In 'Setting the Course of Your Life - Part 2,' Peter Allison explores the principles of wisdom, love, and diligence as essential elements in building a meaningful and lasting life. Drawing from Proverbs chapter 24, the sermon emphasizes that wisdom is foundational not only in constructing a metaphorical house but also in establishing character and relationships. Love, closely tied to fulfilling the law, is presented as an active duty of rescuing others both physically and spiritually. The sermon discusses the importance of persevering in adversity, highlighting that true strength and character are revealed during trials. Additionally, it stresses the need to balance respect for authority with the courage to resist wickedness and tyranny. Diligence is underscored as crucial in both earthly and spiritual pursuits, warning against laziness and the pursuit of revenge. The sermon encourages believers to keep their focus on heavenly rewards, ensuring that their actions align with God's principles and lead to eternal significance.

In Proverbs chapter 24, We begin reading at verse 3. Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established. By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is strong, yes a man of knowledge increases strength. For by wise counsel you will wage your own war and in a multitude of counselors there is safety.

Wisdom is too lofty for a fool, he does not open his mouth in the gate. He who plots to do evil will be called the schemer. The devising of foolishness is sin and the scoffer is an abomination to men. If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Deliver those who are drawn to death and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.

If you say, surely we did not know this, does not he who weighs the heart consider it? He who keeps your soul does he not know it? And will he not render to each man according to his deeds? My son eat honey because it is good, and the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste, so shall knowledge of wisdom be to your soul. If you have found it, there is a prospect, and your hope will not be cut off.

Do not lie in wait a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous. Do not plunder his resting place, For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity. Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles. Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn his wrath away from him. Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the wicked, for there will be no prospect for the evil man.

The lamp of the wicked will be put out. My son, fear the Lord and the king, and do not associate with those given to change, for their calamity will rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin these two can bring." These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to show partiality in judgment. He who says to the wicked, You are righteous, him the people will curse. Nations will abhor him, but those who rebuke the wicked will have the light, and a good blessing will come upon them.

He who gives the right answer kisses the lips. Prepare your outside work, make it fit for yourself in the field, and afterward build your house. Do not be a witness against your neighbor without a cause, for would you Deceive with your lips? Do not say I will do to him just as he has done to me. I will render to the man according to his work.

I went by the field of the lazy man and by the vineyard of the man, devoid of understanding, and there it was, all overgrown with thorns. Its surface was covered with nuttles. Its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well. I looked on it and received instruction, a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.

So shall your poverty come like a prowler, and your need like an armed man May our tongue speak of his word for all of his commandments are righteousness Merciful father, Please open the eyes of our understanding, open our hearts, that we may receive with meekness this word, this word of truth, this word of light. This word of light. I pray that you would sanctify my lips to speak what is holy and that we might be sanctified by your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, This is the part two of the message that we began last week as we looked at this third part in the third section of Proverbs, a section that we saw dealt with gathering wealth, who we developed friendships with, relationships with, who we spent time with.

And then thirdly, this planning or setting the course of our life. By wisdom, a house is built. It's a metaphorical Reference we saw last week to more than just the building of of a wood and stone residence but it's talking also and primarily about our life and about the Work that we do and what remains when we depart what what is? Useful eternally useful And what is burned up and destroyed? The things that are effectively wasted.

What is the sum total of our life? And there were, we saw these principles that are laid out in this section, in this chapter, principles of the Word of God for what is important, what is more important, or what is less important. What we ought to do and what we ought not to do, and the principles for being able to decide and determine, according to the Word of God, the answer to that question. So we saw last week that a wise man is strong, that we are not to pledge ourselves as security. We talked about seeking outside counsel and the necessity of it, especially in major decisions.

We talked about that our thoughts count and that trials and adversity are proof of character and belief. Both character and belief are proven in trials. And then we ended last week looking at this duty here of rescuing, this call to rescue the perishing, to deliver those who are drawn to death and hold back those stumbling to slaughter. This is another way of expressing our duty of love. Remember, the second great commandment is to love our neighbor as our self.

And this love, This love is defined in the New Testament as the fulfilling of the law. So when we think of the law and we think of love, we shouldn't think of two things that are opposed. Sometimes we think, well, this is the loving thing and this is what the law would require. But really, if we think that way, we're probably not thinking right. Because the Bible says that the law and the love go together, that Love is the fulfilling of the law.

And that if we are loving, then we are keeping the commandments. And if we are truly keeping these commandments, then we are loving. The two go together. One is defined by the other. All of the Ten Commandments and all of the Law of God, remember the Ten Commandments are a summary of the Law of God.

