Our text is Amos chapter 6 and I want to read just a few verses here from this minor prophet beginning in verse 1. Woe to those who are at ease in Zion. to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations to whom the house of Israel comes. Pass over to Colnath and see, and from there go to Hamath the great. Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory? O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence. Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall. Who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music. who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the rivalry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away. The Lord God is sworn by himself, declares the Lord, and the God of hosts. I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds and will deliver up the city and all that is in it. And if 10 men remain in one house, they shall die. And when one's relative, the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house and shall say to him, who is in the innermost parts of the house? Is there still anyone with you? He shall say, no, and he shall say, silence. We must not mention the name of the Lord. For behold, the Lord commands and the great house shall be struck down into fragments and the little house into bits. Let me just stop there. You might sit here this morning and say, this doesn't make a lot of sense at first glance. This seems to be just so separated. I mean, there's so many different things that are being mentioned here that don't seem to have very much cohesiveness whatsoever. And yet, as you begin to study, just like you do all the Word of God and meditate upon it, suddenly things begin to come together. The dots are connected. And so here is a warning of judgment that Amos gives those in his day who are victimized by affluence and prosperity. The text here, by the way, The prophet gives a solemn warning to those basically who are victimized by neglect and their reliance on their religious heritage. Think about this. Their reliance on their traditions and also their prosperity has produced a deadly complacency toward God. Like those in the New Testament of the Church of Laodicea, they're increased with goods and have need of nothing. So there's this inebriation with pleasure that has made them oblivious or insensitive to the coming, the foreboding judgment that is approaching. What I want you to see from the outset this morning is Amos does not issue this warning to the God-haters, to the atheist, to the adulterers, to the idol worshipers, but it's a warning to those who neglect God, who are apathetic, who are indifferent toward the things of God. To make it more relevant, you know, for the modern Christian, It's tragic, but in our culture of affluence today, we live Christianity on a lounge, and we forget that it was born on an old rugged cross. It seems like people are so casual in their Christianity. I remember Charles Stanley wrote a book years ago, Confronting Casual Christianity, and I think a lot of his points were well made in the book. But it's true, it seems as if, especially in North America compared to other parts of the world, our affluence has been to our demise rather than to our advantage. I want you to listen to the words of Charles Spurgeon here, I think they're very timely. He warns this, he says, does that man love his Lord that would be willing to see Jesus wearing a crown of thorns while for himself he craves a chaplet of laurel? Shall Jesus ascend to his throne by the cross? And do we expect to be carried there on the shoulders of applauding crowds? Be not so vain in your imagination. Count you the cost. And if you're not willing to bear Christ's cross, go away to your farm and to your merchandise and make the most of them. Only let me whisper this in your ear. What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? So here's the thing. I mean, it's something we need to fight against. I mean, obviously, by way of providence, we've been put in a context of great prosperity, of materialism and all these things, but it's okay to have those things as long as they don't begin to affect your heart and draw you away from those things that are more noble and of more importance in the light of eternity. George Bernard penned the words of the old hymn, The Old Rugged Cross. And you remember part of those lyrics as you delve into them. He says, oh, that old rugged cross so despised of the world has a wondrous attraction to me. For the dear Lamb of God left his glory above to bear it on dark Calvary." Well, sadly the cross of Christ is no longer looked upon as a glorious attraction. As a matter of fact, it's looked upon with such contempt that many within the church these days are ashamed, especially of those things that it produces. It's looked upon, sadly, by many modern contemporary believers as almost an enigma. And so those who sought here to forget the ultimate judgment of God by immersing themselves in the pleasures of the mountain of Samaria are like the vast multitude in the church of North America. Think about this. Our generation has attempted to remove coming judgment from its thinking and preaching so that lost people Oftentimes are made to feel comfortable in church. Please don't misunderstand me. We ought to go out of our way to accommodate and to love and to embrace and to minister to people that