What is Watchfulness?

[Music] as the children are making their way back to their seats I invite you to turn with me and your copy of God's Word if you would turn with me we want to read a verse from the book of Hebrews this morning the book of Hebrews verse chapter two verse one hebrews chapter 2 let us read verse 1 before we pray this is the Word of God and I'm reading from the New King James translation but please follow along and whatever translation you have with you Hebrews chapter 2 verse 1 the Word of God reads therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away Amen let us pray and ask God's help this morning if you would bow with me let's seek God's help father we come to your word and we pray that you would give us humble hearts it's Lord that you would give us alert hearts we are prone as sinners to become dull of hearing we are prone as sinners to not pay close attention to the things that we have heard but to let them land upon our ears and bounce off of our ears rather than sinking deep into our hearts rather than causing us to be vigilant and sober minded and watchful Lord we so often are taken off the path as we make our way towards that great celestial City we are so often distracted and called away from that road which leads to life and your word graciously warns us and exhorts us to take care how we hear that we would not just be those who hear and forget but that we would be those who hear and do your word father help us we pray I pray that you would be the help of all of your people this morning to take serious note of what your word has to teach on the subject of watchfulness may we be those who take heed who take heed to ourself and to your word Lord we pray that you would do this we pray for those who are here this morning Lord and are outside of Christ Lord who are not at all engaged in the war of being watchful over the enemies of their soul Lord may you this morning awaken them to spiritual life we pray that through the exhortation of your word and by your Holy Spirit in their heart he would bring them to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that they would flee to him as the author and the perfecter of our faith lord help us we pray draw near to us we ask we ask all these things in Christ's name Amen well in prayer and reflection this week and considering the things that we saw and spoke of last week as we are in mark 14 regarding the Christians weakness and his need of prayer and watchfulness I decided it would be for our benefit to pause as a congregation for a brief few sermons and open up more closely the subject of watchfulness what is watchfulness why do we need watchfulness how do we cultivate it there are several reasons that I thought it important for us to take heed to this most important subject I'll give you three that were in my mind this week first of all God has commanded us to this discipline all over the scriptures from the Old Testament to the New Testament and in His Providence has had us in mark 14 which is all about the command to take heed of watchfulness a second reason is that sin by its very nature is deceitful and thus watchfulness against sin is a subject that is far too easy for us in our flesh to simply ignore to just put off in to pay no attention to in fact Thomas Brooks a Puritan I've been reading one of his books called precious remedies against Satan's devices he wrote in the preface of his book that one of the driving reasons he wrote this book all about Satan's devices and how to fight against them he said was quote because of the strange opposition I met with from Satan knowing that Satan strives mightily to keep these things from seeing the light that Tend eminently to shake and break his kingdom of darkness there's a third reason and it's a very sobering one and one we must take heed to I doubt any of us have escaped recently the reports of prominent Christian leaders abandoning the faith Paul Tripp has a book and I own it I've read it called a dangerous calling that book will forever stand now as a warning to the deceitfulness of sin and the need for watchfulness it's an excellent book a dangerous calling I highly recommended it it highlights the dangers of apostasy that look at the pastor's feet and while trip himself praise God is still walking in the things that he has written if you look at the back of that book out of the five men that endorsed it praising its great need and the pastor's need to be where three out of those five men are now out of the ministry because of infidelity and many of some of them have denied the faith completely that they once professed the more experience I gained in the Christian life the more my eyes are opened to the threats and dangers that accompany it none are above the deceitfulness of sin none are a fit match for our adversary not all who start well end well as our Lord Jesus experienced as the Apostle Paul experienced so it continues today many embarked on the Christian Road which leads to the celestial City but few in the end actually arrived there the Scriptures warnings about apostasy are very real and somewhere along the line who can be sure of this it stemmed from them falling asleep at the helm of their soul while we might be stunned when we see the headline of yet another great prominent leader of the Christian faith so we thought falling that we might be surprised when we see it we must be assured of this apostasy happens in the privacy of a sleepy heart long before it ever comes to the public eye and so as the writer to the Hebrews says in chapter 2 verse 1 therefore we must pay much closer attention to the things we have heard lest