Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / When Simple Faith Erodes │ Msg 914 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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When Simple Faith Erodes │ Msg 914 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Divided loyalties are nothing new. It's not uncommon, for example,
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Speaker 1: to find people who were formerly single minded, committed to
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Speaker 1: the core, with their full allegiance given to one major objective,
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Speaker 1: But as time passed and one compromise led to another,
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Speaker 1: they became distracted, leaving their loyalty diluted and divided. This
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Speaker 1: lure of lesser loyalties our own desires apart from the lords,
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Speaker 1: is a powerful magnet, drawing many from the ranks of
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Speaker 1: holy living. The lure of these loyalties may be so
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Speaker 1: strong that we convince ourselves they're harmless, if not worthwhile pursuits.
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Speaker 1: But no matter how sincerely we may believe in the
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Speaker 1: value of these things, if they divide our hearts, listen carefully.
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Speaker 1: If they divide our hearts, they are not from God. Insightfully,
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Speaker 1: Jesus did not leave this stone unturned as he spoke
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Speaker 1: on the mount centuries ago. Realizing the beast of greed,
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Speaker 1: and it is a beast, a beast within all of us,
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Speaker 1: he chose not to ignore it, but to expose it
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Speaker 1: and warn against its ravenous appetite. Every genuine disciple of
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ must come to terms with this question. Which
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Speaker 1: master will I serve? Listen carefully as I read. Jesus
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Speaker 1: answer to this question is recorded in his Sermon on
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Speaker 1: the Mount. I'll be reading from the New Living Translation Matthew,
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Speaker 1: Chapter six, verses nineteen through twenty four. Don't store up
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Speaker 1: treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust
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Speaker 1: destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store
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Speaker 1: your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy,
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Speaker 1: and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your
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Speaker 1: treasure is there, the desires of your heart will also be.
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Speaker 1: Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body.
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Speaker 1: When your eye is good, your whole body is filled
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Speaker 1: with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole
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Speaker 1: body is filled with darkness. And if the light you
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Speaker 1: think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is.
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Speaker 1: No one can serve two masters, for you will hate
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Speaker 1: one and love the other. You will be devoted to
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Speaker 1: one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God
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Speaker 1: and money. Come, thou, fount of every blessing. Tune my
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Speaker 1: heart to sing thy grace, streams of mercy, never ceasing.
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Speaker 1: Call for songs of loudest praise, teach me some melodious
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Speaker 1: sonnet sung by flaming tongues above praise the mount. I'm
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Speaker 1: fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love. Down through
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Speaker 1: the centuries, I believe that has been the credo of
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Speaker 1: Christians who claim to walk close with Jesus Christ. How
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Speaker 1: many many believers since our Lord Jesus walked on this
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Speaker 1: earth have searched for the right word words to fit
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Speaker 1: into the sonnets that are sung in celestial places by
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Speaker 1: the serapheme and the Cherubim that flood the Father's throne.
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Speaker 1: How often you and I have been caught up in
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Speaker 1: the praise of the moment and search for a song
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Speaker 1: or an expression of loudest praise. And how much we
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Speaker 1: who follow Christ want that theme to be our theme,
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Speaker 1: his redeeming love, and fixed upon the mount that is
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Speaker 1: firmly established in our faith. But the fact remains that
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Speaker 1: some who once walked with the Lord have been lured
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Speaker 1: to a lesser loyalty. Somehow that song of loudest praise
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Speaker 1: has soured in their lips, and they who sang to
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Speaker 1: Him and searched for ways to express their their praise
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Speaker 1: no longer do So. This is nothing new. In fact,
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Speaker 1: if you trace the record, you will see that even
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Speaker 1: before Jesus' hands were nailed to the cross, many of
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Speaker 1: his disciples had forsook him, and by the time he
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Speaker 1: was bleeding, they had fled, every one of them. Paul
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Speaker 1: felt so strongly about it that he said of one
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Speaker 1: of his colleagues named Demus, he loved this present world,
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Speaker 1: and therefore he has deserted me. That's a strong word.
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Speaker 1: Demus maybe sang songs of loudest praise at the school
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Speaker 1: of Tyrannus or along the roads as Paul walked, and
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Speaker 1: asked them to join him in songs from the Psalter.
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Speaker 1: But something happened that lured Demus away, and by and
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Speaker 1: by his song was in the minor key. I checked
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Speaker 1: even before the cross, and I found that there was
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Speaker 1: a man named Gehezi, a rather obscure name from the
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Speaker 1: Old Testament, a servant of a prophet named Elisha, and
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Speaker 1: after Elisha had healed them a wealthy commander. The commander
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Speaker 1: offered a reward, and Elisha said no, I could not
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Speaker 1: accept that. But geheziz I was lured by the things
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Speaker 1: that the rich man offered, and late one evening in deception.