All the Law of God, Jesus said, can be summed up in the two commands, the first and great, to love the Lord our God, the second to love our neighbor as ourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." And so this rescuing those who are drawn to death, this is simply an expression of our duty to love our neighbor as ourself. This genuine love has to have a genuine spirit and a substantial body. Both have to be present. A gift of substance without any empathy, without any sincere emotion connected to it is like a rotting carcass.

It's not very desirable. But empathy and wonderful words that sound very gracious and loving with no substance is an intangible spirit that does nothing. You see, our love of our neighbor must be born of a sincere emotion. A sincere emotion must animate, must drive, must invigorate that love. And a substantial act must embody our emotion.

You see, the two need to go together. That's the substance of the Apostle John's great letter on love, where he reminds us to love not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth. See the deed is the action, the truth is the heart, emotion. Truth here means sincerity, candor of mind that is free from affection, pretension, simulation, or falsehood, or deceit. We are to love in deed and in truth, in sincerity, not in word and in tongue.

So delivering those who are drawn to death and hold back those stumbling to slaughter is simply the expression then of this duty to love one another, to love our fellow man. And those who are drawn to death is not just those who are about to be torn apart by a doctor or a murderer, but Also those who are being drawn to death in a spiritual sense. Spiritual. That's a far greater death. We're not to fear those that can just destroy the body, but we're to fear those who can destroy the body and cast the soul into hell.

And so there is a duty here then, a call here to deliver those who are drawn to death, to deliver those who are spiritually dying, who are spiritually in jeopardy, in danger. Jonathan Edwards just very vividly and famously has described the plight of the sinner as hanging by a mere thread over a fire. Hanging by a mere thread over a fire. That any moment is in danger of falling into that fire. That's how the second death is described, as eternal torment, a fire, a never ending fire.

And those, we are to have a compassion for those who are drawn toward death and seek to restore them, seek to bring to them the truth, seek to tell them the truth, even if they don't want to hear it. If somebody is drowning and you go to help them, one of the first dangers that you learn when you are learning life saving skills is that you have to you have to incapacitate the person so that they don't drown and they don't bring you under in their frantic clawing they can they can drown you And if somebody who is spiritually drowning in the same way can be seen as pushing us away, they don't want the truth. And yet if we are to deliver those who are drawn to death We need to learn how to boldly and graciously and in an in winsome way bring the truth to people who don't want to hear it. That was Isaiah's job. God called him to be a prophet to bring his word to Israel and said, but they're not going to listen to you, but you need to go anyways.

If deliver those who are drawn to death and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. There's an inducement here to rescue the perishing and that is that God the Father sees, and there is a reward. And so the next principle then is to keep our eyes on the heavenly reward when making earthly decisions. To keep our eyes on the heavenly reward that is promised when making earthly decisions. If you say, surely we didn't know, Does not he who weighs the heart consider it?

He who keeps your soul, does he not know it? And will he not render to each man according to his deeds?" That's a rhetorical question, meaning the answer is yes, of course. The Bible teaches that in many, many places. Those who would come to God must believe two things, according to Hebrews. Must believe first that He is, that God is, and secondly that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

And so this then should be a strong inducement, a strong motivation, and a right motivation in our love of our neighbor, in rescuing the perishing. And that God does see, and that God does notice the work that we do through him and by him, but work that we do. We ought to be motivated by God's rewards. We ought to be motivated by the rewards that God has promised to give us. I think sometimes we may forget when we are making those earthly decisions, when we are counting the costs, we are called to count the costs to take up our cross and to follow Jesus.

When we're counting that cost, when we're making these decisions on earth, do we have the reward in view? Are we thinking about what God has promised to give? We ought to be motivated by God's promise of reward. Paul was. He was moved to action considering the reward that God promised to him.

He told the Galatians, let us not grow weary in doing good for in due season we will reap. We will reap. There's a harvest. There's a reward. We will reap if we do not lose heart.

God's reward, the crown of righteousness, this eternal life, This is far better than anything we have ever seen here on earth. It's far better than we can even imagine. Jesus says the eye hasn't seen, we haven't considered what God can do for us, His blessing that He can bring to us. And so this ought to be a part of our thinking. That we are living for the future, that we are preparing now for heaven, that the works that we do now won't be burned up and destroyed in the day of judgment, but that they will be of gold and silver and precious metals and that they will endure through the fire.