we drift away from it from them beloved I want to be found as a faithful pastor who declared to you the whole Council of God so that on the last day when we meet if there be God forbid any of us in this room who arrive on that last day standing on the wrong side I want to be sure that will not be laid at my feet I want to stir you up by means of warning encouragement exhortation and pleading that you would give yourselves above all things to be those proverbs 4:23 who keep the heart with all diligence 1st Timothy 4:16 to be those who take heed to yourself and to your doctrine and in continuing in them you will save both yourself and your hearers those who take seriously first timid first Peter 5:8 to be sober to be vigilant because your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour let us move through various parts of this sermon I first of all want to open up the biblical picture of watchfulness the biblical picture of watchfulness a picture is worth a thousand words and pictures have way of painting a portrait that sometimes simple commands simply are not able to and God has given us pictures I suspect of watchfulness over the soul I suspect because when it comes to the matter of keeping vigilant watch over our soul we are far too prone to think that it is a matter of little importance and so we need to be stirred by pictures and portraits consider how the Christian life is described Paul describes it as a race it is a competition in which we are running and our only goal is to cross that finish line first and first Corinthians 9:24 do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one receives the prize so run that you may obtain it Hebrews 12 verse one uses the same analogy and describes the Saints who have gone before us you remember Hebrews eleven in the Hall of faith and the great Saints who have walked the Christian life before us and Hebrews 12:1 describes those Saints as standing on the sidelines as it were encouraging us as we run this race he says therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which cleans so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us sin is like the garment the loose garment that as you're trying to run is tripping you up and he's saying let us tie up our garments so that we might run the race with endurance that is set before us it's also called a fight this highlights vigilance Paul says second Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight I have kept the faith it's like into war it's like into a battle this highlights that there are enemies against us Romans 13 12 so then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light these verses all highlights something that I think we are prone to forget we often think of our salvation in far too simplistic terms and we think of it merely as something that's happened in the past and that that's it and the bible does speak that way Ephesians 2:8 and 9 for by grace you have been saved but it also Chris speaks of the Christian as being saved present tense 1st Corinthians 1:18 and it also speaks of the of us as those who will be saved Romans 13 11 and 12 Paul says the hour has come for you to wake from sleep for salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed and all of those perspectives matter for the Christian all of those are important ways for us to think of the work of God in the Christian life we are told and assured that salvation is a past event so that we might not despair as we are on our journey so that as we are on the journey we might remember as we talked about in Sunday school we are laboring not for our salvation but from our salvation having been saved we now follow Christ to glory and yet we are also told here that there is a future aspect to our salvation why so that we won't be complacent so that we would not think that our journey is yet oh / pilgrims progress those of you who have read pilgrims progress if you haven't read it is perhaps the greatest depiction of the Christian life that's ever been written I think that's why it is still to this day the second best-selling book of all time second only to the Bible you remember if you've read Christian is told at the beginning of his journey that it wrath is coming upon the city of destruction and that he must flee to the celestial City and so he embarks he hears the Word of God and he sets out on his journey but you know that there is a whole book in between that moment of setting out and the day in which he actually arrives at the great city and it is a journey fraught with difficulty filled with false friends filled with enemies of his soul seeking to draw Christian out of the way that is the Christian life we have as the writer to the Hebrews says chapter 10 verse 36 we have need of endurance not of an endurance that comes simply from navel-gazing and depending on ourselves and for our own strength but as Hebrews again beautifully puts it looking unto Jesus the author that is the beginner the one has began our salvation and the perfecter of our faith he is our great captain who guides us the entirety of the journey he has gone before us he has done in our place what we cannot do for our self he has gone to the cross of Calvary defeated sin and death and hell and he has now gone into heaven where he now supplies his brothers with navigation behind enemy lines and therefore Christian I want you to mark this vigilance is not optional vigilance in the Christian life is not optional it is actually the very proof that you belong to Christ many followed Christ for a season in his ministry many remember lauded him with hosannas at the great triumphal entry only to five days