My text this morning is Proverbs
3 verse 17. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse
17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness
and all her paths are peace. Now in our text, the wise man
is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, who is wisdom personified. He is wisdom. Apart from him, there is no wisdom. He is wisdom. Apart from him,
there is no understanding of anything. So when the wise man
speaks of wisdom, the text could quite literally be read this
way. His ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all his paths are peace. As the Lord Jesus Christ is the
tree of life to all who lay hold upon him by faith, so all who
are in him have found and will find that his ways are ways of
pleasantness. Now that's my subject this morning,
ways of pleasantness. While we must not live for pleasure,
let us never be guilty of that. We all want and seek pleasantness,
don't we? who has been reared in a home
of bickering and strife longs for a home of pleasantness. Anyone
who's experienced great anguish of mind and depression of heart
yearns for pleasantness. Oh, for a little pleasantness.
I want so very much by God's grace to be a pleasant person. And I want to make life pleasant
for you. I want a pleasant home for my family. I want to be pleasant
to others. I want to live in pleasantness. We all want these things, don't
we? I suspect that we are all very much like the fellow who
was persuaded by his wife to do something he didn't really
want to do. They had a big round, took the kids out on a picnic,
and he had other plans, and he's mad, and he's upset, and he said,
now come on, we're going to have a good time if it kills us. Most
folks are that way with regard to pleasantness. We make ourselves
miserable in this world, striving to attain that which we vainly
imagine will give us pleasantness. Now, I want this morning to bring
a very simple down-to-earth message And I want to show you just one
thing. I want you to get this. Spirit of God, embed this in
our minds and in our hearts. Apart from Christ, there is no
true pleasantness or peace. Did you get it? Apart from Christ, there is no
true pleasantness or peace. His ways are ways of pleasantness. All His paths are peace. Apart from Him, there's no pleasantness. Apart from Him, there's no peace. Now, I want this morning to talk
to you about three pleasures. First, let me talk to you about
the pleasures of Christ Himself. Turn to Psalm 16. Psalm 16 and
verse 6. The lines are fallen unto me
in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly heritage. Now, without question, this is
a messianic psalm. The words we have read are the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are told over and over again
in the New Testament that verses 9, 10, and 11 must be applied
to Christ. He says, Therefore my heart is
glad, my glory rejoiceth, my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness
of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."
Now Acts chapter 2, the apostle Peter tells us plainly that this
psalm is talking about Christ. So the words that are spoken
in verse 6, Originally, and most fully, must be understood as
words that are spoken by Jesus Christ, our Savior, our substitute,
our surety, as he lived in this world. He speaks of himself as
a man, and as the servant of Jehovah, and says, the lines
are fallen unto me in pleasant places. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
when speaking of his life, declares his life to be a life of pleasantness. And yet, our Savior, while he
lived in this world, was the man of sorrows, one who was acquainted
with grief. Listen to what we read in Isaiah
chapter 53. You don't need to turn there,
it's a very familiar text. Surely, we recognize that Christ
Jesus, of all men in this world, from the time that he came into
this world to the time that he left it, was a man whose life
was filled with sorrow. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hear, as it were,
our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. From the womb to the cross, there
was a crown of thorns constantly bound about the brow of the Son
of God, the Son of Man, our Savior. Though he was always obedient
to his Father's will, as our representative, as our surety,
as our substitute, though he constantly did that which pleased
his Father, his life was always a life of sorrow. Always. in the midst of great sorrow,
though he lived here as I shall it be in obedience to the Father,
in the midst of great sorrow, he continually increased in sorrow. And yet, throughout his life
of obedience, throughout his life of sorrow, our Savior's
life in this world was marked and was characteristic with pleasantness. Pleasantness. Pastor, how can
that be? How can you say at one time that
he is the man of sorrows, and at the same time say that he
is a man whose life is marked and characterized by pleasantness? I've heard preachers denounce
laughter and humor. They try to get everybody to
mourn and be sad and be so serious they can never smile or laugh
or joke about anything. And they do so by saying, the
Lord Jesus, we are never told that he laughed. And he didn't,
as far as we're told in the scriptures. We read that Jesus wept, but
we never read that Jesus laughed. Yet, pleasantness and joy marked
his life throughout the days of his life on this earth. Our
Lord's life was filled with joy. It was filled with pleasantness,
so much so that he says concerning every path he took, concerning
every step he made, concerning every experience he had in this
world, the lines are falling unto me in pleasant places. What on earth is he talking about?