come to the house of God. We need to go out of our way and even beyond the house of God. I mean really minister to them and help them. But still, though, when it comes to the message, we cannot blunt the edge of the gospel. We cannot take out the scandalous nature of the good news of Jesus Christ to accommodate the carnal palate of people that don't know the Lord. Tragically, there are many sleeping the sleep of death because of the unwillingness of preachers to proclaim the reality of impending doom. And I ask you, just with that thought in mind this morning, Andy does an admirable job at this, and I seek to do that as well, but is our preaching, do we give equal time to judgment? I mean, when you listen to it on the internet, now, us, we're more of the reformed persuasion, and we appreciate good, balanced preaching, where people preach the whole counsel of God, including judgment. But still, though, when you think about it today, if you look, if you just turn the dial of the radio, or if you just access something on the internet these days and listen to the plethora of sermons, how much of the sermons today are devoted to judgment and wrath and the vengeance of God and the vengeance of eternal fire. Not too much. Think about this. You remember back at the turn of the century, the tsunami that hit Indonesia and the surrounding countries. When it came and swept tens of thousands of people away, Many people were unconscious of the potential devastation. The elements were right. They were predicting that something was going to happen that would be nothing short of catastrophic. But the reason they seemed to just shrug it off, they just spurned the warning, was because they were inebriated with pleasure. I mean, there were people there that were vacationing and spending not just weeks, but even months there in that tropical environment. And so it swept, I think it was somewhere in excess to 365,000 people away. That's the picture we have here in Amos. So this morning I wanna give you, normally I give you three points, I'm gonna give you four points to consider this morning. Four things that I wanna draw from this text. And I hope it'll be an encouragement to you. And let me just warn you from the preface. You know, as I've often said, every warning, every admonition of the word of God, everything that produces a discomfort to us is loaded with infinite mercy. God cares for us. He's not just, giving us these warnings, issuing these solemn warnings to make us squirm, but he's doing it to wake us up, to awaken us that we might draw near to God afresh and anew, to really look to the Lord to help us. Well, four things, and let me give them to you at the outset here, and then we'll elaborate on each one. First of all, we want to answer the question, what does it mean to be at ease, to be at ease in Zion? We'll be unto those who are at ease in Zion. Secondly, what are the tragic effects of being in this state of ease or neglect? What are the tragic effects, the fatal effects of being at ease in Zion? Thirdly, and we're going to unpack this expositionally, okay, but thirdly is the judgment that awaits those who are at ease. What should they expect? What did these people, what was going to happen to them, you know, if they did not repent? And then fourthly, the importance of stirring ourself. We bring it home as we try to do normally on a practical level. What can we do to stir ourselves up and to cultivate within ourselves faith-engendering conviction that would be a deterrent against a tendency to drift spiritually. You know, the Bible says, How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? And this is a danger for all of us. I mean, those professing Hebrews who attested to faith in Christ now are suddenly going back into Judaism And the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 2 verse 3, how shall we escape if we reject? No, if we neglect. We wanna see the importance of stirring ourself out of a condition of ease or passivity. All right, first of all this morning, let me begin by saying, what does it mean to be at ease in Zion? Once again, we look back at verse number one of chapter six. By the way, this is not bad for a farmer, is it? This guy's not a prophet. He's taking on the role of a prophet, but he's a farmer. He's a hardworking farmer, and God summons him to come and deliver this message. And he says, on the behalf of God, They're at ease. Now the word ease there in the Hebrew means careless or secure. It's a self-imposed complacency because they've taken for granted. They've looked upon the things of God with contempt. Those who are at ease in Zion and trust, watch this now, in the mountain of Samaria. Now what does that mean, the mountain of Samaria? Well, the mountain of Samaria was a fortified city. that was built on the top of a mountain. So they had great scope. They could see the enemy coming. They could prepare accordingly. They felt, furthermore, that because it was well-fortified, you know, that was impenetrable against their adversaries. So there was a security that it bred, and therefore they felt like they were beyond the reach of their adversaries. John Gill, which, you know, pastored Metropolitan Tabernacle before Spurgeon came, he said, Zion here was a stronghold. It was the city of David, the seat of the kings of Judah, where their court was kept, and the princesses and