond slaves of Jesus Christ. Bond slaves work, but listen
to how they work. Turn with me to Exodus 21. Exodus
21 to This is the believer. This master
is Christ in Exodus 21, two. Look at this, look at the language
of this. What a beautiful way that the Lord illustrated our
relationship with him as believers. Exodus 21, two, if you buy an
Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve for different reasons
because of debt that they owed. A master would pay off their
debt, and in return, they would work that off for them. He shall
serve six years, and in the seventh, he shall go out free for nothing. He don't have to pay his way,
he'll go out free for nothing. But look at verse three. If he
came in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he were
married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master
has given him a wife and she have born him sons or daughters,
the wife and her children shall be her masters and he shall go
out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly
say, there can't be any equivocation about it. There can't be any sitting on the fence. He's got
to plainly say, I love my master. of my wife and my children. I will not go out free. Believers
don't want, freedom from Christ is bondage. To take his yoke is to find rest. We have to understand what this
is spiritually. to take the earthly physical
picture of our text and understand it in spiritual gospel terms. And think about this, if a man
has served for six years and has the opportunity to go out
free, and he says, not me, I love my master. What does that tell
you about those six years? They must have been pretty sweet,
don't you think? Because our master is the savior. We don't want to go free. To
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children. I will not
go out free. Then his master shall bring him
to the judges. It becomes a legal standing,
doesn't it? The law has to be satisfied in
this thing. And it is because Christ satisfied
the law. The master did it, didn't he?
He brought him to the judges. He's the one that took care of
the legal aspect of this. His master shall bring him unto
the judges. He shall also bring him to the
door or unto the doorpost and his master shall bore his ear
through with an awl and he shall serve him forever. That's us. by grace, that's the believer.
Do you love your master? Would you go back? Those that would be under the
law, now that you hear the law, would you still be under the
law? The law says make bricks, but
you're not getting any straw to make them with. You have no
resources, you have no ability. but you're required. Now we all by nature labor under
the curse of the law, by nature now, as we're born into this
world. We labor under that curse, both physically and spiritually.
But to neglect spiritual things, to fold your hands with regard
to that which is true bread and true wine, As Isaiah said, it's
to never know true rest and true life. It's to deprive yourself
by your own inattention, by your own dereliction of that which
alone satisfies. You've forsaken your own mercy,
the scripture says. Christ is that bread of life
that satisfies. He is that living water. which
a sinner can drink and never thirst again. You know, there's a difference
between laziness and rest. We all know that difference,
don't we? We're all lazy and we've all rested. We tend toward laziness, don't
we? We tend toward taking the path of least resistance. Laziness
is destructive. Rest is sweet. Laziness is deterioration and
rest is restoration. Laziness is guilty. And look, I'm not saying that
I'm the most industrious person in the world, but just to sit
around and do nothing. It's almost unbearable sometimes,
isn't it? I guess it is even for lazy people,
because we're built to work. We're made to work. It's not
only physically important, it's emotionally important to the
body. Laziness is a guilty thing, but
rest is satisfying. There's a difference between
burdensome bondage and wholesome labor. There's a difference between
busting rocks on the chain gang, for example, and reaping a harvest. There's a difference between
the toiling of futility and fighting a battle, a battle in which the
Lord has already said, you win, you win. He's already given you
the victory in it. You swing the sword like David
did, you stand your ground, you're fighting with every muscle in
your body, but with a smile on your face because you've already
inquired of the Lord. And he said, I will doubtless
give them into your hand. That's our labor. The victory is promised by our
Savior. The victory was won by our Savior. And it's our privilege to serve
Him. I will not go free. If that's
what freedom is, you look at those that are under the bondage
of the law, and they're trying to go about to establish their
own righteousness. And they think that their salvation
is in going to church, tithing, read your Bible, pray every three
times a day. Don't watch no television, because
there's bad stuff on there. Don't go to the movies. They get their entertainment
in what they call a church. And it ain't very good. They're
not very good at it. yoked to the Lord Jesus Christ. A yoke just has one purpose. It's not an adornment, it's not
a necklace, it's for work. But our Lord says don't, he doesn't
say put on a yoke and serve me, put on a yoke and do this and
do that and keep this. He says, take my yoke on you
and rest, rest. It's our privilege to serve.
He said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Not easy
in a lazy way, but easy in a way of rest from all of our labors. Our vain, futile, Sinful labors. To rest in Christ is sweet. We find rest under our souls
with his yoke on us because the work of salvation is done. We had no hand in it and we have
no hand in it. He loved us freely. He gave himself
for us freely. and He keeps us by His power
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, and it's our
privilege to serve Him. It's spiritual work, we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit and the bond of peace, laboring to enter into
Christ's rest, or His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which He hath before ordained, that we should walk
in them and all the while we rest our souls in the arms of
his love, beside the still waters of his grace. And we find sweet rest there. And say, Lord, what would you
have me do? What would you privilege me with
today? How would you use me? How would
you bless me? As we've seen so many times throughout
the scriptures, when we're serving, that's him
doing something for us. And he's gracious to do so, he's
gracious to, give us the rest that only He
can give. Let's pray together.