Well, while living in this world, the Son of God had a joy the
world knew nothing of. A pleasantness the world could
never understand. A peace the world could never
attain, could never give, and should never take away. Look
here in this 16th Psalm, and let me show you some of that
which marked his pleasantness. His pleasure, the pleasure of
Christ, that is in the midst of sorrow, he found pleasure
in submission to his father's providence. You want pleasure? You want pleasure? Bow to the
rule of your father. Now I'm telling you, the only
way to find pleasure is to submit to God's providence. Look what
he says in verse 5. The Lord is the portion of mine
inheritance, and my cup, thou maintainest my lot. What lot? His lot in life. What's your
lot in life? Well, your lot in life for Rex
Bartley at present, at present, may change tomorrow, at present,
your lot in life is run a cabinet shop, work with your brother-in-law,
Have a wife, those four children. Have the privilege of ministering
to your daughter after an accident yesterday. You're allotted, that's
your lot. That's the lines drawn for you.
That's it. Now, that lot in life includes
everything that comes with it. All the responsibility, all the
care, all the heartache, all the pain, all the sorrow, and
all the joy. That's your lot. You understand
what I'm saying? Your lot in life is what God's
doing with you, for you, and in you right now. That's it.
For the believer, he finds pleasantness when he bows to his lot in life,
his lot that is disposed of by God's good providence. Understand
that? Our Lord Jesus found pleasantness,
he found pleasure as he submitted himself to the will of God in
providence. Again, our Savior had his great
pleasure in instruction by his Father's counsel. In verse 7
he says, I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel. The
Lord Jesus, as a man, had a commandment given from God the Father. He
had a commission given from God the Father, so that his steps
in this life were ordered by the will, the purpose, the decree,
and the word of God as much as yours, no, much more than yours
and mine. His were ordered perfectly so
that in all things, he did what his fathers did do. And he found
pleasure in the instruction of his father's counsel. I have
long contended, I'll get off my subject for a little bit,
talk to you moms and dads for just a minute, give you some
sensible instruction. I have long contended, and it
has been demonstrated now over and over again to be so, the
happiest children in this world are children who are well-disciplined,
who are made to obey their parents, who are given government and
guidance and rule in their homes, and are expected to perform responsibilities
in the home. That makes for happy children. That makes for children who have
a good sense of themselves and of their place in this world.
Children who are allowed to get by with fashion, mom and dad,
do whatever they want to, go where they go, have no responsibilities,
grow up to be nothing but pain to themselves, pains to parents,
and pain to society. God the Father, our God, gives
us instruction, and he chastens us and teaches us to walk after
his counsel, and that's the most pleasant thing for us. Most pleasant
thing. Our Savior himself, as a man,
learned obedience by the things that he suffered, and he says
that his pleasantness is the instruction given him by the
counsel of Jehovah, his God and our God. The way for the believer
to find pleasure is to give himself to the instruction
of his God. That's it. Our Lord Jesus found
his pleasure in the comfort of his Father's presence. In verse
80 he says, I have sent the Lord always before me. Because he
is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. My pleasure is
the blessed comfort of knowing the presence and the company
and the communion and the companionship of God with me. Oh, now that's
pleasure. That's pleasure. Look at verse
9. Our Lord's pleasure was hope
in his Father's goodness and faithfulness. As he faced death,
as I substitute, he faced death with pleasantness. As he faced
death, as I substitute, he faced death, even the horrible, ignominious,
painful, shameful death of the cross in the place of his people. He faced that with pleasantness,
knowing this. He said, therefore my heart is
glad. How can that be? This is the
same one who in Gethsemane cries, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. This is the same one who on the
cursed tree cried, I thirst, who cried, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Yet as he faced that day, he
said, therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh
also shall rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell. That is, you won't leave me in
the grave. Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption. Three days after I'm dead, I'm
going to rise again. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore." Our Lord Jesus found his pleasure in doing his
father's will. You remember when he was absent
from his parents, they'd gone about a day's journey from Jerusalem
and they missed him. They came back looking for him.