later be shouting crucify him the proof of being a soldier of Christ is not in the setting out upon the journey it is not in a mere profession of war but it is proven in the perseverance along the narrow way now that brings us to a definition of watchfulness that's something of a picture of watchfulness a definition of watchfulness let me read to you this is a bit lengthy definition from a beloved Puritan who is known for being lengthy John oh and many of you are familiar John Owen what will open up the every little phrase in this in a moment so if you don't catch it all at once that's okay I'll make sure I make clear as we go along John Owen describes watchfulness like this he says watchfulness is a universal carefulness and diligence exercising itself in and by all ways and means prescribed by God to watch over our hearts in ways to watch over the baits and methods of Satan to watch over the occasions and advantages of sin in the world so that we might not be entangled that is watchfulness according to the Puritans and let me just say this at this point at this point in the sermon the things we're about to see in God's Word I want to encourage you resolve to commit as much of it as you can to memory again think of Hebrews 2:1 we must therefore pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from them the Lord Jesus exhorts his hearers after the parable of the soils he says take heed how you hear and I know that all of us in this room struggle with that fact that we can hear and yet not hear we can be present under the Word of God and yet not hear the Word of God I want to encourage you write these passages down we won't be flipping to everyone and going write them down revisit them throughout the week commit them to memory we must get the Bible into us not just landing on our ears and bouncing off think of David's statement and psalm 119:11 your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you if we don't give ourselves to even the first step of learning about watchfulness how will we ever expect to actually practice watchfulness as I want to encourage you as we will reference various passages of Scripture here in the next several minutes act as though each command you here is the only one that you possess from God as as the bee hovers over a flower and stays there trying to gather as much nectar as he possibly can we should like the bee hover over each passage of God's words seeking to glean as much as we can so let's talk about this definition and open up this definition of watchfulness first of all watchfulness is carefulness its carefulness Deuteronomy 532 you shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left to be watchful is to be a careful person to take heed to God's words and has it and how it applies to our lives perhaps the best way to point out what carefulness is is to point out the opposite its contrast what's the opposite of carefulness its carelessness to be watchful is to be the opposite of al-aziz fair approach to the Christian life a casual approach and if you're here this morning and you are one who is you reflect on your life and you know I am one who never takes time to search my soul to assess my behavior to take account of my thoughts and my words and my actions you are not yet a careful watchful person the second aspect that John Owen brings out is its diligence diligence if carefulness is the what of watchfulness diligence is the win diligence is persistence in watchfulness Psalm 1 verse 2 his delight is in the law of the Lord and he meditates upon it one day and night a watchman when he is on duty is always at his post he knows that the moment he closes his eyes might just be the moment when the enemy invades and so to the Christian never leaves off watching if we treat watching with diligence the way we treat for instance changing the oil in our car that you know maybe every four months all of a sudden I realized it's been five thousand miles it's time to change it again if that's the way we treat watchfulness we are not diligent diligence and watchfulness means all the time the Christian is at his post the third thing is that it is a universal carefulness John Owen said it is universal carefulness and diligence what does that mean that means that watchfulness is comprehensive over the entirety of our hearts it's not enough to be on guard against one particular sin that's coming in this window of the house when all the while we know the back door is just wide open and there's enemies coming in every other way right think of an analogy of a gardener what gardener would be praised if he succeeded in keeping away all the snails but he did absolutely nothing to keep a vermin from ravishing the garden in the middle of the night none of us would praise him we would say yes you guard it against one enemy but you let in another we must tend to all the garden of our heart we must be pulling up all the weeds in every areas they come up Psalm 139 22 23 and 24 search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting the unbeliever fears the all searching eye of God but the Christian has been reconciled to God through the cross of Christ now invites and welcomes this all-seeing gracious God to come and clean house Lord search my thoughts when I'm alone search my words when I'm with my family my motivations when I'm in the work place Lord helped me to constantly be studying your word to shine light upon my heart watchfulness is in short if we could say it this way it is to take all of me captive to all the Word of God the fourth thing is that watchfulness is the exercising of oneself this has already assumed I won't say much but