chief men resided and thought themselves safe. The place being well fortified with walls and towers and bulwarks, or at ease here, that is, they had a sense of being made indifferent. It has the idea because of their prosperity, they found themselves in comfortable circumstances of life. So, Think about it, I don't know what it is, what your solace is in life, what your refuge is in life, what your fortress is, but if it's anything other than Christ and the promises of God, it's not a very formidable agent. You'll tend to rest upon that until the trauma comes and then suddenly these props will fall apart. Now, the Mount of Samaria, once again, was a strong, fortified city where the affluent lived. And they were confident in their own wealth and strength and might. Consequently, they said, we have nothing to fear from our enemies. Now, let's make it personal. What does this state or this condition of ease mean for God's people? Well, it means to live indifferently toward Christ. It refers to a people who profess to know Christ but live carelessly. There is a neglect of prayer, holiness, worship, obedience, family worship, and a life of consecration. The message of holiness does not appeal to them. When one is at ease, biblical truth is not altogether denied, but neglected. It's like Ian Murray, I don't know if you guys remember the quote by Ian Murray. He says, the word of God doesn't have to be altogether rejected for apostasy to begin. It just only has to take second place in one's life. So, in other words, it's regulated to a place where it's there if I need it, I'll fight for it if I need to as far as the written word of God is concerned, but as far as being internalized to feel the effects of it, it's held at bay. Here's the thought. God's word no longer governs what the person does, where they go, what they watch, or how they think. Guarding the heart and tongue and time, guarding their heart, their tongue, their time. If you press it upon people, the importance of it, it's looked upon as legalism. They desire a savior that delivers from hell, but not one that delivers from self and sin. So that's what it means to be at ease. And these people, what led to their ease is their prosperity. Secondly, here's another thing. The effects, the effects of being in a spiritual state of ease. Now, once again, we look at this expositionally. Look in verses three through six of Amos 6. There are four things that stand out here very quickly. Let me mention them to you. First of all, there's a complacency toward approaching judgment. Do you see Amos 6.3? Ye that put far away the evil day. In the ESV, I believe it reads the day of disaster. And what it's referring to is the day of judgment, the day of judgment. And cause the seat of violence to come near. Now what does Amos mean by this? What does God mean by this? In other words, you've discarded from your mind that there's a day coming when God will judge the world. Consequently, you can live the way you want to. You don't live in light of eternity. You don't live in light of impending doom. I can live carelessly because even though I know the Bible says that there's a judgment day coming, yet It's not going to come anytime soon, so I'll live carelessly." I don't know if you guys ever saw the interview between ... Maybe you've seen this, Andy, between Martin Lloyd-Jones and Christianity Today when they interviewed Lloyd-Jones. Powerful. They asked him about the political realm in Great Britain. They ask him about the moral climate in Great Britain. They ask him about the ecclesiastical apathy, you know, people just, the churches were just emptying. And every time they would ask him about these three areas, they would say, do you have a word? Do you think God has a word? And every time he would respond by saying, flee from the wrath to come. And when he came to the third thing, after the ecclesiastical fallout, the people don't even care enough to come to church anymore, he said this, my word that I would have is flee from the wrath to come and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the thing is, if I did not believe that there's a judgment day coming, and it's fastly approaching, then I would be just very flippant in my Christianity. I would be very mundane. I would yawn in the face of what God warns us about in scripture, and I would live accordingly. And that's the way, sadly, that many people today are living. Secondly, there's something else you see in the text here, another effect of being in a state of ease, and that is there's a love for pleasure more than a love for God. Look in Amos 6 verses 4 and 6. These rulers, they lie upon beds of ivory. They stretch themselves upon their couches. They eat the lambs out of the flock and the calves out of the midst of the stall. In other words, they spare no expense as far as eating the choices of meats. Then it says in verse six, they drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments. The picture there, drink wine in bowls, is it's a picture of overindulgence. They're not just satisfied to drink out of goblets. They're literally just dousing it down. I mean, they're just drinking, guzzling it. Is it any wonder why we find in 2 Timothy 3, verse 4, that one of the characteristics and marks of the last days is that men will be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God? I saw just a few