The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

Any discussion of wisdom must begin with the source of said wisdom. As Christians, we know that in Christ Jesus are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3), that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10), and that any real wisdom, apart from God, is a myth, as the natural man does not accept or understand the things of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14).

In today’s Proverb: prudence, noble things, right things, truth, and righteousness are noted as being those things which true wisdom teaches, and which are better than jewels or fine gold.
This sentiment is echoed in Philippians 4:8, where we are told “ Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”
So this morning, I would like to impart to you wisdom which may speak to your current circumstances, with the encouragement that where you have fallen short, repent and look to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 The Word of God commands us “Be anxious for nothing” (Philippians 4:6). Brothers and sisters, your heavenly Father has ordained all things which come to pass according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11).  Jesus asks in Luke 12:25 “And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to the span of his life?” We know that nothing, NOTHING, can separate us from the love of GOD.

 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "For YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39).

Scripture teaches us that ALL THINGS work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). All things. Things like where you lay your head at night, where you live, the physical location in which you reside. We can lay our heads anywhere, knowing that our Lord Jesus has gone ahead to prepare a place for us, and that this place is temporary, passing away. All things may come in the form of family members who have turned their backs on you. Scorn from coworkers. Anxiety over how we see our faith being assaulted on every side by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Fear not brothers and sisters: it has been granted for you to not only believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but to suffer for His sake (Philippians 1:29). Students will become like their teachers, so as you experience hardship, count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials (James 1:2). Does a baby on the way make you anxious? Perhaps you worry and fret about being an adequate father or mother. Remember the truth that we speak so often to abortive mothers and fathers:
 
Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate (Psalm 127:3-5).

Do you believe that your heavenly Father would bless you with a child, only to turn around and abandon you? Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Our faithful Father will equip you for every good work, and this is accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, diligent study of God’s Words, and obeying His commands. Be anxious for nothing.
 
If you are able, let us kneel and confess how we have fallen short of God’s glory.
MY DEAR LORD
I depend wholly upon thee,
    wean me from all other dependences.
Thou art my all, thou dost overrule all
    and delight in me.
Thou art the foundation of goodness,
  how can I distrust thee?
  how be anxious about what happens to me?
In the light of thy preciousness
  the world and all its enjoyments are
    infinitely poor:
I value the favour of men no more than pebbles.
Amid the blessings I receive from thee
    may I never lose the heart of a stranger.
May I love thee, my Benefactor, in all my benefits,
  not forgetting that my greatest danger
    arises from my advantages.
Produce in me self-despair that will
  make Jesus precious to me,
    delightful in all his offices,
    pleasurable in all his ways,
  and may I love his commands
    as well as his promises.
Help me to discern between true and false love,
  the one consisting of supreme love to thee,
    the other not,
  the former uniting thy glory and man’s happiness
    that they may become one common interest,
  the latter disjointing and separating them both,
    seeking the latter with neglect of the former.
Teach me that genuine love is different in kind
  from that wrought by rational arguments
    or the motive of self-interest,
  that such love is a pleasing passion affording
    joy to the mind where it is.
Grant me grace to distinguish
    between the genuine and the false,
      and to rest in thee who art all love. (Valley of Vision, “Love rest in God”, P. 181)
In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.
 
Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 10/20/2019 liturgy of Sovereign King Church written by Aaron Sabie.)

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

A team of oxen yoked together can accomplish much when hooked up to a plow and coaxed along by the farmer. If you were to hook up two oxen to a plow, and set them off across a field, without yoke, and without a farmer coaxing, you would quickly see that while one of the oxen wanted to stop and chew the cud, the other would be attempting to plod ahead. While one wanted to go right, the other would be attempting to lie down and rest. It is the yoke, coupled with the determined goading and coaxing of the farmer, which enables the oxen to produce the desired work the farmer seeks to accomplish. If there were no farmer, only two oxen yoked together, the weaker of the two oxen will find himself to be at the mercy and whim, of the stronger. This is the condition of one who has forsaken the Word of the LORD, the reality in which one who has rejected God’s Word finds themselves. When we trade the Word of God for the imaginations of our heart, our feelings, the wind of culture, the sugar coated doctrines of false teachers, or our traditions, we quickly fall into bondage: unequally yoked, chained to our sin. When we abandon the clear teaching of scripture, rejecting the commandments of our father, forsaking the teachings of our mother, we will find ourselves tied to sin with a yoke of iron. Whereas Christ says “Come”, for “His yoke is easy and His burden is light”, the yoke of sin, and autonomy, at the root of rejecting God’s Word: is heavy, burdensome, and will ultimately crush us. Christ says to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him, while the world, your flesh, and Satan cry “Did God really say?”.
Today’s passage is directed towards you sons. Whose voice will you obey? Who will you listen to? The answer to this question will determine the course of your life. Psalm 23 tells us that Jesus, our Good Shepherd, leads us onto paths of righteousness for His namesake. Obeying the lusts of your flesh, the lust of your eyes, and the pride of life, on the other hand, will lead you stumbling blindly into the dark, unable to discern right from wrong, true from false. Do you love your sin more than God? Would you pursue your passions and lusts rather than the Word of God? God will permit it. He will give you the desires of your heart, and in doing so, you will find your feet set in slippery places, and your soul pursued by the angel of the LORD. Adultery, which our passage speaks of specifically today, the idea that you can take a woman not belonging to you, with your eyes, thoughts, or deeds, and commit sexual immorality with her. This sin has enticed many, many, young, old, and in between men stumble blindly in the dark, believing they can bring fire to their bosom and not get burned. They have forgotten that the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is a light. Their foolish heart becomes darkened. Young men, sins desire is for you. Do not think that you can be unequally yoked with sin, or unbelievers, and master these things. Do not think you can substitute God’s Word for your own, or God’s Word for the appetite of your stomach, and that you, the 1 human in 6,000,000,000, can safely navigate and master this sin from which God commands us to flee.
My son Samuel asked me a question the other day during family worship that was a really good question. To paraphrase, he asked “How can we hear God’s voice? How can we know that it isn’t just our own thoughts or voice in our heads?” I would answer that this morning by pointing you to our confession.
The Westminster Confession, Chapter 1 part 7, Of the Holy scriptures, says this:
All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor
alike clear unto all: yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain
unto a sufficient understanding of them.
 