watchfulness is not passive watchfulness doesn't just happen by magic Philippians 2:12 work out your salvation with fear and trembling you are not passive when you are in war you have duties what are those duties that brings us to the next three things Owen in his definition or excuse me let me say this first first of all we have duties to give ourselves to the means prescribed by God Owen says God has prescribed for us the ways and the means of watchfulness just as a soldier in war he needs sleep he needs food he needs exercise so the Christian needs God's means of grace and he has shown us what they are he has shown us the way of watchfulness it is to pursue things like love and peace and joy and humility but he's given us the means of those things things like diligent study of the word prayer meditation memorization private and public worship the Lord's Supper these are all means God has given us channels by which we can apply to God to receive strength in the Christian life and then Owen I'll go back to what I started to say here on pick back up there oh and then mentions three areas that the Christian must particularly focus upon and watch over and as you're probably familiar Christians have summarized these four centuries as that three-headed enemy the world the flesh and the devil he says first of all we must exercise ourselves over our own hearts and ways Paul says to Timothy first Timothy 4:16 take heed to yourself and to your doctrine continue in them for in so doing you will save both yourself and those who proverbs 4:23 keep the heart with all diligence for from it flow the Springs of life he said secondly we must keep watch over the baits and methods of Satan think about it who fights a war in a war without studying the enemy and I don't mean just generically being aware that we have an enemy that that's a start we need to know that we have in enemy but if we have an enemy first Peter 5:8 who is prowling around seeking those whom he may devour is it not of key importance for the Christian to ask and answer the questions how is he doing that by what means is he gaining ground in the Christians heart what what are his methods his strategies I mentioned I'm reading Thomas Brooks right now his book precious remedies against Satan's devices and let me just say I stand here I'm sure along with you who know confessing that we are a generation who knows so little of the malice and the cunning of Satan in the first 100 pages of this book he opens up 12 strategies that Satan uses to draw the Christian into sin and then for each one of these 12 he breaks it down and gives remedies thoroughly scriptural each thoroughly grounded in a text of how we ought to fight and do battle against each of these 12 methods that Satan uses I'll give you just just a taste an example the first device he says Satan uses is that Satan comes to us and he shines up the bait of sin while hiding the hook and he gives four remedies first one stay as far away from sin as possible and he quotes Romans 12 9 abhor what is evil but cling to what is good the second remedy he says is by Satan painting sin in virtues colors how sin will take us sin but he will wrap it in gold so that it looks desirable again for remedies and on and on he goes but the point is how little do we know our enemy we must exercise ourself in the study of God's Word to know the enemy of our soul the third thing that Owen says we need to watch over is the occasions and advantages of sin in the world we must always have an eye upon vanity fair' we must always have an eye upon the world which is Satan's ally to seek to draw us away from Christ James 4:4 do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God the world what Disneyland is to a little kid the world is to our sinful hearts and it is full of bells and whistles to draw us away from Christ and we must watch over it the last thing that on says is that all of this is for the purpose that we would not be entangled that's the purpose of his whole sentence that we not be entangled now what an appropriate word that is that's exactly how Hebrews describes at 12 Hebrews 12:1 let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely like that garment that keeps us from being able to run and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us let me say this entanglement in sin is the opposite of true freedom many people will hear everything that I've just said and opened up and they will hear about watchfulness from from the scriptures and their thought will be Wow being watchful really sounds cumbersome really sounds like slavery one Puritan said this watchfulness is counted too strict until people be well-acquainted with it just as think about the analogy just as countless hours of hard work are put into learning an instrument and just as those countless hours finally eventually give way to true freedom to actually play this instrument with joy to have mastery over this instrument so the discipline of watchfulness gives way to true freedom and walking with God on the flip side that's the same pure and said quote if you are a stranger to watchfulness look to fall off him and to fall dangerously look to find many wounds in your soul and to lack many comforts in your life now before we turn the application and a closed let me let me just briefly here encourage you in particular in three areas you need to give your life study to one Puritan said that the Christians great work is to study for things it is to study Christ his word your own heart and the devices of Satan and if you do those you will live a life pleasing to God we're gonna say a lot about the last one on Satan's devices