years ago that the average or the country of the United States alone spent over $180 billion in entertainment. And you think about how many professing Christians, nothing wrong with entertainment, listen, nothing wrong. But I'm saying that when we overindulge, I mean, many people have got to have this to survive in life, to sustain them, to keep them going as they go from one ballgame to the other, or one concert to another, or this or that, and it just constantly, it keeps their mind off of eternity. It's a sad day when The average Christian who has a pet will spend more money on cat and dog food than they do on missions. I was in a kind of upper middle class restaurant, kind of like an Applebee's or Chili's or something. I walked in there one day with a group of people. And I looked around, and of course, on the inside, normally they have their bar, and then people are sitting in there, as well as people on the outside are sitting. And I looked up, and all the monitors in the restaurant, somebody apparently had missed their cue. And there was a documentary on global starvation. And the camera was panning into these small children whose lips were parched and dried and tears had just settled on their faces. You could see the glimpses of tears that had just dried on their faces. And then their bellies were protruding from malnutrition. And I looked below and I see these people, they're just eating these extravagant meals. Now, is anything wrong? I mean, we live in a culture, friend, there's nothing wrong with going out to eat and eating nicely and eating good things that we enjoy. But the thing is, there's something wrong with this picture. Just at a moment, I think, this is a picture of those who are victimized by influence on Mount Zion. Here they are, they're oblivious to those around them, their needs, because they're so self-indulgent. Thirdly, there's another thing you see here, another effect of being in a spiritual state of ease. There's an increased desire for entertainment that leads to sensual music or sensual intake. In Amos 6, verse 5, look at this. It says they chant. The word in the Hebrew means mindless worship. mindless worship to the sound of the vial and invent to themselves instruments of music like David. So here they are creating instruments, certain instruments that cater more to the sensual element than to the spiritual. And I don't know about you, friend. Listen, I love contemporary music. I love modern music. I love modern worship. I love old traditional hymns. You know me. I mean, and James, he peppers in a number of psalms. And I think it's wonderful. It's very conducive for worship. All those things. I love the Getty music and things like that. But listen, there's a music today that seemed like it's being designed more and more, both in the lyrics as well as the sound. that accommodates the flesh it stirs up the flesh the sensual element and what God's convicted me about as much as I love good music is there's you guys know I've kind of been on this kick of solitude and silence I find myself so obsessed and so addicted, you may not agree with this, and you may think, well, Brother Don's legalistic in his appeal here, but it's like we gotta have some kind of background music all the time to make it conducive for more of a worshipful experience. And so I'm finding that if I just shut out all sounds, whether it's music or any noise whatsoever, I'm able to focus and maintain my focus on the things of God more. It really is a lot more beneficial. I've oftentimes thought, especially in this culture, our modern contemporary culture, Christian contemporary culture, if they took the music away, would you still follow Jesus? If they took your music away, would you still follow Jesus? Some people just, they can't survive without music. They gotta have music. They have something that's going to cater and give them some type of affirmation that this is really spiritual worship. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says this, he warned, we can become drunk on music. There's no question about that. Music can have the effect of creating an emotional state in which the mind, listen to this now, in which the mind is no longer functioning as it should be and no longer discriminating. He said, I have known people to sing themselves into a state of intoxication without realizing what they were doing. That's interesting, isn't it? Another church father, Augustine, made this statement. He said, I'm inclined to approve the custom of singing in church. Nevertheless, he says, when it happens that I'm more moved by the song than the thing which is sung, I confess that I sin in a manner deserving of punishment, and then I should rather not hear the music. It's interesting. So it can take the edge off at times. Here's a fourth thing. Yet you see that's an effective judgment. Look in chapter 6 verse 6, as you move down the page, the writer says, they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Now Joseph was their own people, their own kindred, their own heritage. So here they are, they're so living high on the hog that they're oblivious to the needs physically of those who are victimized by impoverishment. And I think it's, if I could draw an analogy from this or an implication, I think sometimes it's possible to become so inundated, so intoxicated with affluence, even in our culture, that