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Speaker 1: He slipped away, and he lied to the commander, and
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Speaker 1: he smelled them and held them, and stole away into
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Speaker 1: the night, only to be found out by Elisha. And
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Speaker 1: the scripture tells us that he was made a leper
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Speaker 1: as white as snow. Joe Ab is another. He lived
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Speaker 1: in the shadow of David, the Great King, the valiant warrior,
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Speaker 1: but was the senior associate of David. He was the
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Speaker 1: right hand man in battle. Joe Ab described by one
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Speaker 1: man as not only valiant, but vicious and mean by
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Speaker 1: and by began to fight his own battles and finally
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Speaker 1: departed from the loyalty to David, and rather than being
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Speaker 1: buried in Israel's Arlington National Cemetery, he was buried in
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Speaker 1: his little cabin in the wilderness in Infamy. Part of
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Speaker 1: the reason we are lured to a lesser loyalty is
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Speaker 1: we think we can live our lives and seek and
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Speaker 1: the secret part of our lives will never take its
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Speaker 1: toll on us. We think, we feel that somehow we
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Speaker 1: can sing songs of loudest praise when Sunday worship comes,
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Speaker 1: but through the week it doesn't matter that much if
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Speaker 1: we weaken a bit, if we compromise a little. If
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Speaker 1: we deceive here and there after all everybody does it.
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Speaker 1: How important it is for us to remember we live
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Speaker 1: our lives as an open book before our God. Tucked
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Speaker 1: away in the Letter to the Hebrews is a verse
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Speaker 1: that has been forgotten because it lives in the shadow
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Speaker 1: of a greater verse just before it Hebrews four, verse twelve.
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Speaker 1: Many Christians can quote from heart the word of God
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Speaker 1: is alive and active, and sharper than any two edged sword,
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Speaker 1: piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,
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Speaker 1: of the joints and the marrow. It is a discerner.
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Speaker 1: It is a critic of the thoughts and the intentions
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Speaker 1: of the heart. But do you know what Verse thirteen says,
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Speaker 1: Let's look Hebrews chapter four, verse thirteen. After telling us
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Speaker 1: that God's word exposes the thoughts and the intentions of
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Speaker 1: the heart, the writer then says, and there is no
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Speaker 1: creature hidden from his sight. But all things are open
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Speaker 1: and laid bare, made naked. All things are open and
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Speaker 1: naked to the eyes of Him with whom we have
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Speaker 1: to do. There is no such thing as a secret
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Speaker 1: thought before God. There is no secret curiosity there is
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Speaker 1: no private passion. Oswald Chambers in his fine book My
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Speaker 1: Utmost for his Highest serves notice on all of us
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Speaker 1: always remain alert to the fact where one has gone
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Speaker 1: back is exactly where anyone may go back. You have
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Speaker 1: gone through the big crisis. Now be alert over the
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Speaker 1: least things. Take into calculation the retired spheres of the leasts.
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Speaker 1: I have read nowhere else in my life that phrase,
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Speaker 1: the retired spheres of the least. Have you the little things,
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Speaker 1: the little thoughts, the quiet curiosities, the silent imaginations, the
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Speaker 1: quiet covetousness. None of it is exposed. It hasn't ever
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Speaker 1: talked about. We just entertain it. And before long we
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Speaker 1: are pulled from that mountain upon which we were fixed,
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Speaker 1: and we're sliding, sliding fast. While doctor will Houghten was
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Speaker 1: President of Moody Bible Institute, he was addressing a packed
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Speaker 1: house at the famed founder's gathering for that week late
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Speaker 1: one morning. To the surprise of many and his congregation,
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Speaker 1: that morning, they heard him tell story of an otherwise
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Speaker 1: unknown conversation between himself and his predecessor, doctor James M. Gray. Gray,
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Speaker 1: a godly man, as was Houghton, had been in conference
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Speaker 1: ministry with doctor Houghton, and when they began to make
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Speaker 1: plans to depart, they met together for a time of prayer.
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Speaker 1: Will Houghten tells of the prayer of James M. Gray.
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Speaker 1: In it, he said, and Lord, help me not to
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Speaker 1: become a wicked old man. Who would have ever thought
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Speaker 1: that James M. Gray would have a wicked thought? Every
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Speaker 1: one of us lives, our lives with the possibility of
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Speaker 1: becoming a wicked old person. Every one of us. No
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Speaker 1: one is immune to the lure of the lesser loyalty.
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Speaker 1: Even though the eyes of the Lord moved to and
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Speaker 1: fro upon the earth, that he may strongly support those
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Speaker 1: whose heart is truly his. First chronicles a second chronicle
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Speaker 1: sixteen to nine. He probes the earth to find those
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Speaker 1: whose hearts are truly his, says the writer. There is
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Speaker 1: still the possibility that those who now sing praises on
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Speaker 1: high will one day sing no more. I think some
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Speaker 1: of you listening right now may be in that category.