We can know that God is speaking to us, when we accept in faith the clear teaching of scripture. On an issue such as adultery, God is very clear: Thou Shall not. We can know for certain that the voice we hear speaking to us is Christ’s, when we are trusting in Him, as revealed through His Word, rather than trusting in the winds of culture or our own subjective, ever changing feelings. Young men, when God commands you to flee sexual immorality, He does so, not to keep some good thing from you, but for your good. Your Heavenly Father knows what is best for you, His desire is to give you good gifts. “A good wife, who can find her?”asks the scriptures. The answer is, a young man who hides God’s Word in his heart, one who hears the voice of God from His Word, and obeys. A good wife is truly a blessing from the LORD that the sin of adultery will trod underfoot.
 
Perhaps you have stumbled in this. You find yourself lusting for the young woman on the screen. Lust of the flesh has ensnared you, and now the images you have filled your mind with are not enough, and incidentally, they never will be. Maybe you are an older man, and your sin has come full bloom, and you have graduated from images to the real thing. Lest you repent, you will likewise perish.
Let us kneel, and come boldly to the throne of Grace, and cry out to our Heavenly Father to guard our hearts, our eyes, our minds, and our homes from this scourge. Let us plead with Him for deliverance from this great evil.
THOU RIGHTEOUS AND HOLY SOVEREIGN,

In whose hand is my life and whose are all
    my ways,
Keep me from fluttering about religion;
  fix me firm in it,
  for I am irresolute;
  my decisions are smoke and vapour,
  and I do not glorify thee,
  or behave according to thy will;
Cut me not off before my thoughts grow
      to responses,
    and the budding of my soul into full flower,
    for thou art forbearing and good,
    patient and kind.
Save me from myself,
  from the artifices and deceits of sin,
  from the treachery of my perverse nature,
  from denying thy charge against my offences,
  from a life of continual rebellion against thee,
  from wrong principles, views, and ends;
  for I know that all my thoughts, affections,
    desires and pursuits are alienated from thee.
I have acted as if I hated thee, although thou art
    love itself;
  have contrived to tempt thee to the uttermost,
  to wear out thy patience;
  have lived evilly in word and action.
Had I been a prince
  I would long ago have crushed such a rebel;
Had I been a father
  I would long since have rejected my child.
O, thou Father of my spirit,
  thou King of my life,
    cast me not into destruction,
    drive me not from thy presence,
    but wound my heart that it may be healed;
    break it that thine own hand
      may make it whole. (Valley of Vision p.38)
In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.
 
 
 
 Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

Why would the Apostle Paul tell Titus to remind the churches to submit to authorities?  Why is this an important task for pastors? There are a couple reasons that come to mind:

1.  In our sinful nature apart from Christ, we hate authority and we hate submission.  The only authority we mind is our own. The first sin in the garden was the sin of over throwing authority.  God created man to rule over the animals.  He created Adam to lead his wife.   In the garden, that was flipped upside down.  The animal, the serpent, comes to Eve and begins to lead her.  Rather than looking to the authority of her husband through him to the authority of God, she submits  to the authority of talking snake who deceives her into thinking she is her own authority.  She gives the fruit to Adam and he listens to his wife.  She was deceived and Adam shirked his responsibility.  He rebelled against the authority of God.   Ever since that day, we have all by nature lived by what is wise in our own eyes.  We despise the authority of God and therefore we despise submission to the authorities he established.  Therefore, we need to be reminded to submit to authority.  

Secondly, for those of us who have been redeemed from lawlessness there is a special temptation.  We read that in Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew, Slave nor Free, Female nor Male and we think that means that Christ has obliterated all distinctions on earth.  We think that since Christ has freed us from bondage of sin, has made us priests and kings and has given us the  inheritance of sons that we are now free from submission to those who have not been freed.  We forget that the same God who sent his Son to redeem us is the same God who establishes all authority on earth and places us  by his sovereign will in our stations of life.  We are tempted to use the gospel of grace for our own license to throw off all restraint.

Paul just got finished writing to Titus that Christ gave himself to redeem us from lawlessness and to purify for himself a people zealous for good deeds.   We are tempted to think that if we are these people, then surely we have no need to submit to civil governments run by those who have not been redeemed.  We don’t have to honor ungodly fathers or obey husbands who disobey the gospel. 

But the gospel is not preached to make us into anarchists and rebels.  It didn’t come to destroy earthly authority but rather to redeem it.   Jesus, your King, has commanded you in his word to be obedient to authorities  and rulers.  This is because God the Father has given his name to all fatherhood on earth.  God is the source of authority. 

Romans 13:1-7 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.  

God has established authorities.  He has established fatherhood.   To rebel against fathers in the church, state or home  is not merely to rebel against humas but is to rebel against God.   When we rebel against our mother and father for example, we don’t just rebel against them.  We rebel against God.   Young people who roll your eyes at your parents when they aren’t looking, or you sulk and pout,  its not just against your parents.  Your rolling your eyes at God.  Young people when your father tells you not to do something and you go do it anyways because you think he really won’t mind, its not your father whose wisdom and guidance you disregarded. 

This also goes for rebellion against pastors and elders.  When the pastor preaches from the word of God, and you don't obey that preaching, you are not merely throwing off the words of men but rather rebelling against the word of God. 

Deuteronomy 17:12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

Remember when Ananias and Sapphira lied to the apostles.  It wasn’t just the Apostles they were lying to.  It was the Holy Spirit. 

The text here in Titus is specifically referring to civil government.  We have a duty to obey the civil government even when it is not ran by the most godly of people.  Do you remember how many times that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and scribes?  It was clear that they were wicked people.  Yet listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 23:2-3 The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.   We have a duty to obey the civil magistrates even when they aren't believers.