in next next week's sermon Lord willing so let me say a word just about these first three let me encourage you in these first three three areas that need our attention first of all we want to pay attention to God's Word we far too often treat the Bible's commands to watch like we would treat the flight attendant before a flight takes off from the airport as she's giving yet again those instructions about what you need to do in case of emergency what do we do we just tune it out we think the dangers are not real they're not present it's not going to happen that would be a mistake if we operate in the watch of our souls in that way we are on mission we are behind enemy lines and therefore we need to pay attention first of all the Word of God I'll read again for you Hebrews 2:1 therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it brothers and sisters let me ask you this morning how precious is God's Word to your soul Thomas Goodwin tells the story of how he went one day to hear a mr. Rogers preach and in the middle of the sermon mr. Rogers was preaching and suddenly he begins to mourn with the people about their neglect of the Bible and it begins to impersonate God to the people and he says well I have trusted you so long with my Bible you have slighted it it lies in such-and-such houses all covered with dust and bob webs you care not to look into it do you use my Bible so well you shall have my Bible no longer and Rogers took the Bible off of its pillow it used to sit on a pillow in the pulpit he took it and he began to walk away as though God is taking his Bible away from the people and suddenly he falls on his knees in the middle of this sermon and impersonates the people speaking back to God and he cries out Lord whatsoever thou cost to us take not thy Bible from us kill our children burn our houses destroy our goods only spare us thy Bible only take not away thy Bible then again impersonates God again to the people say you so well I will try you a little longer and here is my Bible for you I will see how you use it whether you will love it more whether you will value it more whether you will observe it more whether you will practice it more and live more according to it Christian how is your hearing of the Word of God how is your hanging upon every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God and so your eternal life depends on it have you become hebrews 5:11 dole of hearing you remember if you've read pilgrims progress that scene in which pilgrim a Christian is lingering right at the mouth of the the narrow gate he's been told to go to the narrow gate and he's lingering there and suddenly someone opens the door and grabs pilgrim Christian and pulls him inside and and he asked the man why did you do that why did you pull me inside the man replied because a little distance from this gate is the devil's castle he watches all those who come here and he shoots arrows at them and some unfortunate people are killed by his arrows and never get in sight he's talking about the Word of God being taken out of the heart Christian have you left off Bible reading does it sit and collect dust is the mind of God and the words that lead to life are they a small matter to you perhaps you come to corporate worship and you here and yet you do not hear the tenderness of heart and conscience that used to attend the Word of God as you allowed yourself to be searched by it has now in these days given way to hardness complacency being unaffected are your readings at home dry are they even happening are they hurried through without application without meditation Christian I want to plead with you from Hebrews 2:1 awake from slumber the second thing that you must pay attention to is yourself brothers and sisters with judgment day honesty we must be willing to look into the bank account of our souls we can fool ourselves you can fool me I'm a fallible man as a pastor we cannot fool God and we will not fool God do not think that apostasy happens overnight we so often think that it could never happen to me it never happened to me let me again let John Bunyan paint this in pilgrims progress he opens up the nine steps that take place in that bring one to apostasy I'll just read these for you he says the first thing that happens is they draw off their thoughts from remembering God death and the judgment to come secondly then they cast off by degrees private duties such as closet prayer such as curbing their lusts watching being sorrowful for sin and the light the third thing then they shun the company of lively and warm Christians that is they no longer like to be in the presence of those who truly are delighting in Christ and living in the Christian Way the fourth thing after that they grow cold to public duty such as hearing reading God's Word godly conference fellowship and the like fifthly then they begin to pick holes in the coats of the godly that they may have a seeming reason to throw religion behind their backs so they're seeing the true godly and all of a sudden they're critical and they're overzealous they're too serious why so that they can throw religion behind their backs sixthly then they begin to adhere to and associate themselves with carnal loose and wanton men seventh then they give way to carnal and wanton discourses in secret and are glad if they can see such things in any other who are counted as honest men that they might the more boldly do it through their example eight after this they begin to play with sins openly and nine being hardened they show themselves as they are and thus being launched again into the Gulf of misery how's that back on okay the third