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Speaker 1: You see burning up from the page of Scripture. That
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Speaker 1: your life is open and naked to the eyes of
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Speaker 1: Him with whom you have to do, and you're pierced
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Speaker 1: with guilt. You feel exposed. Jesus spoke of that same
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Speaker 1: truth in his Sermon on the Mountain, Chapter six of Matthew.
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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, it forms the basis of
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Speaker 1: what he says in the paragraph we're looking at today.
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Speaker 1: Maybe you have forgotten it. Over the passing of a
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Speaker 1: number of hours since we last met together, you forgot that.
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Speaker 1: He warns all of us in chapter six, verse one,
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Speaker 1: to beware of practicing our righteousness as though doing a
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Speaker 1: performance before men to be noticed by them. Now we
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Speaker 1: never announce we're doing that. We never say watch me,
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Speaker 1: look at me while I sing with pious looks this
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Speaker 1: song of praise. But deep in the heart there can
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Speaker 1: be that hidden motive that says, I want to impress them.
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Speaker 1: Why he tells us verse four, give in secret, that
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Speaker 1: your alms may be in secret, and your father, who
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Speaker 1: sees in secret, will repay you. I have that underline
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Speaker 1: he sees in secret. A little further verse six, speaking
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Speaker 1: of prayer, he concludes his thought in verse six with
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Speaker 1: your father, who sees in secret, will repay you. And
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Speaker 1: when it comes to fasting, don't put on a show.
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Speaker 1: Verse eighteen concludes, your father, who sees in secret, will
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Speaker 1: repay you. Jesus is the one who says, in verse eight,
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Speaker 1: do not be like them, For your father knows you
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Speaker 1: have a need, even before you ask. He sees in secret,
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Speaker 1: he knows your needs. No reason to parade and perform.
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Speaker 1: With that in mind, Jesus turns to a subject that
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Speaker 1: would be a hidden issue when he speaks of laying
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Speaker 1: up treasures, whether on earth or in heaven. I have
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Speaker 1: never met anyone who posted a sign on his front
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Speaker 1: door or on his office that said, these are my treasures.
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Speaker 1: And then he lists him are hidden things. They're not
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Speaker 1: things we display. That is, we hope not to discerning
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Speaker 1: eyes often spot treasures on display. But treasures are things
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Speaker 1: of the heart. They are in the realm of the unseen.
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Speaker 1: They're that part of the iceberg that is submerged. I'm impressed,
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Speaker 1: for example, with the contrast in this part of his sermon.
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Speaker 1: Contrasts make things very very clear. Look for example at
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Speaker 1: verse nineteen, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.
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Speaker 1: Look at verse twenty four. No one can serve two masters.
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Speaker 1: I see a contrast. The first is a command, do
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Speaker 1: not lay up for yourselves treasures. But the last part
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Speaker 1: of the of the sermon here is you cannot serve.
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Speaker 1: There's no command there. I take it that when you
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Speaker 1: are submerged under the service of a master, you're addicted
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Speaker 1: to him, and you cannot serve both. You can only
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Speaker 1: serve one. He's not speaking of employment. He's speaking of slavery.
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Speaker 1: We may work for several people, but in the days
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Speaker 1: of slavery, you are only owned by one. There isn't
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Speaker 1: a multiple ownership. There aren't multiple lordships. That's a contrast.
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Speaker 1: We'll look at the command as well as the fact
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Speaker 1: a little later. Look at another contrast. Do not lay
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Speaker 1: up for yourselves treasures on earth verse twenty, but lay
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Speaker 1: for yourselves treasures in heaven. That's very clear. They stand
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Speaker 1: in as opposites to one another. Look at twenty two.
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Speaker 1: The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore
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Speaker 1: your eye is clear, your whole body will be full
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Speaker 1: of light. But in contrast, if your eye is blind,
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Speaker 1: if you have bad eyesight, the whole body is full
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Speaker 1: of darkness. Another contrast, light darkness, good eyesight, blindness. All
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Speaker 1: of it to point out the folly of choosing the
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Speaker 1: wrong thing in the heart, so that in the passing
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Speaker 1: of time it becomes an act of the will. Let's
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Speaker 1: look closer. Look first at the treasure what we possess.
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Speaker 1: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth where
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Speaker 1: moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal.
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Speaker 1: That describes anything that has a price tag. That makes
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Speaker 1: it simple, doesn't it. This has to do with nothing
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Speaker 1: that's free. It has to do with only that which
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Speaker 1: men have made, invented, produced, manufactured, sold, and bought, all
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Speaker 1: the things that one can see. It has nothing to
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Speaker 1: do with the invisible. Only the visible, that which can
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Speaker 1: be invaded by moth or termite or rats, That which
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Speaker 1: can be consumed by rust, or the deterioration of the elements,
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Speaker 1: the weather, the salt sea, the wind, fire, and thieves.
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Speaker 1: Those are the things on earth, The things that you
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Speaker 1: must put an alarm system on, that you must buy
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Speaker 1: insurance for, that you must guard from invasion. Yes, the
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Speaker 1: things we drive, the things we idolize, things on earth.