we're oblivious to the spiritual needs of those around us. We're in such a hurry to get from store to store that we don't take the time to say, God, is there someone here that at least needs a gospel witness in the way of a printed track? Here's a story I heard years ago. It was told about a fishing village that was just inside a small cove on the ocean. The entrance into the cove made the way very perilous when a storm would come. Often vessels would be driven by the wind and dashed into the rocks, and the people of the village would hear the cries of the perishing sailors. Villagers became so concerned that they were moved to do something. They decided to build a platform right next to the edge of the sea where the people could stand and reach out into the boiling waters and rescue the perishing. Not long after that, because the wind was so fierce, someone suggested that they put a wall. on their back and both ends of the platform because oftentimes the wind was severe and brisk and it could imperil their own lives. And so they decided to erect these walls on the platform. Then a short time later, someone else recommended a roof to keep the rain off so that they could have greater visibility to see what was going on around them. Then a carpet was placed over the cold concrete floor. that would keep their feet warm. Still another suggested that they install a door to keep the water from coming in. After a brief time, there were other people that jumped on the bandwagon of trying to improve the conditions. They said, let's get a stove. Let's equip it with electricity and have a refrigerator there. We'll stock it with food. After all, we get hungry and the food will make us strong and enable us to more effectively to rescue the perishing. Then a small room was painted and the bed was added. One day someone added a television because the people thought it would be good to keep them informed on the current happenings. But before they finished, the place was beautiful inside. Here was a sad note. Well, you know what happened? The ships came, the sailors were flung into the sea, and those inside that little room never heard the cries of the lost anymore. Their ease had made them deaf to the cries of the perishing. That's what's happening today. We're all inundated with our worship and feeling good and being with cool people. And we're oblivious that we've got people crying out here through their traumas and through their crisis in their marriages and in their lives. And they're beckoning. They're perishing. They need a word from God's people. Think about this verse. Remember 1 Corinthians 15, verse 34? Awake to righteousness, Paul says, and sin not. For many have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. To your shame. He doesn't discriminate there. He doesn't say there's a particular group or he doesn't address it to leaders. He speaks it to the church. He said, I speak to this your shame that there are people that have not a knowledge of God. Number three, another thing that results in being at ease in Zion is judgment, the judgment that awaits those who are at ease. Let me just highlight this for the sake of time, but look in verses 7 through 14. And I think, I've got my ESV here, but I think this may have come out of the old King James, or the new King James, but listen to the manifestations of judgment that await these people because of their indifference. Look in verse seven. Therefore now shall they go captive. God said they're gonna be taken captive. And the banquet of them that stretch themselves shall be removed. All their affluence and all their prosperity is gonna be removed. God says, the Lord God has sworn by himself saying, the Lord, the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob. I hate his palaces. Therefore, here's judgment. Will I deliver up the city? The next verse, and it shall come to pass, if there remain 10 men in one house, they shall die. Death, destruction, devastation. You read on in the text there, he goes and says, for behold, the Lord commandeth and he will smite the great house with breeches and the little house with clefts. And then at the end of this warning, you find there toward verses 13 and 14. But behold, I will raise up against you a nation. It's going to come from without. There's going to be a nation, even though you've got this impenetrable idea that no one can affect you, no one can attack you. He says, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, said the Lord God of hosts, and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath under the river of the wilderness. So judgment is coming. and it's coming on those who are indifferent. Now, you know, brothers and sisters, this is not only a warning we find when we consider the entirety of Scripture to those who are at ease as believers, but to those who are outside of Christ. They continue to linger in repenting and believing Christ for salvation. Listen to what Spurgeon said concerning that. It is one of the surest marks of a lost and ruined state when we are careless and indifferent concerning God. So if you're careless and indifferent concerning God, he said it's one of the surest marks of an unconverted state. Well, we see these warnings in the gospel, which I have listed here, the 10 virgins, the ultimate judgment in Matthew 25, There are other references, but let me give you this