They were so disturbed because they couldn't find him. And finally,
when they found him, the Lord Jesus said, didn't you know I
must be about my father's business? Didn't you know it's my meat
and my drink to do my father's will? Now, I ask you, children
of God, what's the most pleasant thing on this earth for you?
Is it not obedience to the will of God? Is it not doing what
you know God had you to do? Is it not in all things seeking
to do what God has set before you in His Word and in His providence
and by His Spirit to do? So it was with our Savior. Our
Lord's pleasure is the salvation of His people. Let me show you
a text over in Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews 12. The Apostle Paul is urging us
to run with patience the race that is set before us. And then
he tells us how to do it. He says in verse 2, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. What joy? What joy was there
in his suffering? Why, the joy set before him was
the reward of his soul's travail. The joy set before him was the
salvation of his people. And this was his pleasure, his
joy, the saving of his people. His pleasure is the glory of
God. In John chapter 12, our Lord
Jesus says, as he anticipated what he must suffer, now is my
soul exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. But what shall I
say? Shall I say, Father, save me
from this hour? But for this cause came I unto
this hour. Father, glorify thy name." That's
his pleasure. All right, now that's the pleasure,
or the pleasures of the Son of God, our Savior. Though to the
natural man there was nothing pleasant at all about Christ
Jesus in all of his life, he calls his life pleasant, and
by example he shows us the way of pleasantness. Now secondly,
let me talk to you for a couple of minutes about the pleasures
of the fool. That ought to get your attention. The fool's pleasures are false
pleasures. Now, I do not suggest, I do not
mean to imply, that the fool's pleasures are always in and of
themselves sinful. They are not. They may be perfectly
legitimate pleasures, but if your pleasures are merely the
temporal pleasures of this world, they're the pleasures of a fool.
Now, I want you to be sure you understand Pleasure is not sinful. I almost would say what Martin
Luther said. He said, if you're not allowed
to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there. Pleasure's alright.
It's alright to enjoy life. It's alright to have pleasure. There's nothing wrong with that.
But what I am saying is this. The pleasure of the world is
the pleasure of fools. If you're without Christ, Will
you listen to me for a minute? If you're without Christ, if
you're unconverted, the pleasures you seek and the pleasures you
enjoy are the pleasures of a fool. Those are strong words, but they're
exactly true. Exactly true. You see, the pleasures
of the world are never satisfying. Never. They pretend to satisfy
When Satan tempts you to do evil, when he tempts you or he tempts
you and attempts to draw you into the pursuit of some wicked
pleasure, he whispers to you, stolen waters are sweet and bread
eaten in secret is pleasant. I talked to a couple of my buddies,
young fellas. You don't need to know who they
are. They're not from around here. None of your sons and daughters. During our conference, I watched
them. I watched these two teenage boys walk down the road, walk
down there to the bridge, sneak down under the bushes. And I
said to the folks standing beside me, I said, those boys go down
there and smoke them cigarettes. And when I saw them a couple
of weeks ago, I put my arms around both their necks and I said,
boys, conference a couple of weeks
ago, I saw y'all going down the road, down the bridge there,
and going down under the bridge, and I hollered at you, you better
hide good, we can still see you. I said, you boys go down there
and smoke, weren't you? The boy looked at him, looked
at the other one, they both looked at me, he said, how'd you know?
I said, because I've been there. Stolen waters are sweet, so the
devil says. Sneak off and do it. Sneak off
and do it. That'll be good. But once you
get it, how bitter they are. Once you get it, how bitter they
are. Doesn't matter what the stolen waters are. Bread that's eaten in secret,
that's pleasant bread. But when you actually taste the
stolen waters and the bread of wickedness, you soon discover
otherwise. Listen to what the wise man says.
Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that
mirth is heaviness. What on earth does that mean?
Even in your pleasure there's heaviness. Though there's a smile
on your lips and you pretend you're having such a good time
and you think, boy, things are going so well. There's a cloud
in your soul that you cannot get rid of. There's heaviness
in your heart that you cannot remove. Am I telling the truth? Older and younger alike, am I
telling the truth? You know I am. I know whereof I speak. I know
this, whosoever drinketh of this water. What's he talking about? All
that this world provides shall thirst again. You're never going
to get any satisfaction here. Whosoever drinketh of this water
shall thirst again. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter
2. Let me show you something. Ecclesiastes chapter 2. The wise man Solomon is speaking. He says, I said in mine heart,
go to now, I will prove thee with mirth. That is, I'll prove
thee with happiness. I will prove thee, therefore
enjoy pleasure, and behold, this also is vanity. What? Happiness? Vanity? Pleasure? Vanity? How can that be? I said
of laughter, it's mad, and of mirth, what doeth it? He says
in verse 3, I sought in mine heart to give myself to wine.
I tried that. In verse 4 he says, I gave, made
me great works. In verse 5 he says, I got, or
verse 6, or 7 rather, he says, I got servants and I had great
possessions. In verse 8, I gathered silver
and gold. I had singers, men's singers
and women's singers and delights and instruments and merriment.
In verse 9, I was great. Everybody knew who Solomon was. Verse 10, it says, whatsoever
mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. Everything I saw,
I took it. Everything I saw, everything
there was that I might want, I took it. I withheld not my
heart from any joy. None. For my heart rejoiced in all
my labor. And this was the portion of all
my labor. That is, this is what I got for
it all. Then I looked on all the works
that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored
to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there
was no profit under the sun. In other words, I found no satisfaction. No satisfaction. Even in laughter, the heart is
sorrowful, and in the end of that mirth is heaviness." Young
people, particularly, I have you in mind. I have in mind you children, teenagers,
Faith, Michelle, and Tanya, the kids over here. I'm not I'm not
suggesting, and I'm not telling you, have no pleasure in life. You know better than that. You
know better than that. What I am saying is the pleasure
of this world will never satisfy you. It never does. I do know
whereof I speak. The pleasures of this world at
best are just very brief. Listen to what Solomon says again
in Ecclesiastes 7. in the seventh chapter of Ecclesiastes. It'd be wise for you to read
this book real often. It'd keep things in perspective
if the Spirit of God give you eyes to understand, or a heart
to understand it. In Ecclesiastes 7 and verse 6, Solomon says it's
better to go down to the funeral parlor than go to the party.
And this is the reason, he says in verse 6, Verse 5, it is better
to hear the rebuke of the wise than for man to hear the song
of fools. For as the crackling of thorns
under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity. What on earth is he talking about?
Well, if you're going to cook, and we don't cook with wood stoves
anymore, but if you're going to cook, you want to cook on
a stove, You still got a pot hanging in your big fireplace,
don't you Rex? Well, you used to have. You go over there, you're
going to cook enough. You don't go out and gather a
bunch of briars and stick them in there and set a fire. That's
not how you cook. If you did, you'd have a blaze
and it'd be gone just like that. You'd sack up some wood and build
it. Now Solomon says that the laughter of fools in this world
is just like the fire that's caused by burning thorns. It's
gone. It blazes quick and it's gone
just as quick. You see, our days and years upon
this little ball of clay called Earth is very brief. Just the
kick of a clock compared with eternity. And it'll end like
that. I told Faith last week, and I
tell you other people now, God gave her a good warning in
Providence last week. That rock wall could just as
well have been a cliff. She could just as well be in
her grave today, and in eternity today, as sitting here today.
The same is true with Taja and Jay. God warns us. over and over again. Life here
is just brief. I mean just brief. And he takes
it out just as quickly as he will at the time he's ordained.