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Speaker 1: Jesus directly states, don't set your affection, don't lay up
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Speaker 1: for yourselves treasures on earth. Now, wait a minute, hold it.
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Speaker 1: I can just hear some thoughts coming from well meaning
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Speaker 1: minds that are saying, ah, I told him not to
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Speaker 1: buy insurance or I knew all along that people shouldn't
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Speaker 1: have things. I mean, what right does anybody have to
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Speaker 1: enjoy anything? Everything on this earth is going to burn up.
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Speaker 1: You will find nothing here from Jesus' lips attacking possessions. Here,
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Speaker 1: nor anywhere else in scripture are private possessions attacked. Jesus
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Speaker 1: does not attack the ownership of things. Second, Here, nor
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Speaker 1: anywhere else in scripture will you find planning for the
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Speaker 1: future attacked. As a matter of fact, he tells us
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Speaker 1: in Proverbs to go to the ant watch him work,
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Speaker 1: see how he lays up for a rainy day. We're
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Speaker 1: told over in the New Testament that if you don't
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Speaker 1: provide for your own, you're worse than an infidel. And
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Speaker 1: you should look down on those who deliberately are slothful,
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Speaker 1: and we should challenge them, bring them to the place
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Speaker 1: of work once again, so that they earned their way
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Speaker 1: and provide for their own. I would say without hesitation
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Speaker 1: that if Jesus lived on earth today as you and
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Speaker 1: I live, with the frame of reference we have, he
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Speaker 1: probably would have owned insurance as well, though his future
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Speaker 1: was rather secure, I would say, and those of his own.
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Speaker 1: The third thing I noticed is that Jesus is not
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Speaker 1: attacking having pleasure in things. One Timothy six seventeen says,
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Speaker 1: he gives us all things, get this richly to enjoy.
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Speaker 1: Isn't it funny how legalism does a number on us?
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Speaker 1: Haven't you been in a wonderful place enjoying the beauty
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Speaker 1: and the comfort and the delight of it? And you
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Speaker 1: get a little twinge of guilt? Some of you say, no,
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Speaker 1: that's never happened to me. Man I enjoyed completely. Oh
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Speaker 1: I have, and I think most of us have. Should
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Speaker 1: we really be enjoying this? Should it be this nice?
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Speaker 1: Should it be something that brings this much delight? He
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Speaker 1: tells us, he gives us all things richly to enjoy.
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Speaker 1: Then what in the world is he attacking? He is
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Speaker 1: denouncing the selfish accumulation of more and more and more.
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Speaker 1: He is assaulting the extravagant and insensitive life of the unconcerned,
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Speaker 1: the miser who always wants more, and the materialist who
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Speaker 1: is never satisfied. He's attacking hoarding more than you need.
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Speaker 1: He is attacking wanting more than you must have. That's
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Speaker 1: what he's attacking. And all of this comes from the
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Speaker 1: inner person. What I'm calling or what he is calling
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Speaker 1: the heart. Where your treasure is thereere will your heart be.
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Speaker 1: I've had some fine young Christians ask me on occasion,
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Speaker 1: how can I tell what my idols are? How can
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Speaker 1: I know if it's idolatrous? And I will often say,
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Speaker 1: they are the things you think about when you don't
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Speaker 1: think about anything. They are the things you are focusing
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Speaker 1: on when you should be focusing on that which is right.
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Speaker 1: Ever seen someone who had a car that possessed their
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Speaker 1: thoughts constantly was on their mind. They're the people who
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Speaker 1: park over the stripe in two places. They're the people
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Speaker 1: whose car you want to bomb if you could. They
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Speaker 1: are the ones who drive to an airport and park
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Speaker 1: and cover their car. They are the ones who focus
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Speaker 1: on it, whether they're in it or not. They watch it,
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Speaker 1: They pay attention to it. They care about every dot,
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Speaker 1: every dent, every spot. There's the focus on things. Nothing
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Speaker 1: wrong with having a car, or even a nice one.
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Speaker 1: Something is desperately wrong when the car has us. That's
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Speaker 1: the problem. That's setting up for yourselves a treasure on
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Speaker 1: earth where rust will take over someday, where thieves can
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Speaker 1: and indeed will break in. You wonder what's in the heart,
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Speaker 1: you wonder what your possibilities are turned to Matthew fifteen.
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Speaker 1: Just a moment here, please, Matthew fifteen, seventeen to twenty.
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Speaker 1: It doesn't make for comfortable listening, But I often say
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Speaker 1: that the desperate and deceitful condition of the heart is
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Speaker 1: like an inner sewage that runs through the system of
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Speaker 1: our lives. Of course, no one sees it. Sewage is
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Speaker 1: never on display, certainly not in cultured countries. And here
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Speaker 1: it is in Matthew fifteen, displayed for you, for everyone
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Speaker 1: to see. It's the it's the pipes that are down deep.