The gospel came to redeem us from lawlessness.  Titus 2 says it is revealed to all types of people.  That includes kings.  There are many passages proclaiming that the gospel will be advance so far and wide that yes even kings and rulers will worship him.  The gospel has the tendency to undo wicked authority.  It has the power to bring political freedom and often does as a nation repents.  But the gospel doesn’t make us rebels or revolutionaries seeking to overthrow all authorities.  The grace of God doesn’t cause us to take up arms against every unbelieving government official.  We are not revolutionaries. 

Proverbs 24:21 says My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change

Don’t even meddle with those always trying to overthrow society.  Don’t get involved with those who reject authority and work to undermine it.  Stay away from marxists, socialists, social justice warriors, anarchists, and antifa.

The gospel is not revolutionary it is reforming.  The gospel reforms the world.  It is restores creation.  It brings about social renewal.

Doug Wilson says, “The godly pattern of social renewal is never bloodthirsty. The radical insists on immediate action, through coercive, bloody, and political means. In contrast, the work of the gospel is done as silently as yeast working through the loaf, and the end result is liberation from sin, love for God, and love for one’s neighbor.”  

This is not to say that Christians are not involved in the political process.  On the contrary, Christians must take the gospel into every arena of life.  They will be involved in calling civil magistrates to obey God and enforce his laws.  They will support civil magistrates who do these things.  Christians will preach boldly and strongly against sins in the public realm.  The Church will proclaim the truths of God everywhere that those truths are applicable.  The word of God is eternally true and applicable for every area of life.

But Christians reform, we don’t overturn. 

E. Michael Jones says “Revolution is the fulfillment of the biblical promise of deliverance from bondage for people who have given up on waiting for the Messiah.”   When you don’t trust and have faith in Christ you start trying to take matters into your own hands.  The early church was often accused of being revolutionary.   They were accused of turning the world upside down.   It was their accusers, the Jews who rejected Jesus, who were the supporters of anti-Christian revolutionary movements.   E. Michael Jones again is helpful:

“When they rejected Christ, the Jews rejected Logos, and when the Jews rejected Logos, which included both the social, moral and political order of any human society, which God intended for the world, they became revolutionaries. That is what they have been ever since the crucifixion of Christ...Jews became revolutionaries at the foot of the cross, but the full implication of their decision didn't become apparent until thirty years later, when the Jews rebelled against Rome, and Rome retaliated by destroying the Temple. At this point, the Jews had no temple, no priesthood and no sacrifice... Those Jews who rejected Christ and became revolutionaries, continued to seek a messiah who sets out to set the world aright but always fails, whether it's the new economics of Karl Marx or the new science of psychiatry as propagated by Sigmund Freud or the counter-culture of sex, drugs and rock and roll. None of these things or people have saved the world. There is only one savior — Jesus Christ.”

Revolutionaries never have faith in Christ and they always end up denying his word.  2 Peter 2:10 says  But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
Christians reform, they do not destroy.  They have a Messiah and a King who is transforming the world.  They therefore can pray For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

We are to be subject to authorities.  Wives submit to your husbands.  Children obey your parents.  Obey the civil magistrates.   

Now, we have driven this point home and I have reminded you of this.  Let me also remind you also that it is God alone who has all authority.  He is the one to whom we owe unfettered allegiance. We do not owe obedience to unjust, unlawful, and ungodly commands.  Whenever an authority commands an unjust, unlawful, and ungodly command, it is they are who are revolutionaries, turning upside down the created order.  It is they who are rebels.  Not only may we not obey an ungodly command, we must not obey an ungodly command.  

I think you all know and get that point, therefor I won't write much more on it today.  We can spend so much time talking about when to not to obey that we make disobedience to civil magistrates or fathers the rule rather than the exception.   As you have read this, what area have you found that you need to repent in?  Are you a father who has authority but abusing it? Repent.   Are you a father who refuses to submit to church fathers? Repent.  Are you a wife who uses the sins of your husband as an excuse for your own rebellion? Repent. Are you a son refusing to honor your father and mother?  Repent.   Are you someone always complaining about civil magistrates while never praying for them? Repent.    May we all bow the knee to the Father above. 

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received. This is the word of God. It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

Our walk, or practice in life, could be said to be that manner of living which reveals the nature of our heart. The way in which we walk will tell people what kind of character we have. However, man is easily fooled. It is quite simple for us to portray a false image of ourselves to others, while having a practice in our hearts which runs contrary to Godly living. When God examines you, what would your walk reveal to Him? Proverbs 6:12 states:

“A worthless person, a wicked man, Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth.”

 Walking with a perverse mouth is not merely the idea that someone speaks in a way that could be deemed profane, or vulgar, though that may be an element of it. A perverse mouth, at its base level, is one which speaks things in a crooked, or deceitful way. Some examples of crooked or deceitful speech may be: slander, gossip, flattery, refusing to let your yes be yes, or you no be no, bearing false witness. Always blunting or rounding off the edges of the truth. Little white lies. Jesus says in Matthew 15:18 “ But the things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.” These perversions of the truth when we speak to others are not wrong merely because the person being lied to is being deceived. Perverse speech is sinful because God is not a liar, and as image bearers of God, when we lie in our use of crooked speech, we call God a liar, which is blasphemous. The one who practices perverse speech, always uttering lies, always speaking in a way meant to deceive, is one who does the work of their father the devil, who is a liar.

The practice of deceitful speech reveals a heart which is in need of the washing of regeneration.
For the Christian, our prayer ought to echo David’s prayer in Psalm 19 where he said “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.”

As Christians, our heart's desire ought to be to speak the truth in all situations, as an act of love towards God and our neighbor.

As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ (Eph 4:14,15).
 
Pastors are to speak the truth of God’s Word, feeding the sheep what they need, not necessarily what they want or prefer. Husbands and fathers must speak the truth in their homes. In doing so they exalt Christ, Who is the way, the truth, and the life. Wives and mothers, speak the truth to your husbands and children. As a keeper at home, open your mouth in wisdom, with the teaching of kindness on your tongue. Children, honor your father and mother. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Tell your parents the truth in all matters, rather than what you think they want to hear.