You'll be wise to learn that. And beyond this life, whatever pleasure you have here,
whatever joy you have here, beyond this life is hell. and there's not any pleasure
in hell. There's none there. Moses found out by the teaching
of God's Spirit that the pleasures of sin are only for a season. He chose rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season. You who choose to live without
Christ do have pleasure, I grant you that. And maybe you have found what
I could not find. I sought pleasure everywhere
there was to find it. In my rebellion and obstinacy
against God, against all authority, against mom and dad and everybody
around me who had any authority, I sought pleasure everywhere
it could be found. And it lasted about as long as
Drink a water and I'll go find some pleasure somewhere else. But it's definitive. And maybe
you found pleasure that lasted a little longer. But your pleasure,
though it may seem to be a brilliant blaze now, is but a blaze that
quickly dies. For as the crackling of thorns
under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool. You laugh on, if you
will. You live on without Christ if
you dare, but your pleasure is soon going to be over. And the
pleasures of the world will be ended suddenly without warning. In Psalm 73, David did what you
and I often do. We don't talk about it. David
was more honest than we are. David ended the prosperity of
the fool. He envied the prosperity of the
wicked. He looked out over his castle wall and he saw his neighbor,
a neighbor who hated God and had no regard for the things
of God. And there he sat eating out on the patio, I suppose.
And all of his clans and his daughter-in-laws and his daughters
and sons-in-laws and his children and his grandchildren, his wife,
all of them were gathered around the table. Everything was going
so well. No trouble in his house. David's children were nothing
but pain to him. Here's this man with nothing
but pleasure, prosperity, and wealth, and he hates God. Here's
David with nothing but pain and sorrow in his house, and he loves
God. And David said, well, it's foolish
to serve God. It's not profiting me anything. And then he says,
he went into the house of God, and he says, I understood their
end. Now look what it says in verse
18. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places. Thou castest
them down to destruction." When I lived in West Virginia,
I frequently was outside when it was sub-zero temperature. I'd been there for a long time.
And you'd have ice that you just simply couldn't get up. If you
worked hard enough at it, you could. But you'd have ice on
the sidewalks. And you just got a place you'd feel comfortable
walking on. And you'd take your time. And take your real easy
old man steps. You know, just shuffle along.
And feeling pretty secure. And all of a sudden, you're gone.
Feet slip right out from under you. And your pleasures today
will be your tormentors in eternity. Look at another text in this
regard in Ecclesiastes chapter 11. Here you are, you have so much
pleasure in this life. God's given you peace. Peaceful
home. Prosperous family. Prosperous
society to live in. Live here with every advantage
known to man sitting at your fingertips, every one of them.
I was talking to Michelle before Bible class this morning. She
said, Larry, stop going to school. Honey, there's not another country
in the world where folks have the options that are set before
you. I mean, I'm serious now. There's not another country in
the world where a kid can sit down and decide whether she wants
to go to school in any of 50 states, in any city in those
states. There are no options. I mean,
everything is at your fingertips. Everything. But with all these pleasures,
understand that which is not improved for your soul's good
and the glory of God, God will bring you into judgment. Look
what it says. Ecclesiastes 11 verse 9. Rejoice,
O young man, in thy youth. That's what a young man's supposed
to do. Rejoice! You're young, you're strong.
Rejoice in your youth. and let your heart cheer you
in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart
and in the sight of thine eyes. But while you do, know thou that
for all these things God will bring thee into judgment." What's he saying? God will bring
you into judgment for every pleasure you have chosen in preference
to Christ. That's what he's saying. You young people, you men and
women here, you're not like the fellow down
the road. You've heard and been warned and been called. Don't you let anything keep you
from Christ. And whatever it is that keeps you from Christ,
God will bring you into judgment for it. Do you really imagine
that God will not bring you into judgment? You say, well, preacher,
what's the harm in this? I'm not hurting anybody. I'm
just having a good time in life. I'm just enjoying life. I'm just
taking advantage of things set before me. I'm just enjoying
the provisions that have been laid out before me. What's the
harm? You choose these things and hold Christ in contempt.