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Speaker 1: They are sunk below the surface of the streets. They're
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Speaker 1: never on display. Do you not understand fifteen seventeen that
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Speaker 1: everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach
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Speaker 1: and is eliminated. But the things that proceed out of
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Speaker 1: the mouth come from the heart, And those are the
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Speaker 1: things that defile a man. And if you wonder what
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Speaker 1: some of them are. Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications,
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Speaker 1: that's false, witness slanders. These are the things which defile
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Speaker 1: the man. But to eat with unwashed hands does not
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Speaker 1: defile the man. Back to Matthew six. You could add
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Speaker 1: to the list if you wished, deception, line idolatry, on
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Speaker 1: and on and on. The hidden things, the things that
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Speaker 1: draw us from the mount upon which we would otherwise
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Speaker 1: be fixed. The ones that silence are words of highest praise.
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Speaker 1: In fact, he says in verse twenty, lay up for yourselves,
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Speaker 1: not on earth, but treasures in heaven, where neither moth
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Speaker 1: nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in and steal.
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Speaker 1: There is nothing God gives you, nothing of eternal value
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Speaker 1: that can ever deteriorate, or be destroyed, or be devalued.
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Speaker 1: Nothing you have it. It's securely yours. Set your affection
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Speaker 1: upon that. Lay up your treasures in that realm. You
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Speaker 1: don't even have to protect it. It's yours to claim
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Speaker 1: and enjoy. Where your treasure is, your heart will be.
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Speaker 1: This may be a good time to do a little praisal,
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Speaker 1: do a little mental examination on yourself. Draw two columns
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Speaker 1: in your mind. On one side, place treasures on Earth.
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Speaker 1: On the other side, place in that column under the
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Speaker 1: heading treasures in Heaven. Put your list together. All of
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Speaker 1: us can list both sides. Certainly nothing wrong with anything
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Speaker 1: listed on the right, And for that matter, nothing necessarily
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Speaker 1: wrong with listed on the left things on earth. But
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Speaker 1: the question that must be written over it all is
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Speaker 1: where is your part? What gets your focus of attention,
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Speaker 1: What burns up most of your energy? What makes your
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Speaker 1: pulse increase today's terms, what turns you on? Luther wrote,
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Speaker 1: whatever the Gospel is taught and people seek to live
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Speaker 1: according to it, there are two terrible plagues that always arise.
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Speaker 1: One false preachers who corrupt the teaching, and then sir greed.
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Speaker 1: Sir greed, who obstructs right living. I'm going to level
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Speaker 1: with all of you and say I do not know
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Speaker 1: of an idol that is more in vogue in this
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Speaker 1: generation than greed. It's greater than lust. I believe it's
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Speaker 1: the top idol of our times, especially in the United
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Speaker 1: States of America. And I challenge you, as a young couple,
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Speaker 1: as a young single, as middle aged, regardless of your
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Speaker 1: marital status, as older and becoming an old man or woman,
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Speaker 1: I charge you to come to terms with greed. Take
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Speaker 1: a strong, honest look at your treasure and where your
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Speaker 1: heart is. You may find yourself woefully convicted. I am
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Speaker 1: not attacking having things. I have no biblical justification for
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Speaker 1: doing so, I am just doing my best to force
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Speaker 1: you into a mental world that your will will fight,
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Speaker 1: your emotions will fight because they want to be pleased,
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Speaker 1: And I want you to get in so there and
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Speaker 1: come to terms with idols, with earthly treasures, the places
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Speaker 1: that you have focused so much attention. God can hardly
30:15
Speaker 1: get yours today. Why did you get that second job,
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Speaker 1: Why are you choosing to work such long hours. Why
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Speaker 1: have you deliberately put your family on hold during this
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Speaker 1: time that you're playing your greed game with yourself? Why
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Speaker 1: is your name that important to you? Where your treasure is,
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Speaker 1: is your heart will be. Also, I'm not suggesting that
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Speaker 1: if you really are devoted, you go into the ministry.
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Speaker 1: I'm maverick enough to say that I think less ought
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Speaker 1: to be going into the ministry, more into business, more
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Speaker 1: into the realm of what we call the secular world.
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Speaker 1: Though I don't see a difference. I don't see life
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Speaker 1: divided into public and private, secular and sacred. It's all
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Speaker 1: an open place in the eyes of our God. My
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Speaker 1: hope is to see raised from this generation a young
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Speaker 1: group of Christians who will infiltrate our country and our
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Speaker 1: society and our world with a pure, beautiful message of
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Speaker 1: grace and honesty. I was thrilled to talk to a
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Speaker 1: young man following the early morning service this Sunday, and
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Speaker 1: I said, what are your plans? Well, I've just graduated
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Speaker 1: from law school. I said, what do you want to do?
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Speaker 1: He said, I want to be a man of integrity
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Speaker 1: who practices law. Is that magnificent. There isn't a career.
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Speaker 1: There isn't a job in the world where you cannot
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Speaker 1: have integrity. Every position cries for integrity. Certainly the ministry.