If you are able, let us kneel together at this time and confess our sins to a Holy God Who is merciful and just to forgive us for our deceitful, crooked tongues.

Heavenly Father, we come into your throne room this morning seeking more of Your mercy and grace. We come before you confidently, because we know that our Redeemer lives. Jesus, our great High Priest, Your Son, makes intercession for us, and we are grateful. Father, our sins are ever before you, and are oftentimes as high as the heavens themselves. We stumble in many things, with deceitful speech being one of the easiest to which we succumb. We believe that since we are able to fool those around us with our crooked language, then surely we can fool You. But we forget that You know our hearts, that they are deceitful and wicked. Father, please forgive us of our sins against You. Help us to remember that in the multitude of our words, sin is not lacking. In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

 Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 9/29/19 liturgy of Sovereign King Church written by Aaron Sabie.)

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

To become surety for your neighbor means to take responsibility for another’s performance of an undertaking, for example their appearing in court or the payment of debt (Oxford Dictionary). The passage today serves as a warning for us to be careful in our dealings with strangers. It teaches us that making a rash oath and becoming entangled with one whom we are not well acquainted  has consequences.
Chapter 22 part 3 of the Westminster Confession of Faith says:
 “Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth: neither may any man bind himself by oath to anything but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform.”
So the lesson for us today, is that there may very well be legitimate, good reasons in which we enter into a relationship with someone in a role as guarantor. That any oaths we make, any dealings we enter into with another, must be those that we are willing, and able to fulfill.
What might this look like in practice? Scripture gives us an example of someone acting as surety for another.
 
Genesis 43:8-15 NASB
Judah said to his father Israel, "Send the lad with me and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. I myself will be surety for him; you may hold me responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame before you forever. For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice." Then their father Israel said to them, "If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and carry down to the man as a present, a little balm and a little honey, aromatic gum and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double the money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was a mistake. Take your brother also, and arise, return to the man; and may God Almighty grant you compassion in the sight of the man, so that he will release to you your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." So the men took this present, and they took double the money in their hand, and Benjamin; then they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
Here we see Jacob hesitant to send his youngest son to Egypt, in the wake of having lost his favorite son Joseph. There is a famine in the land however, and Judah is able to convince his father of the wisdom of sending Benjamin to Egypt, with Judah himself as surety. Judah takes responsibility for Benjamin, his safety and security. He promises to bear the full weight of responsibility should some ill befall him. Jacob sees the wisdom of this, and relents. We see clearly that as it relates to becoming a surety for another, there are noble, good, legitimate reasons to do so.
The point here today is NOT “Never become a surety for another”, but rather that we use wisdom when doing so. Do I know this person? Are they reliable? Will this truly benefit the one I am guaranteeing? What if this goes south, how might I be impacted? We must count the cost of our relationships and dealings with others, and seek the glory of God, and the good of our neighbors in the process.
Perhaps your words, a rash oath, has entangled you with someone as surety. What recourse do you have? How can you be free from this unfortunate burden? The Proverb tells us that you must importune your neighbor. Importune, to ask or request for something urgently and often. Think of a dog barking at the back door, over and over again, begging to be let out to handle its business. Or of a child pestering their mother for a treat.
Enter into a rash oath which leaves you as surety for a stranger, and you may find yourself to be the one begging, at the mercy of the one whom you promised to guarantee. If this is you, be resolved to fulfill your oath, painful as it may be, and learn from it. Consider the ramifications of your words to others, let your yes be yes, and your no be no (Matthew 5:37). An arrangement such as this, in which you find yourself on the hook for the performance and integrity of another, especially a stranger, is an intimate relationship. You become bound to this person in a sense. God’s Word tells us to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, and asks “What fellowship does light have with darkness?” These are things to consider in all your dealings.
If you are able, let us kneel together in the presence of God and importune Him to forgive us of our sins.
Dear Heavenly Father, Almighty God, we come before You this morning aware that in the multitude of our words, sin is not lacking. Father, we frequently fall prey to pride in our dealings with others, making promises and guaranteeing results, while lacking the desire or ability to follow through. Rather than letting our yes be yes, or our no be no, we promise things in our haste and become entangled with strangers and neighbors, leaving us to beg for respite. Father, help us to be wise in our dealings. Help us to look to Your Son, Who became surety for us, fully able and willing to pay our sin debt. Help us to follow Christ’s example of always seeking and doing Your will, in our dealings with others. Please forgive us for rash, foolish words, unwise oaths, and entangled dealings with strangers. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe:

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!
(From the 9/22/19 liturgy of Sovereign King Church written by Aaron Sabie.)