You choose these things and trample underfoot the blood of Christ.
You choose these things and despise His righteousness. You choose
these pleasures and despise the grace of God. You think God will
not bring you into judgment? I'm here to warn you, He will
bring you into judgment for every idle word. That is, for every
word or thought that you choose in preference to Christ. Is that
right, Linda? That's what He's saying. Is it not contempt of Christ
to find your pleasure away from him? The pleasures of this world are
the pleasures of a fool. And my heart aches for young
folks and old folks alike as I watch men and women. It's unbelievable. But I watch
men and women, I've been watching it for 25 years now. I watch
them continually. They have set before them the
pleasures of this world. And Jesus Christ, many who profess
faith in him and claim to walk with him and have for a long
time walked in open profession of him. But after a while, oh,
the world begins to look so good. Begins to look so good. I've watched many of you struggle,
struggle hard just to make the ends meet and get by. And I pray God will start to
make life a little easier for all of you. Make it a little easier. I'm
serious. I pray for you that way. I call your name before
God. You struggle, I pray that God
will help you through your struggles. And then you begin to prosper
a little bit. And I call your name before God
again. God, don't let them prosper too much. Don't give them too
much. Lest they depart from thee. Because
I've seen many, many I've seen lots of folks, lots of folks
in times of great need. They work 50, 60 hours a week
and they're there all the time just sitting and hungry for the
word. They need something to help them get through the next
day and they just keep clogging along. They drive miles to get
to hear the gospel and be with God's people. But now, well now
I've got money in the bank, got bread on the table, kids are
all well fed and well clothed. Everything going well, got a
nice house, got a nice car, believe it'll get a little bit bigger.
Need to put some more money in the bank. Need to have better
clothes for the kids. Need to have a finer automobile. And so they go pursuing after
more. And if that's what you want, Bob, that's what you want, God'll
give it to you. God'll give it to you. I'm just telling you truth. If
what you want is this world, God will give you this world,
and you'll burn with this world. I promise you. I promise you. I pray that God will keep you
from wanting it. The pleasures of this world are
the pleasures of a fool. The rich young man in the parable
had sitting before him Jesus Christ, the Son of God, eternal
life and salvation. There he is. There he is. God's standing right in front
of him. God's standing right in front of him. I mean as close
to him as I am in this microphone. Standing right in front of him.
Oh, but he had his riches. And the Lord Jesus demands, he
demands, if you follow him, he's going to be your He's going to
rule your life. So he says this rich young ruler
said, take what you got, sell it, start giving it away. And that rich young ruler counted
his $25, $30, $1, $2. He counted his $32 and said,
no, I can't part with that. I can't part with a picture of
your head more than that. No, he didn't. No, he didn't. It don't matter what's thirty-two,
thirty-two thousand, thirty-two cents. It all comes from God. He said, I believe I have mine.
You can have you. That rich man in the parable
gathered up his stories and said, I'm going to tear down my barns
and build bigger barns. And I'm going to lay myself up
much good and I'm going to say, so take my knees, eat, drink,
and be merry. God said, you fool. You fool. your soul can be required of
you. All who choose the world and
despise Christ are fools, just fools. Now let me talk to you
for just a minute about true pleasure, the pleasures of the
believer. Turn back to Psalm 16. I told
you earlier this was a Psalm spoken by our Lord Jesus, but
it is also a psalm spoken by David. As it was with Christ,
so it is with all who follow him. Every believer has his peculiar
sorrows, sorrows the world knows nothing of, and yet every believer
has a pleasantness possessing his soul that the world cannot
understand. You can and do say with the Lord
Jesus, The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places. Yea, I
have a goodly heritage. You who follow Christ, will you
bear me record? Is this not true? His ways are
ways of pleasantness. All his paths are peace. All of them. All of them. I've been walking in his ways
now by the grace of God since I was 16 years old. Before that,
I walked in my ways. And my ways were misery and sorrow
and disappointment and frustration and bitterness and emptiness
And I've been walking in his ways. And you know, along the
way, I've experienced a lot of frustration and a lot of sorrow,
a lot of bitterness, a lot of pain, a lot of difficulty. But I'm going to tell you something. His ways are ways of blessing. I've never regretted for a second
walking in his ways. Even when the cup I had to drink
was a bitter cup. Even when the path I had to walk
in was a dark path. Or how can you say that his ways
are always the ways of pleasantness? And his paths are all paths of
peace. Well, they are ways of pleasantness
because They are the ways of blood atonement. You who have believed have received
the atonement. Now I want to tell you something.