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Speaker 1: What a high calling to be a person who has
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Speaker 1: just graduated. Now, to be a person of integrity in
32:35
Speaker 1: whatever the work is makes no difference. Where your treasure
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Speaker 1: is there, your heart will be now. The process works
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Speaker 1: something like this, as we read on verse twenty two,
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Speaker 1: the body which entertains thoughts must have light in order
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Speaker 1: for the thoughts to come clear and to be acted upon.
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Speaker 1: So that requires the eye to bring the light in.
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Speaker 1: I'm giving you that as a preliminary to what we're
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Speaker 1: going to read. Our Lord is using anatomy to teach
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Speaker 1: us a deep spiritual truth. The lamp of the body
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Speaker 1: is the eye. If therefore your eye is clear, well,
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Speaker 1: the whole body will be full of light. Those of
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Speaker 1: us who are blessed with fairly good eyesight, some of
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Speaker 1: us with the help of lenses more like magnifying glasses.
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Speaker 1: It seems. I tell people that the last time I
33:37
Speaker 1: went to the ophthalmologist, I told him one more adjustment
33:41
Speaker 1: in my pupils will smoke when I look at these
33:43
Speaker 1: lights up here above me, and they are really getting thick,
33:48
Speaker 1: really thick. But I have good eyesight. When I have
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Speaker 1: my glasses on. Those of us with fairly good eyesight
33:56
Speaker 1: can even discern colors, shades of blue and shade of gray,
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Speaker 1: and shades of red and shades of green. We have
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Speaker 1: this wonderful ability, and the body can be flooded with
34:07
Speaker 1: an understanding thanks to two tiny little holes attached to
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Speaker 1: this miraculous internal mechanism called eyesight, And the body becomes
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Speaker 1: full of awareness as a result of those tiny little
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Speaker 1: holes that bring in the life. But if the eye
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Speaker 1: is bad, the inner being is in darkness, And he adds,
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Speaker 1: how great is the darkness? So dark can be the
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Speaker 1: inner soul of a human being that there's no longer
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Speaker 1: a conscience. You can't even make him feel guilty. There's
34:49
Speaker 1: no longer blushing, there's no longer a tear. There isn't
34:53
Speaker 1: a scale of values. Remember the proverb there is a
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Speaker 1: way that seems right unto a man. But the end
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Speaker 1: thereof are the ways of death. No one gets up
35:09
Speaker 1: in the morning thinking, there is no one who's right
35:11
Speaker 1: mind thinking let's see, how can I plan to die today?
35:14
Speaker 1: We get up thinking how great this day could be,
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Speaker 1: or the possibilities of the day, or what this day
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Speaker 1: could bring. But when you are surrounded by the darkness,
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Speaker 1: you think you're living in the light, But you're living
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Speaker 1: in the darkness. And how great is the darkness? How consuming?
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Speaker 1: How deceiving is the darkness? If therefore the light that
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Speaker 1: is in you is darkness. Verse twenty three closes, how
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Speaker 1: great is it? Martin Lloyd Jones, in his splendid work
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Speaker 1: on the Sermon on the Mound, calls this sins foul bondage.
36:06
Speaker 1: Only a Britisher could put it that well, sins foul bondage.
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Speaker 1: It's it's a bondage. And he has a wonderful insight
36:15
Speaker 1: into the problem. During the days of he gets credit
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Speaker 1: for this thought. During the days of our innocence, that
36:22
Speaker 1: is Adam and Eve's innocence. Things were in order. In
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Speaker 1: the mind. There was the mind which gave facts to
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Speaker 1: the body, which prompted the emotions to respond correctly, and
36:35
Speaker 1: the emotions signaled the will, which carried out the desires
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Speaker 1: and obedience followed. The mind learned, based upon the facts
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Speaker 1: of truth dictated to the emotions, the proper response, which
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Speaker 1: gave the will the green light to move ahead and obey.
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Speaker 1: When sins foul bondage occurred when man fell in the garden,
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Speaker 1: the first two were reversed, and we still live like that. Now.
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Speaker 1: What is first is what feels good? Does that sound current?
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Speaker 1: If it feels good, if it looks like what you
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Speaker 1: would want, if it gives you the big time, tingles,
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Speaker 1: if it excites, if it seems adventurous, if it's But
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Speaker 1: what about the facts? Oh no, no, with you with
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Speaker 1: the facts. Later, let's go with the way we feel.
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Speaker 1: We'll go with the flow. And then the Then the
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Speaker 1: emotions say to the mind, these are the facts, and
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Speaker 1: the mind prompts the will to disobey. Martin Lloyd Jones
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Speaker 1: defines it in four ways. Sin causes an entire disturbance
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Speaker 1: to the normal function. Second, sin blinds us in certain
37:52
Speaker 1: vital respects. Third, this is the best. Sin makes us
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Speaker 1: a slave of the things that were originally meant to serve. Forth,
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Speaker 1: sin entirely ruins us. Did you get the slavery part,
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Speaker 1: the thing that would shock us and keep us from it?