 The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

Men, imagine for a moment that you were driving across the Mojave desert. It’s 120 degrees, low humidity, nothing but sand and scrub brush as far as the eyes can see in every direction. Enjoying the air conditioning of your car, cruising along, suddenly your car starts sputtering, lurching, and finally dies, rolling to a stop. “No worries” you think to yourself as you grab a toolbag out of the trunk. However, after 3 hours of tinkering, it becomes clear that the car is beyond your ability to repair at this point: the water pump has failed and the engine seized up. It’s now around noon, the temperature has climbed to 125 degrees, the nearest town is about 30 miles away, and there isn’t a soul in sight. You are on a road off the beaten path, no cell phone signal, and it’s unlikely anyone will come along any time soon, so you do the only thing that seems feasible: you start walking. You have a few bottles of water, but it won’t last forever. Evening rolls around, the stars come out, the temperature drops to a refreshing 100 degrees, so you find a pile of brush to bed down for the night. The next day, hungry and now very thirsty, you set off down the road again, still no cars, no signs of life. The temperature climbs higher than the day before, your steps are becoming less certain. Your thinking is becoming slightly confused. You are finding it difficult to even focus on the path before you. After a few hours you realize that at some point, you had wandered from the road, and are now in the middle of the desert, off the main road, and you have no idea of where you are going. Delirium is setting in. Which way should I turn? Where can I find water? You plod along, and over a small rise, something shiny catches your eye. After half an hour of walking, you come upon the object that had been glistening in the distance: a broken down old jeep. You decide to rummage through it, to see if anything useful could be found, and lo, in the back seat, you find a 5 gallon bladder full of water. “This will quench my thirst!” you exclaim. In your desperation, you open it up, tilt it over, and swallow down the 130 degree, stagnant, putrid, bacteria filled water. In your delirious state you drink the tainted water, thinking yourself lucky to have found a hidden treasure such as this. It wasn’t the best water you ever had, but it satisfied your insatiable thirst for now. So, you continue on with the remainder of the 5 gallon bladder in tow. After a few hours, you realize that this container of water that had proved so refreshing earlier, had become a cumbersome burden on your back. It was a heavy weight that you simply could not bear to carry much longer. Any benefit you had derived from drinking the stench filled water was now gone because of the weight and burden of this container on your back. So, you gulp down as much of the nasty water as you can, cast the half empty bladder aside, and continue on. Not knowing where you are going, you stumble through the desert. Hours turn into another night in the brush. The morning dawns, and as you begin to set out in search of civilization and relief, you are doubled over with the worst pain imaginable. You cannot stand upright. Wracked with unimaginable pain, you begin retching uncontrollably, and soon, every bit of water that you had drank in the last day was violently expelled. You have a moment of realization that the water from the jeep made you sick, and you were now severely dehydrated, with some unknown bacteria reeking havoc on your insides. Unable to stand at this point, you begin to crawl. This goes on for hours, with you barely able to make any headway whatsoever. At 5:15pm, you manage to drag your body to the top of a low rise, catch a glimpse of a small town a few hundred yards away, and drop dead from heat exhaustion and dehydration. Your body was recovered some time later, and sadly it was discovered that in the bag on your back was 3 bottles of Dasani spring water. In the madness brought on by the heat and desperation, you forgot you had this life saving liquid right next to you, and settled instead for the tainted water you found in the jeep.
Men, drink from your own well. Whatever pleasure, joy, or satisfaction you think you may gain from filling your eyes and mind with pornography on the screen, will be the very chain that drags your soul down to hell. Whatever lust deep within you that you believe will be satiated by one more glance at your neighbors wife, won’t be satisfied. It will grow, and fester, and lead you to fully forsake the wife of your youth. Drink water from your own cistern. Young men, if you believe you can fill your mind with images now, or engage in illicit relationships with girls, and have a normal relationship with a wife later, you are deceived. The bible warns us to NOT be deceived.
Thou shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)
Flee sexual immorality. (1 Cor 6:18)
Abstain from sexual immorality. (1 Thess 4:3)
Men, these admontions are meant for your good. God does not seek to keep you from the good things He has in store for you, but rather, His desire is to protect you from the destructive nature of sexual immorality and preserve you so that you can fulfill His command to be fruitful and multiply in a way that glorifies Him. Sexual immorality cannot be trifled with. Like the man in the desert, one sip of the tainted water can destroy you. One gulp is enough to condemn your soul to hell.
Sexual immorality may start subtly. A glance at your neighbor, a TV show displaying immodestly dressed women. Your conscience is numbed to these sights, so you go further. Maybe it’s a website. Maybe you begin to frequent places where you know you can get your fill of skin. Now that’s not enough, so you begin seeking out women in real life who you believe will satisfy these growing lusts. If sexual immorality is your idol, God will give you over to these passions and they will destroy you, and anyone around you that you may love. It is a cancer that spreads and infects every area of your life. It cannot  be controlled, contained, or overcome alone. It cannot be dabbled in as a hobby or pastime or entertainment for a season, and turned off like a lightswitch. King David in Psalm 101:2-4 says
“I will give heed to the blameless way. When will You come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil.” He will set NO WORTHLESS THING before his eyes. Men, how often do you allow worthless things to come into your home? How often do we allow things into our homes meant to lead our sons to stumble, which make our wives feel cheap and inadequate, and lift a bar so high that our daughters cannot attain it? Oh, but they will try, to their own destruction. Want feminism to rule your home? Drink water from wells and cisterns not your own.
At the end of the day, having the most Godly, satisfying wife, will not save the sin chained soul. Simply plucking out an eye, or cutting off a hand will not quench the thirst of a man bent on adultery. What we need men, is to take a long drink from the well which has water springing up to eternal life. The water we need to drink, is that same water Jesus spoke of to the adulteress at the well. John 4:13-14
Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; [14] but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."  Jesus said if we drink from this water, the living water, we will never be thirsty again. Have you drank from this? Are you quenching your thirst with a steady stream of these living waters, or are you choking down stagnant, polluted water which will never satisfy, which promises pleasure and joy, but only delivers pain and heartache? If you are able, let us kneel with repentant hearts and confess our sins to our Heavenly Father.
Heavenly Father, we come before You this morning thankful that Your mercies are new every day. We thank You that You have made a way for us to be cleansed from our sins through the blood of Your Son Jesus. Father, we plead with You at this time to forgive us for our adulteries. Forgive us for not being content with the means You have given us to glorify You in our minds, with our bodies, and in our relationships with others. Please forgive us Father where we have compromised, allowing worthless things into our homes, before our eyes, and into the hearts and minds of our wives, sons, and daughters. Father, please create within us clean hearts, give us steadfast spirits which look to Your Son Jesus to satisfy all our longings and desires. Father, help the older men to be satisfied and content with the wife of our youth. Help the younger to be patient and trust You, knowing that You do have a plan for their future, and that All things are working together for their good. Please be with the ladies, young and old, and help them to find their value and worth in Christ, not in the perverted standards set by this world. Please forgive us when we seek to have our thirst quenched by tainted springs, rather than by the Living Water of Your Son Jesus. It’s in Jesus Name we pray, amen.
 
 Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!

(From the 9/23/19 liturgy of Sovereign King Church written by Aaron Sabie.)