thing we need to pay attention to is Christ himself the third thing is to pay attention to Christ himself I want to stress this as we walk through these things in the next couple weeks any prescription of watchfulness that is void of Christ will poison the soul watchfulness is not navel-gazing it is not just turning to ourselves for our own strength as though the Christian life is a system in which you put in a plus B plus C and all of a sudden you get out D watchfulness and just like every other aspect of the Christian life is a living out of our union with Christ what is Hebrews 12:1 and to say let us run with endurance the race that is set before us how looking unto Jesus the author and the perfecter of our faith John Owen says we must keep our heart awake and attempted to its help and relief and this lies only in Christ Jesus the captain of salvation I mentioned last week the analogy that faith has two hands and one of those hands lays hold on Christ and the other gets to work busily cleaning his own heart so that it might be a fit place for Christ to dwell let me say this kind of coming from it from the flip side of what I said last week it's true we must never fail to sweep the house of our heart but if we do so or attempt to do so while loosening our grasp upon Christ himself our sweeping will be in vain only Christ himself can deliver us from temptation when we look to find when we fail to look for all of our spiritual help and relief in Christ we are sure to fall so we must pay attention to Christ himself that brings us to our last section here as we close I want to make application and I want to speak to three different kinds of people who may be here this morning three groups of people that I want to speak to and please take heed to the exhortation of God's Word as we've read it from Hebrews 2:1 first of all I want to speak to you if you're an unbeliever here this morning and you're not trusting Christ watchfulness is not the first duty for you I do not say to you as I say to the Christian here that you must get busy to work being watchful and the reason for that is because you're not even at war the city of your heart is not at war with sin it is at peat in peacetime with sin the city of your heart is run if you are outside of Christ it is run by Satan and his deadly friends and the king of heaven Christ himself must first cast out the ruler of this world from your heart the city must first be set free if it can then give itself to defend itself against counter-attacks and if you're here in your outside of Christ that freedom that emancipation of your heart from Satan's Dominion can only come from bowing your knee in faith to the lordship of Christ to feel in your heart of hearts I am a wretched sinner I am fast bound in the clutches of sin worthy of damnation and Lord Jesus unless you set me free from sin I shall justly perish unbeliever your sins will be your miserable undoing not only in this life though they will be in this life as well but in the life to come to die without Christ is to die without God's mercy and to die without God's mercy is to die on God's just wrath but he bids you in the gospel to flee to Christ leave behind the city of destruction as Christian was called and to fly to Christ to find in him peace with God the pardon of sin and the power of grace to now run after that blessed hope of eternal life the narrow road we must understand this the narrow road of the Christian life begins at the narrow gate who is Christ himself the son of God crucified and risen for sinners secondly I want to speak to the empty professor of Christ I want to speak to the empty professor of Christ I want to plead with all of us this morning who sit here as you sit here if with judgement day honesty meaning you're imagining yourself on judgement day standing before the all-seeing eye of God if you this morning with judgement day honesty as you reflect on your soul you realize I am NOT on the narrow way that leads to life but I am still on the broad road that leads to destruction let the Scriptures lay your heart open and strip you of false comforts don't resist the spirits work what a blessing when cancer is found in its early stages and not when it's too late don't stop up your ears don't harden your heart and bury conviction pushing and suppressing it down saying but I'm a Christian I've been baptized I've been added to the church I'm even a member in good standing in a Reformed Baptist Church nowhere absolutely nowhere in the scriptures does it say that any one of those things is what makes you truly a Christian a mere profession in Christ's name should be no comfort to you because Christ Himself said that on that day there will be many who say to him Lord Lord did I not do this in your name and Jesus will say depart from me I never knew you know last chances for watchfulness at the judgment the time is now to humble yourself and to turn yourself over to the lordship of Christ how dreadful it is to die with Christ on the lips but not in the heart I don't I mean this as a pastor I don't care if we have to go through the awkwardness of rebaptised you I don't care if you have to start over as the baby Christian who knows doesn't know anything better to be the least in the kingdom of Christ than to be shut out of it forever confess your hypocrisy don't go to hell for the sake of your pride Christ is just as ready to receive humbled false professors as he is abject sinners who come to him the last person I want to speak to this morning is the Christian the Christian go to war with your heart go to war with your heart determine in these next sermons to sit attentive to