That the work that we do now has eternal significance. Thirdly, we are to seek wisdom. We mentioned this last week. The need to be always growing. Because if we are not growing, we are regressing.

If we are not growing, if we are not living, we are dying. My son, eat honey because it is good, and the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste so shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul. If you have found it, there is a prospect and your hope will not be cut off." That's contrast with the wicked whose hope is cut off, whose lamp is put out, whose their lines are extinguished. But for the righteous their hope is not cut off. For those who are seeking wisdom, which is found in Christ, and it is found in His Word.

The next principle is to persevere in adversity. To persevere in adversity. We may fall, but God will restore. We may fall many times. The number seven is used here.

The righteous man may fall seven times. It's a number of fullness, of completeness, representative of a lot. But he will rise. The wicked, on the other hand fall by calamity. Paul's example again of this kind of perseverance in adversity is really stunning.

The things that he endured, the catalog of things that he persevered through. He describes their ministry as hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed.

For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh." They pressed on, knowing that he who raised Jesus would also raise them up. And therefore he said, don't lose heart. He told the Corinthians, don't lose heart. Even though the outward man is perishing and we're all dying, that's the wages of sin, we are living and yet our bodies are dying. They are, If you haven't experienced that yet, just wait a little bit.

And you'll begin to experience the dying of our bodies. You see this gradual progression as our bodies wear out and ultimately stop. So we don't lose heart even though the outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. So we're not looking, he said, to the things that are seen, but to the things that are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary. The trials, the adversities, the difficulties, these are temporary. They happen in time, and they will come to an end but the things which are not seen are eternal And so We we are encouraged and admonished to persevere, to persevere in adversity. In fact, Paul said even we are to glory in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope and hope will not be disappointed. There is also a warning here against attacking the dwelling of the righteous.

Do not lie in wait against the dwelling of the righteous. Don't plunder His resting place. Because it may look like they're down and out. Everybody likes to pile on to somebody that is down and out. But there is a warning here that the righteous, those who fear God, they will rise again, like Job did.

Like Job did. Like Job did. Oftentimes, this difference between those who persevere and those who don't is the epitome of what I'll call the classic homelessness. The person who is homeless is somebody who has given up, who has just ceased to struggle, ceased to persevere. The next principle to remember is that victory comes from God.

Victory comes from God. So when God brings defeat to our enemies, there is a caution here against gloating. There is a call to win, to be victorious with grace and humility. Because it wasn't our ingenuity that brought the victory in the first place. It is God's name that is the strong tower to which the righteous run and are safe.

There is a warning here not to be like that little child that taunts their enemies from the safety of their mother's skirts. That we are not to rejoice when the enemy falls, or let our heart be glad when he stumbles. There is a very interesting reason that is given here for that. And that is, thus God sees our rejoicing at the downfall of our enemies, and rejoicing in the power and goodness of God that brings victory over our enemies. And that's not an easy distinction to understand, let alone to be able to explain.

Because we clearly see in the scriptures a rejoicing in the victory that God brings over enemies and yet we can all recognize the folly of this inward gloating at the downfall of their enemies. And so I would just like to look then at those two examples of God's people rejoicing before the Lord at the downfall, in the downfall of their enemies. And one is the song of Moses in Exodus 15. The Egyptians had enslaved the Israelites for about 100 years. Oh, a hundred years or more, about a hundred years.

So in other words, several generations, you would have, there have been people that grew up that were born as slaves, grew up and died as slaves to the Egyptians. And if people that The Egyptians were people that treated them very cruelly, that oppressed them, that killed all their male children. You can imagine the desire, the loathing that these mothers who had their babies killed, their sons killed by Pharaoh's army would have for the Egyptians. These were enemies in every sense of the word of God's people. And when God destroyed them, and you all know the story of how God destroyed them in the Red Sea, as they crossed that water on dry land, then God brought the walls of water back down over the army and Destroyed that the army of Egypt and this is Moses song Said I will sing to the Lord who has for he has triumphed Gloriously The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. He is my God and I will praise him, my Father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war, Jehovah is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army he cast into the sea, his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea, the depths covered him, they sank to the bottom like stone." There is a recounting of what God has done. They are singing to the Lord because God has triumphed.

Do you notice the focus here is on what God has done? It's on His power. And they are praising Him for it. Your right hand, O Jehovah, has become glorious in power. Your right hand has dashed the enemy in pieces.

And in the greatness of your excellence you have overthrown those who rose against you. You sent forth your wrath. It consumed them like stubble, and with the blast of your nostrils the waters were gathered together. The floods stood upright like a heap, the depths congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil.