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Speaker 1: The addiction of the thing becomes our drive, and it
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Speaker 1: is indeed an addiction. I have talked with individuals, and
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Speaker 1: so have some of you, and I have worked with
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Speaker 1: them on the basis of logic, fact, evidence, truth, scripture, history, illustration,
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Speaker 1: person after person, and when I'm through, it's like a
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Speaker 1: stiff arm that says, don't bother me. I know what
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Speaker 1: I'm doing. What he is doing is serving the wrong master,
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Speaker 1: and the addiction has blinded him. The Matthew six twenty four.
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Speaker 1: You can't serve two masters. You cannot serve your greed
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Speaker 1: and your God at the same time. You will either
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Speaker 1: hate the one and love the other. Talk about contrasts,
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Speaker 1: or you will fall in love with one and despise
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Speaker 1: the other. You cannot. This is not a command, this
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Speaker 1: is a fact. Serve both you cannot. A couple of
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Speaker 1: thoughts kind of come to the top of my thinking
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Speaker 1: right now, have to do with the security of living
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Speaker 1: in the realm of truth. Think about them with me.
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Speaker 1: By living in truth, our options remain open. By living
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Speaker 1: in the realm of this light, the life light of Scripture,
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Speaker 1: the light of God's word, the light of His truth,
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Speaker 1: my options remain open. I've wrestled a bit with the
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Speaker 1: wording of that. Lest you misunderstand, here's what I mean.
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Speaker 1: In the realm of truth, I'm able to see both
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Speaker 1: truth and lie, both light and darkness, that which is
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Speaker 1: clear and that which is deceptive. But in the realm
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Speaker 1: of darkness and the realm of the lie, I cannot
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Speaker 1: see the truth. I have no other option. I become
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Speaker 1: victimized in my addiction, in sin's foul bondage. The secret,
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Speaker 1: of course, is making right choices every day. Hey, this
40:48
Speaker 1: is what I hadn't thought about before this week. You know,
40:51
Speaker 1: I could have begun to make choices in my mind
40:54
Speaker 1: this week. That is the beginning of my death if
40:59
Speaker 1: I'm not careful. That's how important every week is. Every
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Speaker 1: day is watch those choices, watch your decisions. Remember F. B.
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Speaker 1: Meyer's words. No one suddenly becomes base. No family suddenly
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Speaker 1: breaks apart, no home suddenly is fractured, no church suddenly splits,
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Speaker 1: no person suddenly becomes a cynic. No life suddenly jumps
41:30
Speaker 1: from the mountain of praise to the swamp. It's a
41:35
Speaker 1: slow process based on choices, and it is remarkable if
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Speaker 1: you do not stop yourself in the process. How the
41:46
Speaker 1: bad choice of last week doesn't look quite that bad
41:49
Speaker 1: this week. In fact, in a month's time, it looks
41:52
Speaker 1: like a good choice because it isn't nearly as bad
41:56
Speaker 1: as someone else you know who is really fallen into
42:00
Speaker 1: the bondage. Here's the second thought. By living in truth,
42:05
Speaker 1: our focus stays clear. The secret here is serving the
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Speaker 1: right master. I keep asking myself. Does this honor the Savior?
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Speaker 1: Does this exalt his name? Does this bring glory to him?
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Speaker 1: Does this lift him up? Will this be a pleasure
42:28
Speaker 1: in heaven when it is exposed before him and me?
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Speaker 1: Does this honor him? Now? The tragedy of all these
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Speaker 1: things I've said is that invariably there are some who
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Speaker 1: think I'm never going to become that wicked old man.
42:50
Speaker 1: I've had enough warnings, Chuck. I've heard the sermons, and
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Speaker 1: this is a theme I've heard you on before. I've
42:57
Speaker 1: seen the scriptures. I know the verse that says let
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Speaker 1: him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.
43:03
Speaker 1: I'm safe. Listen to this story. Robert Robinson was born
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Speaker 1: in England more than two hundred years ago. He lost
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Speaker 1: his father at an early age, and his widowed mother
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Speaker 1: sent the boy to London to learn a trade as
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Speaker 1: a barber. There he came under the persuasive influence of
43:26
Speaker 1: George Whitfield and was soundly converted and began at once
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Speaker 1: to study for the ministry. At twenty five he was
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Speaker 1: called to the pastorate of the Baptist Church in Cambridge,
43:39
Speaker 1: where he became quite popular. This was the beginning of
43:44
Speaker 1: a lapse into careless ways and his eventual succumbing to carnality.
43:54
Speaker 1: In the old coaching days, a lady seated on the
43:57
Speaker 1: stage coach was reading a little book with evident enjoyment.