final thought this morning, something that is constantly on my mind that I counsel myself with, I confront myself with, and that is how can I avoid drifting into a state of indifference? How can I do it? Can a preacher drift into a state of indifference, of apathy? Absolutely. No matter who we are, no matter what age we are, there's a tendency oftentimes to lose the cutting effect of God's word and the sharp edge of spirituality, that which glorifies God. So here is how we might stir ourselves out of complacency or out of the state of being at ease. Number one, Remove anything in your life that at present is a besetting, secret sin. Remove anything that causes passion to wane. Sin, idols, wrong relationships. Paul said in Acts 24 verse 16, Herein do I exercise myself. He says it in the context. where he acclaims, I am free from the blood of all men. He said, herein do I exercise myself to have a conscience void of offense between God and all men. The thing we gotta realize, the Bible not only tells, and I think we mentioned this last week, that we are to seek holiness, pursue holiness. But you remember the first thing he says to pursue is peace with all men. Pursue peace and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. And sometimes people don't forgive you. Sometimes people go on their merry way. They say, I don't really care. It's not a good sign that they're Christian if they don't give a rip. But sometimes you carry to your grave irreconcilable relationships, but don't let it be on your part. Strive to make sure that you keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Secondly, here's another thing that will deter complacency. resolve brothers and sisters to live for eternity. To live for eternity. We're too captivated by the present. 2 Corinthians chapter five, verses nine through 10. Paul says wherein we labor, that whether we're present or absent, we may be accepted, the idea is approved or affirmed by God. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he had done, whether it be good or bad. So here is the apostle living in the light of eternity. You see, living in the light of eternity is a great deterrent to those things that would cause indifference or passivity in our lives. I remember, I don't know if you ever heard the story of Robert Annan. And Frank, I gave Frank a little biography on Annan. He was an open air preacher. Before he came to Christ, he was an uneducated man. I mean, he was very rank when it came to uneducated. I mean, he just had no grasp of the English language whatsoever. I mean, as far as grammar was concerned, it was almost non-existent in his life. But being the commoner that he was, he was a man that was very criminal in nature. He just was very reckless in the way he lived. And God saved him and transformed him immediately. And in his illiteracy, he would listen to preaching. And he heard so many messages there in Dundee, Scotland. These were during the days of Robert Murray McShane on eternity. that he became so entranced by that word that he would etch it on rocks, he would carve it in trees. And everyone referred to Robert Annan as the man of eternity. As a matter of fact, when he died, if you go to St. Peter's Church in Dundee, Scotland, where Robert Mermyshane pastored and now he's buried there, to get into that small cemetery, you have to walk over a threshold, and the threshold is the grave of Robert, or excuse me, the grave marker of Robert Annan. David Robinson, who was pastoring St. Peter's Church in Dundee, when Cindy and I visited there, he said that the city of Edinburgh was going to pave a parking lot, and they were just literally just shoving the graves, the grave markers to the side. And he told his elders, he said, get over there and get that grave marker of Annan's. So they brought it over to the St. Peter's Cemetery, that little cemetery, and they put it right there at the threshold as you walk into the cemetery. And you know what's on that grave marker? One word. Eternity. That was a legacy he left behind. He was known as a man of eternity. If you read the lives of people, for example, like Robert Murray McShane, David Brainerd, Richard Baxter, you know that they were men who were marked by eternity. Robert Murray McShane would visit the sick and the dying in his congregation as a constant reminder that he was gonna stand before God. He was living in the light of eternity. David Brainerd said, I love to live on the brink of eternity. Richard Baxter said, stamp eternity on my eyeballs. That's something good to aspire to. I want to be a man I trust. You want to be a woman of eternity. Thirdly, here's another thing that will deter this indifference or neglect. Count not your life dear unto yourself. Don't count your life dear unto yourself. Acts 20 and verse 24. Paul said, but none of these things move me. Neither count I my life dear unto myself." Why? Why, Paul? So, here's the purpose, that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry. I'm amazed here lately. I mean, God providentially has brought me in contact with people that are preaching so much on joy, Christian joy. And yet you find so very few Christians in our culture of affluence today that are really epistles of joy. And Paul said, this is the way that I cultivate joy. That none of these things move me, but at the heart of it is I do not count my life dear unto myself. So