My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand will destroy them. You blew with your wind as He covered them. They sank like lead among the mighty waters. Who is like you, O Jehovah, among the gods?

Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them. You and your mercy have led forth the people whom you have redeemed. You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation." notice the focus here. This rejoicing, it recounts what God has done.

It doesn't ignore the fact that God has destroyed these people, these enemies. But it is all about what God does. It is God that says, I will draw my sword. You blew with your wind. This is an example of rejoicing before the Lord for his victory over his and our enemies.

Another example is the song of Deborah in Judges 5. Israel after they came out of Egypt, They entered the land of Canaan and they conquered the people that were there, but when they forgot God and quit following His statutes, When they forgot pursuing Him and started following the gods of the lands in which they lived, then God would send another enemy to oppress them, to conquer them, to take away their freedom. We see in that, this light, Gideon is threshing his wheat in a wine press. Why is he doing that? To hide it.

He is hiding it. He can't do it out in the open because the marauding bands of Midianites would come and steal it. And they might steal him too. So he's doing this in secret. That's the kind of oppression that they lived under when they turned away from the Lord.

Well Deborah was one of the judges that God raised up to deliver them from Jabin the king of Canaan. And after this army was defeated and the general of the army was slain by a woman, took a tent peg and drove it through his temple. Then Deborah and Barak sang this song, When leaders lead in Israel, when the people willingly offer yourself, bless the Lord. Hear O Kings, hear O Princes, I even I will sing to the Lord, I will sing praise to the God of Israel. Lord, when you went out from Seir, When you marched from the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured, the clouds also poured water, the mountains gushed before the Lord, this Sinai before the Lord God of Israel.

In the days of Shamgar, the highways were deserted, travelers walked on the byways, village life ceased until I, Deborah, arose a mother in Israel. They chose new gods, new civil rulers. Then there was war in the gates. And she goes on to describe how God delivered the Israelites from the Canaanites. She says in verse 13, the Lord came down for me against the mighty." And she lists all the tribes that were present in the battle.

And She says, she blesses the jail in verse 24, the woman who killed Sisera with the tent peg. And then she says, thus let all your enemies perish, O Lord, but let those who love him be like the sun when it comes out in full strength, and so the land had rest for forty years." And so here are two examples of people who in the Spirit, Okay, so this is not, these are not, not everything that's recorded in the Scriptures is, is right. I mean, the Scripture records many examples of sin in people, that people do. But these are two examples that are in the Spirit. Both Moses and Deborah are prophets.

They speak the Word of God. They are speaking in the Spirit. They are speaking the text of Scripture. They are giving us these examples of how to properly rejoice before the Lord at the Lord's victory. This warning here is to remember that victory comes from God.

And so we should not rejoice when our enemy falls. We should not let our heart be glad when he stumbles. You see the focus is on our heart being glad in a personal way that our enemy is humble, our enemy is destroyed, instead of our heart rejoicing to the Lord and being grateful to him for what he has done. And that's difficult, very difficult. On one hand, we don't want to rejoice in our heart when our enemy falls, in any kind of personal way.

We don't want to get satisfaction that this enemy is no longer there. And yet that's very real and that's very important, that we not have this desire for revenge and that we not gloat in when God brings a victory and yet we shouldn't let that concern stop us from praising God when he does defeat his enemies we shouldn't let that concern not to gloat or rejoice In our heart when the enemy falls stop us from rejoicing before the Lord and to the Lord and praising the Lord When he brings victory over his enemies But I grant that that's a That's not an easy thing to that difference is not easy. It's not easy to maintain and And I think there is wisdom in being careful, in being a concern that we do not rejoice or gloat in our heart. Now the next principle is the warning not to look with longing at people that seem to have it better than we do. It's all too easy to think to ourselves, Why should we take up our cross daily?

Why should we go to the work that we go to, the seemingly extra work that we go to? Maybe it's homeschooling and we think, well, we could just give them to somebody else and it would be a lot less work for us. Or why do we go to the trouble to be just, to love mercy? It's all too easy to look at people that don't do these things, and desire their seeming ease. It's all too easy to think, what benefit is there in taking up my cross compared to these people over here who don't seem to have any cares, they live at ease, they enjoy their free time unencumbered.

We need to remember, the answer to that is to remember their future, to remember the future. It's another corollary you might say of considering the eternal reward when we make earthly decisions. And the answer here that's given in scripture is to look to their future. They have no prospect. Their lamp will be put out.