44:01
Speaker 1: On one page of that volume she found special interest,
44:06
Speaker 1: and she consulted it from time to time. Turning to
44:11
Speaker 1: her fellow passenger, a gentleman who she presumed was acquainted
44:16
Speaker 1: with the subject of religion, she held the page open
44:20
Speaker 1: toward him, and, pointing to the hymns she had been reading,
44:24
Speaker 1: asked what he thought of it. The stranger looked at
44:27
Speaker 1: the first few lines come Thou fount of every blessing,
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Speaker 1: tune my heart to sing thy grace, streams of mercy,
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Speaker 1: never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise. He read
44:43
Speaker 1: no further. He turned away and endeavored to engage the
44:46
Speaker 1: lady's attention in something else, But she was not to
44:49
Speaker 1: be denied. Venturing another appeal, she told the man of
44:53
Speaker 1: the benefit she had received from that hymn and expressed
44:57
Speaker 1: her admiration for its message with them that overcome beyond
45:02
Speaker 1: the power of controlling his feelings. The stranger burst into tears, Madam,
45:09
Speaker 1: He said, I am the poor, unhappy man who wrote
45:15
Speaker 1: that hymn many years ago, and I would give a
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Speaker 1: thousand worlds if I had them to enjoy the feelings
45:24
Speaker 1: I then had. The stranger was Robert Robinson. How ironic
45:33
Speaker 1: in the end of the hymn, Robinson seemed to prophesy
45:37
Speaker 1: his own zigzag course when he wrote, Oh to Grace,
45:41
Speaker 1: how great a debtor. Daily, I am constrained to be
45:45
Speaker 1: let thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart
45:49
Speaker 1: to thee prone to wander lord, I feel it prone
45:55
Speaker 1: to leave the God I love, And so he did.
46:02
Speaker 1: Robert Robinson died in defeat at the age of fifty five,
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Speaker 1: a wicked old man. Let's bow together very quietly, please,
46:26
Speaker 1: this is a special moment. A servant named Gehesi, a
46:33
Speaker 1: warrior named joe Ab, an unknown Greek named Demus. Forgotten
46:41
Speaker 1: names yet not really. I think I have the ears
46:50
Speaker 1: of another Gahayese or Demas or joe Ab. Today I
46:56
Speaker 1: think the Lord is calling you into account. You haven't
47:03
Speaker 1: done something tragic enough to make a scandal. You're just
47:08
Speaker 1: making foolish choices about treasures on earth. You haven't maybe
47:15
Speaker 1: taken up living with someone else, but down deep inside
47:20
Speaker 1: you've thought about it. Haven't stolen a thing, But you've
47:24
Speaker 1: got a scheme in mind, and somehow the words of
47:32
Speaker 1: praise don't have the ring they used to have in
47:35
Speaker 1: your life. You're mouthing the false faith. Stop it. God
47:51
Speaker 1: has graciously given you to this moment to come to
47:54
Speaker 1: terms with that in your life that is full of darkness, sins,
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Speaker 1: foul bondage is not so strong in you as yet
48:07
Speaker 1: that you can't claim the rich grace of God to
48:11
Speaker 1: pull your free. But I must warn you you don't
48:17
Speaker 1: have forever. You don't have forever. Come to Him today,
48:28
Speaker 1: Come back to him today. I think there may be
48:32
Speaker 1: more of you who know the Lord Jesus in this
48:35
Speaker 1: plight than you who've never met the Savior. Hearing me
48:38
Speaker 1: right now, Jesus remember spoke these words to disciples, not unbelievers.
48:47
Speaker 1: We are the one who can lay up treasures on
48:50
Speaker 1: earth instead of heaven. The unbeliever has no choice until
48:58
Speaker 1: he comes to no Christ. There is no option. Everything
49:03
Speaker 1: the lost person does will be burned up and will
49:07
Speaker 1: hold him accountable. Today is the day to claim the
49:13
Speaker 1: forgiveness there is in the blood of Jesus Christ. That
49:18
Speaker 1: same blood that was given for us at Calvary remains
49:24
Speaker 1: to this very day through the centuries, the perfect detergent,
49:28
Speaker 1: the only thing that will wash sin away. Come to
49:35
Speaker 1: the cross. Today's your day. Today, Come thou fount of
49:50
Speaker 1: every blessing, and tune our hearts to sing your grace
50:00
Speaker 1: streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest
50:05
Speaker 1: praise our Father. Fixed upon this mountain, we give you
50:13
Speaker 1: our thanks for strength through hard times, for deliverance from
50:21
Speaker 1: what would otherwise have been a bondage, for hope to
50:26
Speaker 1: live beyond this day, For light that comes from the
50:32
Speaker 1: truth of your word, Lord, keep us from becoming a
50:40
Speaker 1: wicked old man or woman. May each day and each
50:45
Speaker 1: choice of the day, move us more toward Your will
50:52
Speaker 1: rather than from it, for jesus sake. Amen.
51:00
Speaker 2: Sedding message When Simple Faith Erodes was copyrighted in nineteen
51:04
Speaker 2: eighty eight, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
51:07
Speaker 2: fourteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved
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Speaker 2: worldwide