(This is a book review I left on Amazon for Rachel Millers book "Beyond Authority and Submission." )

Rachel Miller's main proposition in her book "Beyond Authority and Submission" is that the church has adopted pagan views of sexuality to enforce patriarchy causing women to be relegated to the sphere of the home.  Mrs. Miller's historical work is shoddy at best.  It reaches back to misquote and paraphrase pagan authors without recognizing the theological concept of natural law.   She quotes pagan authors on women being the weaker sex, staying at home, and having children.   She thinks by simply quoting pagans or summarizing their statements, she has done the work of showing that their ideas are necessarily pagan.  It is not enough however to simply show that pagan authors said certain things, you need to show that what they have said originates from their paganism and that paganism is necessary to their ideas.  

Anyone with a familiarity at all with the scriptures and church history will know that these quotes by pagans are not unique to paganism.  St. Augustine said the concept of patriarchy goes back to the garden and to the patriarchs.  In his book the City of God, he said,  “And this is so much in accordance with the natural order, that the head of the household was called paterfamilias; and this name has been so generally accepted, that even those whose rule is unrighteous are glad to apply it to themselves.”  He makes the point that the Roman title of Paterfamilias borrows from the natural order and it is so evident that even the wicked attempt to adopt this view.  God has revealed in nature a created order which is evident to all.  Therefore, pagans who reject God reveal that they know God and have the law written on their consciences.  The Book of Romans lays this out clearly in its first few chapters.  Rather than paganism being the foundation from which patriarchy flows and the church borrowing from the pagans, it is the opposite. God the Father gives his name to fatherhood and the pagans have borrowed from God’s creation.

Can Pagans twist those truths? Certainly.  And they most certainly do.  Yet this does not undermine the truth.   John Knox in his work the Monstrous Regiment of Women quoted at length several pagan authors to show that even the pagans recognize for example that women were not created to exercise authority over men in the civil realm. He then moves from these pagan authors to show that what they have said finds its source and correct view in the special revelation of God, the Bible.
 
Mrs. Miller then jumps over 1800 years of church history to the Victorian age.  She provides a chapter trying to tie Victorian views on men and women back to the Greek and roman philosophers.  It is quite a leap.  She says that this was the result of the Renaissance stirring up a desire to read the philosophers again.  She provides several quotes which I suppose are supposed to shock the reader. For example, she writes “The Victorians found support for their belief that women belonged in the home in Paul’s encouragement that young women be “keepers at home” (Titus 2:5 KJV). William Alcott, an influential Victorian author and a cousin of Louisa May Alcott, explained that a woman “cannot discharge the duties of a wife, much less those of a mother, unless she prefers home to all other places, and is only led abroad from a sense of duty, and not from choice.”  Mr. Alcott’s quote would find itself at home in any commentary or sermon on Titus 2 from any period of the church before the 1800s.  Calvin, Luther, Matthew Henry, William Gouge, John Chrysostom, Augustine, and plenty of others from all ages of the church have said these things and more. The truth is that Mrs. Miller is starting with a feminist presupposition and anything that does not fit it, she is calling pagan.   As an aside, it is interesting to note that almost of the quotes she provides from the Victorian age she got from a secondary source written by a feminist author.

Mrs. Miller is quick to critique a supposedly unique “Victorian Patriarchy”, while she calls us to embrace Victorian feminism.  When she criticizes the church for supposedly imbibing from pagan influence, she does so while quoting favorably and naming chapters after feminists like Elizabeth Clarke Wolstenholme, a proponent of the free love movement of the 1800s. When Wolstenhome got pregnant by a man she was living with, her colleagues demanded that she marry. She fought against it and said it went against everything she believed in. She did finally get married but only at the behest of others. Both her and her free love husband were committed secularists.  Mrs Miller fawns over first wave feminism even to the point of having to remind readers that Margaret Sanger didn’t initially support abortion. Could it be that in Mrs. Miller's accusations against 2000 years of church history on sexuality, that she is the one imbibing from sources and worldviews foreign to scripture?

Lastly, Mrs. Miller is quite dishonest in her approach to scripture and confessions.  For example, she writes "But those of us who know our catechism can answer that our “chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” Do you notice what is missing from her quote of the catechism? The word "Man's" has been chopped off her quote. Now this may seem like a nitpick type of criticism but in truth she does this all throughout the book. Anytime a quote from a confession or scripture uses the masculine inclusive she removes it from the quote. Why? Because the masculine inclusive teaches us something about sexuality.  It teaches that male headship goes beyond merely who can preach a sermon in the official worship service on Sunday Morning.  Not only does she work to remove the masculine inclusive from the text, she inverts the phrase "men and women" throughout the book to be "women and men." These are little things, but they are very telling.

Another example of her dishonest approach is to simply make statements about scripture that are untrue.  She writes “In addition, the church cared for Christian widows and did not require them to remarry. "  But Holy Scripture says “Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the enemy no occasion for reproach.”  The discerning reader can find these types of things throughout the book.  

Her chapter on authority was a case study in sacrificing the normal on the alter of the abnormal.  She is ashamed of the call from 1 Peter for a wife to submit even to an unbelieving husband who disobeys the gospel.  She constantly is talking about the exceptions rather than the clear truths.  She neuters the authority of the husband under the banner of servant leadership.  One is left wondering if Mrs. Miller makes lists for her husband so that when he gets home he will know all the ways he can servant lead around the house.  
 
In all charity, Mrs. Miller sets out to answer a question that I actually am sympathetic to.  She wants to answer the question “what are women called to do?”  It is important in the feminist age we live in to provide a full-orbed biblical and positive view of femininity.  Unfortunately, Mrs. Miller by shoddy historical and theological work trades the truthful, historical, biblical, and godly answer to the question for a lie.   Rather than setting forth and embracing a positive view of women as life-givers and keepers of the home, she makes femininity into a cheap imitation of masculinity.  It becomes a game of everything you can do, I can do better.   Women are taught to that to be good women they must be good men. They are taught to ignore their calling at home for a calling elsewhere.  It is not enough for her to love her husband, love her children, be a discreet and chaste keeper at home who submits to her husband.  No, there must always be something more.   It is the same lie that the snake told in the garden.  God’s commands for women are not good enough.  He is withholding from them.  They must reach out and take a hold for themselves.    As an ordained pastor and in the spirit of Titus 1, I exhort all believers to avoid this work and instead submit themselves to the Bible.  