In their latter end they will fall and not get up. We need to remember that. We need to come back to that again and again every time we forget it. The next principle in verse 21 is to respect lawful authority. This is one of two positively stated commands in the Ten Commandments.

Fear God and honor the King. Fear the Lord, fear Jehovah and the King. Patriotism is a good thing. Not a party spirit, but genuinely seeking the good of the land in which we live. That is a good thing.

Jeremiah told those who were dwelling in Babylon to build houses, to dwell in them, to plant gardens and eat their fruit. In other words, participate in the economy of that place. Contribute to it. We honor the King. We contribute to the well-being of the land that we are in when we marry and have children.

When we take wives for our sons and give our daughters to husbands so that they may bear children. We seek the peace of the city. We pray to the Lord for it. These are some of the ways that we can honor the King and fear the Lord. And there is a corollary in the second part of this, and that is not to associate with those given to change.

Now this is a difficult verse and it's translated a lot of different ways, but I think the sense is of not associating with those given to change is in contrast to those who honor the king, on the other hand are the people who are seeking to undermine the king. And so this, some have translated as those given to intrigue or intriguing officials. We talk about court intrigue and what's court intrigue? Well, it's all those little subplots to undermine here, to undermine over here, to gain personal advancement in here, personal advancement there, that's intrigue. And we're not to associate with those who are given to that.

These are, some also translate this rebels, because that's in a sense what these people are doing. They are rebelling. They aren't against the king. They aren't honoring the king. They aren't honoring the institution, but they are rebelling against it.

These are people who ultimately want to overturn the existing basis of law and order for their own benefit, for their own gain. And we still have a lot of those people who want to overturn the existing basis of a culture of our economy. John Maynard Keynes, who was a perverted person, had an equally perverted theory of economics, but he recognized that fraudulent money would overturn the existing basis of society. So that's an intrigue. We're not to be associated with those who are given to intrigue.

Rebels who want to overturn the existing basis of law and order. The reason is because it will collapse and it will take you with it. For their calamity will rise suddenly and who knows the ruin these two can bring. Don't associate with political intrigue. Fear God and fear the Lord and honor the King.

Now The counterpart to that is the next principle, and that is there must be a willingness to resist wickedness and tyranny. So we are to honor the king, but we are also to resist wickedness and tyranny. That means that we have to be willing to speak even to the king. Judges especially, this is especially incumbent on judges, they need to resist evil. They need to rebuke it.

It's all too easy for a judge to be partial. Here's somebody in front of him that can benefit him, and it happens all the time. Happens all the time. Partiality. The wicked are not condemned, but rather they are exonerated.

There's a command here, not to show partiality in judgment. He who says to the wicked, you are righteous, him the people will curse, nations will abhor, but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight and a good blessing will come upon them." You see this is something that is true of judges, but it is also true of us as citizens. We have to be willing to risk offending people. We have to be willing to risk offending the king, offending the rulers, to where they have done wrong and need to be rebuked. It is these rebukes, it is of the people that the Lord often uses to preserve righteousness in a land.

That we are rulers who don't fear God, but they will do what is right simply because of the persistence of God's people bringing rebuke and admonition to them, persevering in that. And in the corollary to that is to not be evasive but direct. It is a kiss on the lips. He who gives the right answer kisses the lips. This is a call that we need to be directive when the time calls for it.

We need to be willing to give the right answer and to give it boldly. Verse 27 is the next principle to prioritize our life. To prioritize our life. Our life. It gives an example.

Don't Prepare your outside work, make it fit for yourself in the field, and afterward build your house. We need to have wisdom, young men need to pursue marriage, young men and Women need to pursue marriage, they need a place to live, young men need skills to be able to provide for a family, but this is a call to prioritize these things. There's a right order to doing these things, and there's a wrong order. We do need to be able to provide for those in need. The first priority for a young man is the preparation of the skills to earn a living.

Prepare your outside work, make it fit for yourself in the field and afterward build your house. After you have the ability to earn a living, after you've mastered a trade, mastered skills that are useful, whether that's your field or in a physical sense or whether you are a knowledge worker, then after that build your house. Then after that is the time to pursue marriage and a family. There is a right order to things. And so we need to prioritize our life.

And then next is to not seek revenge. Don't be a witness against your neighbor without a cause. Just because they did something to you, don't say, I'm going to do that back to them. That's something that we all know, and yet in our heart of hearts we all are faced with that temptation that when somebody does something wrong to us, a very natural instinct is to want to bring justice to them. Don't say, I will do to Him just as He has done to me.