God's Word give yourself to self-examination what enemies have you been giving shelter to inside the city walls of your heart what pet sins are there that you're feeding which ones dwell and lurk in hidden places that you've been simply pleased to ignore for the time being they are not friends they are enemies who will kill you and therefore we must go to work banishing them or plead with you this morning to obey the word do the word I mentioned this briefly last week I want to mention again we cannot complain to God that he does not fill us with the blessedness of assurance and the peace of holiness when we neglect to do what he says God's blessing comes through our evangelical obedience not before it Jesus says to his disciples John 13 17 you know these things blessed are you if you do them again I was reading Thomas Brooks this week and he quoted Seneca Seneca was not a Christian that I'm aware of and Seneca said this he said of all the men I dislike most it is those who are always getting ready to live but never actually begin and how true that can be of us in the Christian life always gathering more knowledge I need another sermon I need something more to explain how this works and once I understand that then everything in my Christian life is going to fall into place when in reality what we actually need is to actually just set about doing what we already know let me encourage you and one one thing as we close by way of doing just practical encouragement this week commit to memory I've already said this commit to memory as many of the verses that I've cited today as you can hide the Word of God in your heart get the Word of God inside of you to meditate on to call to mind in situations in life we you cannot practice what you do not know commit some of these verses on watchfulness so that in times of temptation you're not only aware of generic principles that I heard on Sunday that I have an enemy who's out to get me but you can actually have precious portions of God's Word tucked away in the library of your heart so that when Satan does come to you and shines up the bait of sin and yet hides the hook you can say Romans twelve nine God says abhor what is evil and cling to what is good so that when Satan comes to you and he presents to you the the wonders of sin and the pleasures that sin is going to bring to you you can remind yourself God says that sin is deceitful and that it is bittersweet and you can call to mind job twenty twelve through 14 though evil is sweet in his mouth though he hides it under his tongue though he is loath to let it go and he holds it in his mouth behold his food has turned in his stomach within him and it is the venom of cobras within him but what precious pieces of God's Word that we can actually bring to specific temptations and remind ourselves in the moment this is what God has said Christian let me close I cannot as your pastor make you obey the Word of God I can persuade you to obey the Word of God and plead with you to obey the Word of God my prayer is that God by His Spirit would work in our congregation and with Paul I say and as he says in acts 20:32 now I commend you to God and the word of His grace which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified may God be pleased to do it amen let us pray [Music] father we pray that we would be those who are doers of the word and not hearers of the word only Lord we live in a culture that is more and more seeking to draw the Christians heart away from Christ we live in the midst of the world which is allied with Satan we have within us remaining corruption and sin that is always inclined to run towards temptation to indulge itself a bit in the deadliness of sin father how we need your word how we need to see how deadly serious the issue of watchfulness is for our heart the Lord we confess I'm sure all of us that we often live our lives casually we often live as though we are in peacetime rather than at war father I pray you to waken us pray then we would study and meditate and memorize these verses in which the Apostles over and over exhort the church to watch and pray to awake from slumber to pay much more close attention to what we have heard father I pray that you would do this by your spirit may we be those who even as Paul says in Philippians 2 with fear and trembling would work out our own salvation knowing that it is you who are at work within us both to will and to do for your good pleasure lord help us to be vigilant careful and watchful we pray again for any who are here an hour outside of Christ Lord may they be convicted may they be pressed by the weight of sin may they be pressed by your word which exposes their helplessness to deliver themselves from sin and that they would by your grace flee to Christ for mercy and pardon Lord do it for your glory we pray we ask that you would help us to be those who love your word and who are carefully not going to the right hand or the left hand but walking straight according to the path of your commands help us Lord we pray we ask in Christ's name Amen

Channel: Bethany Baptist Church

Views: 302

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: bethany baptist church, stockton, california, churches in stockton, kyle fitzgerald, john redin, bbc, baptist church, baptist, reformed baptist, 1689, 1689 london baptist confession, calvinism, born again, christian, stockton california, churches in stockton california, reformed baptist church, what is watchfulness, watch, read your bible, pilgrims progress, john bunyan, john owen

Id: jqpiZqJClqo

Length: 48min 46sec (2926 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 22 2019