Here I am a man deserving of God's wrath under the curse of
God's law by nature and fully aware that if I had my just desserts,
hell will be my everlasting portion. But now through faith in Jesus
Christ, I've received atonement. I've received atonement. You're going to have a tough
time making me unpleasant. This is a pleasant way. I have
peace with God. Through the blood of Christ,
I walk in a path that shines and beams with forgiveness. The Son of God says to me, thy
sins are forgiven thee. One of the old writers said,
this is the first sip of the cup of blessing in eternal glory. Forgiven sin. Well, it doesn't
matter what lies in the path, my sins forgiven. As long as
God won't charge me with sin. You who are born of God's Spirit,
who walk in the ways of Christ, are walking in the way of free
justification received from the throne of God. One day, like
the publican, I cried, God be merciful to me, the sinner. God
be propitious to me through the blood of Jesus Christ. And you
know what? I went down to my house justifying.
I went home with justification. Brother Ed Hale had a story he
wrote called, A Pardon in My Pocket. I went home with a pardon
in my pocket. God said, you're forgiven. I've made you righteous.
I've given you the righteousness of my Son. And though you have your storms,
Christ comes to you in your storm. Go home and read Matthew 24.
The disciples were out at sea, and the storm began to rage.
And their little ship was tossed here and there. And they were
up all night long. And then in the fourth watch
of the night, the Lord Jesus came walking to them on the storm.
And he said, be not afraid, it is I. It's me. That is, here I am with you in
your storm. And though you have your storms,
and though the winds of this world are contrary to you, the
Lord Jesus comes to you in the midst of storms. And he gives
you his presence. He promises you, I will never
leave you nor forsake you. He protects you with the hand
of his power. He that keepeth Israel neither
slumbers nor sleeps. And you have his blessed providence
knowing that even the storm will do you good. You have his grace. Grace to meet every need. I don't know what lies in the
way. I don't know what's out yonder
in the future. I don't know what foe I'm going
to have to face. I don't know what temptation I'm going to
have to endure. I don't know what trial I'm going to have
to go through. But, buddy, whatever it is, I know his grace is sufficient. That makes the way pleasant.
ways of pleasantness. And the believer's pleasures
are true pleasures because they're eternal pleasures. Drink of the waters of this world,
you'll thirst again. But whosoever shall drink of
the water that Jesus Christ gives, the water of grace and life everlasting,
he shall never thirst again. ever thirst again. What's that
mean? That means he wouldn't go back
to the old waters for anything in the world. He's got what he
wants. He's got what he needs. He's
got Christ. And his ways are ways of pleasantness. Mary, she chose that good part
which the Lord Jesus said shall not be taken away from her. All
earthly pleasures may, indeed they must be taken away from
us. Money, help, family, friends, all those things, all of them.
Shelby and I were talking about you the other day, Bill. Forgive
me if I embarrass you. Worked for 18 years for HECS.
Got your retirement. Everything's offset. Everything's
offset. Did a good job. All gone. All gone. Like that. Just like that. As such, Bob, got a good picture. But all of it's going to be gone.
Some he takes early, some he takes later. But all these, all
these earthly pleasures, all the things for which men live
and work and labor, everything must be taken from us. These
things are just temporal. But we who have embraced the
Lamb of God by faith have that good thing which shall never
be taken from us. For we have Christ who is life,
who is all, and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore. May God graciously put you in
the way which is the way of pleasantness. Christ Jesus our Lord, his ways
are ways of pleasantness, all his paths are peace. Amen.