Instead listen to what one Victorian-era Southern Presbyterian pastor had to say:
Her submission is, therefore, a source of honour. She is not humiliated by it, but exalted...In her cordial submission of will, carrying with it the free coalescence of her own individuality with that of another, she becomes the first exponent of the mighty principle by which, through grace, sinful man is restored to fellowship with God. She is allowed to carry this principle down into all the details of life; and by a thousand acts to show how the will may turn upon its own pivot, and move freely under the law of control...It is a wonderful privilege afforded to her who, “being deceived, was in the transgression,” to be called thus openly to assert and illustrate the spontaneous loyalty of a will that perfectly blends with the authority which directs it. Such a mission is immeasurably grander in its proportions, and sweeter in its beneficence, than all the usurped dignities of the unsexed sisterhood who aspire, contrary to nature, to be the competitor and rival of man, rather than his counterpart and helpmeet."

 The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

The life of a young man is replete with mines, pitfalls, hairpin turns, and dead ends. The world will seek to entice you with the promise of wealth, and prosperity. Satan will attempt to make you believe that God has been withholding good things from you. Your own flesh will rage against you, leading you to lust after that which God has forbidden. There will be times in your life when it seems as if you are being squeezed on all sides. Sin before you, disobedience behind. Temptations all around. Can you relate? Young men, as the days of your life tick by, do you believe yourself to be at war with the world, flesh, and Satan? Do you walk with a sense of purpose, a mission, or is your life merely a series of laughs, parties, fun, and entertainment, with peace and tranquility as your goal? The Proverb today gives us a handful of admonitions which are meant to give “ life to those who find them and health to all their body”.
 
Do not allow God’s sayings to depart from your sight.
Watch over your heart with all diligence.
Let your eyes look directly ahead.
Let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.
Watch the path of your feet.
The condition of your heart before God, it’s focus, and the path you are walking on, make up the thrust of these instructions to us.
  Are you trusting in Him with all your heart? Do you find God’s Law delightful? Have you tasted and seen that He is good? Have you come to realize that His yoke is easy and His burden is light? Have you been born again? Jesus said that “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and later “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Young brothers, are you are simply trying to do better, struggling to appease mommy and daddy, and fighting against the world, flesh, and Satan in your own strength and wisdom? You labor in vain. Have you fallen into a pattern of being religious: bowing your head at prayer time, stumbling through your bible reading, giving all the correct answers about the Christian faith when asked? Psalm 64: 5 states “They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose; they talk of laying snares secretly; they say ‘who can see them?’”. Young men, if your aim is to live outwardly as a Christian, but inwardly you are at ease with sin, scheming about folly , know this: you do not fool God. God knows the condition of your heart, that it is evil continually (Gen 6:5). Examine your heart young man. What is it’s orientation towards God? Are you a child of God, or at war with Him?
Perhaps you are a Christian. You have been born again. Where are your feet taking you? What path do you find yourself on? Maybe you have stumbled into sin and wonder, “How can I get back onto the right path? How can I right this course I am on?”.
 
Repent, and in your repenting, set the Word of God before your eyes. “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). Young men, having God’s Word in your heart and on your lips will act as a mirror for your soul, showing you the sin that is present, giving you a clear picture of who you are before God, and will serve to direct your steps as you move through this life and the pitfalls that await. In your meditating on God’s Word, don’t just read it like some novel or comic book: hide God’s Word in your heart that you might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11). King David praised God for training his hands for war. The study and meditation of the Holy Scriptures does this very thing: it prepares you to make war with the world, flesh, and Satan.
Psalm 119:105 says “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”. Jesus says that “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). Young brothers, He guides us onto paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Do you desire to follow Christ? Do you long to walk on a path that is leading to eternal life? You must resolve with King David to allow no worthless thing before your eyes (Psalm 101:3), instead, looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith. We accomplish this by pursuing Him through the only medium He has given us to know His will: the diligent, Holy Spirit led, study of His revealed Word.
Do not allow God’s sayings to depart from your sight.
Watch over your heart with all diligence.
Let your eyes look directly ahead.
Let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.
Watch the path of your feet.

Only a Spirit filled heart can take heed of these instructions. Only one who has been born again would even care to. Is this you today? Do you find yourself adrift, longing for Christ, longing for that peace which passeth all understanding? Repent, and look unto Jesus today, for today is the day of salvation. If able, let us kneel together and lift our thoughts and prayers to our Heavenly Father.
 BLESSED LORD JESUS,
 No human mind could conceive or invent
        the gospel.
      Acting in eternal grace, thou art both
  its messenger and its message,
  lived out on earth through infinite compassion,
  applying thy life to insult, injury, death,
  that I might be redeemed, ransomed, freed.
Blessed be thou, O Father, for contriving this way,
Eternal thanks to thee, O Lamb of God,
  for opening this way,
Praise everlasting to thee, O Holy Spirit,
  for applying this way to my heart.
Glorious Trinity, impress the gospel on my soul,
  until its virtue diffuses every faculty;
Let it be heard, acknowledged, professed, felt.
Teach me to secure this mighty blessing;
Help me to give up every darling lust,
  to submit heart and life to its command,
  to have it in my will,
    controlling my affections,
    moulding my understanding;
  to adhere strictly to the rules of true religion,
    not departing from them in any instance,
    nor for any advantage in order to escape evil,
      inconvenience or danger.
Take me to the cross to seek glory from its infamy;
Strip me of every pleasing pretence of righteousness
  by my own doings.
O gracious Redeemer,
  I have neglected thee too long,
  often crucified thee,
  crucified thee afresh by my impenitence,
  put thee to open shame.
I thank thee for the patience that has borne with me
  so long,
  and for the grace that now makes me willing to be
  thine.
O unite me to thyself with inseparable bonds,
  that nothing may ever draw me back from thee,
  my Lord, my Saviour. It’s in Jesus Name we pray, amen.
(From The Valley of Vision, titled “The gospel way”)                                        
 Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

 To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!   