I will render to man according to his work. The seeking of revenge will consume you, it will destroy you. And if you look at building your life, and building a house, And filling the rooms with treasures, seeking revenge will destroy your house. It will tear it down. It will remove the brick upon brick and leave you with nothing but a pile of rubble.

Do not say, I will do to him just as he has done to me." Again that's not a prohibition against testifying, against bringing the truth to those who do evil. But it is a rebuke against the desire to simply do back to people what they have done to us. Now this ends, this section ends, with a call to diligence. It's probably of all the principles beyond seeking the Lord and seeking his wisdom. And loving our neighbor.

This is the other great peak, that of diligence. Laziness will ruin our house, literally and metaphorically. Work is foundational to all of our callings. And it's the other of two positive commands. Six days shall you labor and do all your work." This is a call to diligence.

I went by the field of the lazy man and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding and there it was all overgrown with thorns. Its surface was covered with nettles, its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it I considered it well. I looked on it and received instruction." He learned from this bad example of what not to do. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler and your need like an armed man people that are Robbed are often surprised by the armed man that shows up and you're unprepared for it That's the sense in which poverty Will overtake somebody who is not diligent in their labor This is why it's a terrible terrible sin to forbid people to work Is it the fourth the fourth commandment requires says Six days shall you labor.

Six days shall you labor. If you're well and you're not sick, you should be laboring. And to forbid people from working is to require them to sin. People that are well are to work. Diligence is foundational to building our house.

He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. Proverbs 10-4, Proverbs 12-24, the hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy man will be put to forced labor. Proverbs 13, the soul of the lazy man desires and is nothing but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich. Proverbs 21, the plans of the diligent lead to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty to poverty. Proverbs 27, we haven't gotten there yet.

Be diligent to know the state of your flocks and to attend to your herds. Be diligent to know the state of your flocks and your herds. Means we have to sometimes sacrifice our comfort. We have to sacrifice our ease to be diligent in our labor. But this applies not just to the gathering of physical wealth, but also spiritual wealth.

This applies just as much to our spiritual life as it does to our physical life, our temporal life. It applies to our eternal life as much as it applies to our temporal life. We're called to be diligent. God is preparing a rest for us. In Hebrews 4 we are called to be diligent, to enter that rest.

Let anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. In 2 Peter 10, he's given us this to our faith, we are to advert you into virtue, knowledge, into knowledge, self-control, into self-control, perseverance, into perseverance, godliness, into godliness, brotherly kindness, into brotherly kindness, love. He says, for if you do these things, you will never stumble. Be even more diligent then, having done these things, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things, you will never stumble. See diligence is a big part then of our spiritual life.

We have to be diligent in the spiritual exercises to add to our faith virtue, to add to virtue knowledge. So they are studying the Word of God, to add to that knowledge, self-control, that the knowledge that we gain results in modifying what we do, it results in our living more obediently. And that has to lead to brotherly kindness and to love. This knowledge should flow out in greater love and greater brotherly kindness. Be diligent to make your call in elections to our brothers and sisters.

Be diligent. You don't want your spiritual life to look like this place that's all overgrown with thorns. Surface covered with nettles, stone wall broken down. Therefore, Peter says, and a little bit later, Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found in Him in peace, without spot, and blameless. May God give us diligence, both in our temporal lives, in our temporal work, and in our spiritual lives, and in our spiritual work.

Almighty Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word that corrects our misunderstandings, that informs our ignorance, that reminds us of our duties, that teaches us of you, through which your word, through which we can know you, wherein you have revealed your glory and your wisdom, in part to us. And So Father, we do want to be well pleasing to you in all that we do. We want to be your servants, we are your servants. We want to be faithful servants who daily count the cost, you take up our cross, who follow you, who are more concerned with your glory and your kingdom and obedience to your commandments, then we are with our glory. And so Lord we give to you all that we have.

For all that we have, you have given us. We dedicate to you our jobs. We turn this over to you. We yield it to you our relationships our income our homes and families our earthly possessions Our wealth our money Our will our intellect Or we want to be we want to your will We want to be guided by Your Word. We want to relate to all of these things as your steward.

As one to whom these things have been entrusted for a time. May we, Lord, Make good use of all that you have given us. May we be found faithful in the little things that you have given us to do that we might be worthy of greater things. Of greater things. And may you give us diligence to make our call and election sure.

Lord, we ask this by the power of your Holy Spirit, through whom and by whom we are enabled to do these things, to persevere. In Jesus' name, amen.