the purpose for it is that I might finish my course with joy. By the way, just as a side note, do you know there's a stiff judgment for those that are not joyful in their faith? You remember in Deuteronomy chapter 17, God says to the people, if you are not a joyful people, if your life is not characterized by gladness, all these curses that I have brought upon the Egyptians will fall upon you. And I was amazed John Piper brought up some very interesting, very relevant thoughts concerning that years ago. That God has great, as Jeremiah Burroughs the Puritan said, has great disapproval and disdain for those who do not rejoice in Him. I love, Spurgeon never missed the opportunity to share an illustration that's very relevant, and I love this right here. This is about the story about a soldier by the name of Antigonus. He had an extremely painful disease. It was likely to bring him soon to the grave. Apparently his body was beginning to deteriorate, but the soldier, as a result of his Pain, he was always first in the charge. He was the bravest of the brave, Spurgeon said. And the reason he did it is he might forget his pain. He was not afraid of death because he knew that in any case he had not long to live. Antigonus greatly admired, Spurgeon said, the valor of his soldier and discovered his malady and had him cured by one of his most eminent physicians of the day. But it's interesting, from that moment on, the warrior was absent from the front of the battle. Now he sought his ease, for as he remarked to his companions, he had something worth living for. Health, home, family, and other comforts. He would not risk his life as he had done before. Once again, here's Spurgeon's pithy and wonderful comment on this. So when our troubles are many, we're often by grace made courageous in serving our God. We feel that we have nothing to live for in this world, and we are driven by hope of the world to come, to exhibit zeal, self-denial, and industry. But how often is it otherwise in better times? For then the joys and pleasures of this world make it hard for us to remember the world to come, and we sink into an inglorious ease. So listen, you've got hardship, you've got difficulties, you've got health issues and all. It's not bad. It could be a good thing, because it'll keep driving you to Christ, driving you to Christ, driving you to Him. And then here's the fourth thing, and I close with this. You want to deter this state of ease? Never be content with where you are spiritually. Don't ever be content. I really have become disenchanted with the few things that sometimes in my pride I imagine are my laurels, are my accomplishments in life. I really am here in recent days. I think to myself quite often, I've done nothing for Christ. I've done nothing for him. That's no exaggeration. I'm not filling time here. I just feel like I've done nothing for Christ. I've had no impact on people. But where I'm at right now in my life spiritually, and I'm on the threshold of turning 70 years old, is I really want to go out in a blaze, not for self-glory, But I'd like to know that my life is counted. Paul says, Philippians chapter 3, this is on the eve of his death. Chapter 3 verse 14, I press, I press. Paul the aged, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. George Whitefield said this, I love this. God give me a deeper humility. a well-guided zeal, a burning love, and a single eye, and then let men or devils do their worst. So here is the warning I leave you with. Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, who are in a state of slumber. The worst thing that could happen to us if we recognize that we are in a state of spiritual sleep this morning is to be awakened and do nothing about it. There have been times that you and your life and me and my life were in deep sleep. Mom called, time to get up, son. Or maybe the wife or the husband. Honey, it's time to get up. And then you didn't want to get up. You're in such a deep sleep. But you heard the voice. And you knew immediately in your mind, I've got to get up. There's something I need to attend to. So you turn over with every intention of getting up, but all of a sudden you doze off into a deeper sleep. Sadly, spiritually, it's possible to fall into a deeper sleep after warnings, after beckonings from loved ones, and sleep a sleep of death where you'll never be awakened from it. Let's do all we can to keep ourself on the cutting edge of spiritual reality, of spiritual passion. It's possible to do that. I believe it is possible to press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. You don't have to be victimized by a spiritual stupor. You can press on. Well, let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word. We're so grateful. These are not just little academic concepts. is breathe from the heart of God. It's an alarming word. Yes, it's an alarming word. There are so many comforting words from you, Father, but there are alarming words and ultimately they speak comfort to us if we heed their warnings. So we thank you that you're a God that is abundant in mercy. And you care for your people. Father. Please create within us convictions that would be ever-present deterrence to this state of passivity and deadly neglect. I pray that we would become increasingly more enamored with Christ, to know Him in all of His fullness, in Jesus' name, amen.