(From the 9/1/19 liturgy of Sovereign King Church by Aaron Sabie.)

The Psalm writer wrote:  Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. As we come before a Holy God and hear his word, may we have eyes open to the wonderful and fearful things from his law. May it move us to repent and seek forgiveness, fear disobedience, and live in light of the grace we have received.   This is the word of God.  It is eternally true and applicable for all of life.  

Have you ever watched the TV show Leave it to Beaver? It was a show about at nice small town boy named the Beav, and his older brother Wally, growing up in a typical American home in the 1960’s. The Beav and Wally had a friend named Eddie Haskell. Eddie was a lying, manipulative, two faced trouble maker. Every opportunity he got he sought to get the Cleaver boys into some kind of trouble. Eddie was best known for hiding his troublemaking ways behind a veneer of smiles, flattery, and deception, fooling Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver on a regular basis. To those who did not know him, who were not acquainted with his ways, he seemed like an all around nice boy. Typically, though the Beav and Wally were polite, respectful young men, they were led astray by Eddie, and rarely did their positive influence flow in the other direction and have an impact on him. He was a troublemaker, and the Cleaver boys would have been wise to have avoided having him as a friend. However, that was just a sitcom. Real life is much different, is it not? In real life, we are able to mingle with wicked men, have close friends who are stumbling blindly down paths of sin, and develop intimate relationships with those who hate God, and all the influence in the relationship will flow from us, to them, right? We develop these intimate relationships with sinners so that we can be salt and light, showing them the love of Christ with the way we live our lives. You know “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words”. We teach sinners about Christ and our relationship with him, by the way we live our lives. As Christians, who we associate with, whether in our workplaces, on Instagram, or in our homeschool co-op, doesn’t really matter, does it? That’s not what the bible says.
Do not enter the path of the wicked And do not proceed in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not pass by it; Turn away from it and pass on.
This is not simply good advice. These words are meant to keep you from hellfire. Brothers and sisters, the path of the wicked is the broad road to destruction. Not only are we told to not enter this path, or to walk in it, but we are commanded to avoid it all together. What fellowship does light have with darkness? A little leaven leavens the whole lump, does it not? But what do we do?
We deceive ourselves.
We claim Christian liberty.
We compromise with sin.
We deceive ourselves by believing that the influence being exerted in our relationships flows only one way, from us to our friend. We have such lofty opinions of ourselves and our relationship with God that we ignore the command of scripture which says “He who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall”, and in our pride we enter into intimate relationships with sinners and wind up looking, sounding, and behaving just like them. In our self deception we believe we can bring hot coals to our bosoms and not get burned.
In our self deception, we scramble to paint our lives as one big gray area, with everything falling into the category of “Christian Liberty”. You know, that teaching in scripture which says because you are saved, you are now free to trample the grace of God. Hiding behind “Christian Liberty” allows you to fill your mind with the same blasphemous entertainment as your friends. It permits you to be overly harsh and crass. You can partake in the dirty jokes. Under the guise of liberty, you are free to dress just as all your friends do, strutting around, flaunting your body for all the world to see, and would feign indignation should someone suggest you cover up. Holding up Christian liberty as a banner, we quickly begin looking, behaving, and sounding just like the world. Instead of exposing their evil deeds, we become just like them.
Lastly, this abuse of Christian liberty leads to a compromise with sin. “That movie is just so good, except for that one sex scene. I will try to close my eyes. Well, that and the 50x my Lord’s Name was taken in vain.” Having abused Christian liberty, things that once made us cringe and repel, now get a pass because deep down, we are titillated by it. It isn’t just movies. Social media, everyone's favorite slave master, is filled with tasty little morsels of vulgarity, soft core pornography, and other kinds of rebellion. You can even troll the pages of other Christians and get your fill of sin. Christian liberty is all the rage.
 The Pastor has talked at length lately regarding womanhood, femininity, and modesty. Perhaps you have found yourself saying “By the bible’s standard, my friend does dress and act like a harlot. So what?” you might think. “It’s hot outside, she’s comfortable, and she’s cute. So why not?” Or maybe that is you. Perhaps you are the one seeking to live in the gray area, one foot in Christ, one foot in the world. “What’s that mean, one foot in Christ, one foot in the world?” It means, you are an idolater, and at war with God. God will not be mocked. He will not share His glory with another. God does not compromise with sin. He demands your obedience, and the Proverb today is clear: Do not enter the path of the wicked And do not proceed in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not pass by it; Turn away from it and pass on.
In Proverbs 3 we read that when we trust in the Lord with all our heart, and lean not on our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledging Him,  He will direct our steps. Psalm 23 tells us that our Good Shepherd, Jesus, will lead us onto paths of righteousness for His namesake. What path do you find yourself on today? Do your steps conform to the image of the world, or Christ? Are you on the broad road to destruction, or the narrow path which leads to life? The good news is that today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Today is the day of salvation. Let us kneel and confess our sins to a Holy God Who is faithful and just to forgive the sins of those who call upon the Name of Jesus.
Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning as frail, feeble creatures who are prone to wander. We are easily deceived by the promises of sin. We use the liberty found in Christ as a license to sin, and we frequently find ourselves compromising with that which you hate. Father, far too often we allow ourselves to be led along by sinful appetites, and preferences, and the influence of friends, rather than by Your Word and the Holy Spirit. Too often we take our cues from the world, which hates You, seeking to satisfy the sinful appetites of our flesh, rather than warring against them. Please be merciful to us Father. Please soften our hard hearts and help us to recognize our rebellion and flee to the cross of Christ. Please forgive us of our sins against You. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
 Listen now to the comforting assurance of the grace of God, promised in the gospel to all that believe: 

To all those who thus repent and seek Jesus Christ for their salvation, your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Lift up your hearts!   


(From the 8/25/19 liturgy of Sovereign King Church written by Aaron Sabie)