Well, open your Bibles, please, to James chapter 4. James 4. Every once in a while, whether it be on a news feed or just across the screen, you come across some news reports that kind of jolt you. As a matter of fact, I came across a news report that was reported several years ago on Fox News, actually. And it was an ad, and it started with these words. Why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness sake. That slogan appeared on a Washington, D.C. bus during the month of December several years ago. The American Humanist Association paid $40,000 for this holiday ad campaign on Washington, D.C. buses. You, why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness sake. And of course, those lines are stolen from that old song, Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Well, a man by the name of Fred Edwards, a spokesman for the humanist group behind these ads, said this, we are trying to reach our audience, and sometimes in order to reach an audience, everybody has to hear you. Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists, and other types of non-theists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion, end quote. The news report continues, Edwards said, the purpose isn't to argue that God doesn't exist or change minds about a deity, although, in his words, quote, we are trying to plant a seed of rational thought and critical thinking and questioning in people's minds, end quote. There's an agenda. As a matter of fact, in the same year that this happened in Washington, D.C., the British Humanist Association caused a ruckus. They announced in a similar campaign on London buses this message, quote, there's probably no God, now stop worrying and enjoy your life, end quote. Atheists. Ah-theists. They identify themselves with what they don't believe. I've been told that there are no atheists among people called in for an IRS tax audit, right? If you ever want to get the better part of an atheist, serve him or her a very fine meal, and then ask him if he believes there's a cook. A.W. Tozer, a name familiar to you, a Christian writer from another generation, took this problem of atheism very seriously. And no matter what the atheists of his day were purporting to be true or not true, Tozer wrote these words, were every man on earth to become an atheist, it would not affect God in any way. He is what he is in himself without regard to any other. To believe in him adds nothing to his perfections. To doubt him takes nothing away." Yeah, he got it. Tozer's on it. The problem of atheism, of atheists, well as we come to James chapter 4 this morning, our main problem is not the atheist outside the church. Our main problem here in James chapter 4 in the last few verses of this chapter are rather what Jerry Bridges and John MacArthur call the practical atheists inside the church. That's the focus as we come to James 4. James understood this problem. That's why he pens, or should I say preaches with his pen, verses 13 through 17. Look at James 4 verse 13. come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow you're just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away instead you ought to say if the Lord wills we will live and also do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance, and all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. Now we've been swimming through the waters of this epistle for some time together as a church family. You know the audience he's writing to? Persecuted Jewish Christians. Christians that were persecuted in Jerusalem were scattered because of their persecution and they landed in other Jewish and even Gentile areas and the persecution out there was only worse. so frustrated are they that they are now not only reacting with anger towards their persecutors or reacting with envy for their persecutors but now they're turning their guns against each other and James around four or five years after their leaving of from Jerusalem writes these words to them I mean put yourself in their sandals If you were driven out of your hometown of Jerusalem because of persecution only to land in worse persecution, what are you thinking at this point? It's like, wow, I've already left one place because I'm getting hammered, and now I don't even like the people in my church. You would start thinking along these lines back then and maybe even perhaps today. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to move again. I want to move away from what's happening to me and from these other brothers and sisters around me who, quite honestly, I don't even like anymore. And so they would announce plans that, hey, we're leaving. We're moving. We're going to scatter some more and see if we can land in a better situation. Those are the recipients. And remember the context, it's important to remember the context where we are in this epistle. We spend a lot of time in verses one through 12 talking about heart idolatry and worldliness, or as God sees it, spiritual adultery in our worship. Fixing our focus on anything or anyone other than Jesus for our complete satisfaction. And that's verses 1 through 12 of chapter 4. Next week, Lord willing, we're going to be in chapter 5. And we're going to look at the first six verses of chapter 5. I'm going to tell you right now, spoiler alert, chapter 5 verses 1 through 6 is God talking to the unsafe persecutors. It's through the pen of James. There's direct address to those who are successful in this world's view, who are persecuting the Christians, and even the Christians are looking at them with envy. God has a few things to say to those folks, and He wants His children to listen in. So chapter 5, verses 1-6 is going to be addressed to the unbelievers. The chapter we're in now is focused towards believers. And I can't help but read these verses. and feel not only what they must have been feeling back then. Let's scatter again. Let's start fresh somewhere else. New city, no persecution, new church. I can't help but sense what they were feeling and also what people like you and me feel today. When we're getting hammered, when we're under the gun, when those believers around us aren't quite as attractive as they were at one time, When times are hard, the first answer is to quit, to leave. We can relate. So what I want to do this morning is I want to ask three simple questions, and these are on your notes that I put in the bulletin for this message. Three simple questions that force all of us believers to pull our chair up to this table of this text and lean in. It's for us. Question number one, just a pastoral question. In what case studies could this paragraph find application today? I'm just gonna tell you the application up front here. Can I get you to write six words down underneath this one and then I'm gonna circle back around? First, education. Second, business. Third, ministry. Fourth, marriage. Fifth, parenting. And finally, trials. I have the joy of serving on a board of a Christian camp near Asheville, North Carolina. And I enjoy the twice-a-year trips we have to make down to the Blue Ridge Mountains, foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, for board meetings. And it's a lot of meetings, but there's a little bit of play involved. And a friend of mine, some of you are using his books, Jim Berg, he's on the same board. And we happen to share a common hobby, a common recreation, and it's pistol shooting. except I'm not good, he's good, right? And there's a staff member at this camp that is an NRA instructor. And he said, hey, you guys enjoy shooting. Why don't you bring your pistols to the next board meeting, and after the board meeting's over, we're gonna go off to the side of the mountain to a safe area, a desolate area, and I'm gonna set up things for you guys to shoot at and have a little friendly competition. I'm like, well, that sounds fun. And we went to this yard where he had set this stuff up. And he had a full-blown fun range, a tactical range set up. And we had to do walking, shooting, and all this. But I wasn't ready for what was next. I mean, he'd set the things up we were supposed to shoot at. And then he had a timer that paid attention to whose gun was going off first. And it timed each one of us. And we were really competing against each other. I'll say one thing, that was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. And for some reason, I happened to get the better part of Berg that day. But I know that it was just, he would win any other day. But what we did that day is we set things up that we wanted to take aim at. What I'm doing with these six words for this first question is I want these set up in your mind here at the beginning of the sermon. Because these are six areas in our lives, just examples of areas, that so often we address, we make decisions regarding, without any regard to God. For example, with education, we may say, well, here's my plans. I'm going to go get these degrees, and then I'm going to do it in this order. I'm going to do this internship. And I'm not saying you don't plan, but something's wrong with the way I'm wording this. When it comes to business, we're like, well, here's what I want to do. I want to go into this business on this career path. And by this point, I want to hit this goal. Nothing wrong with that, but how are we stating that? When it comes to ministry, whether it's a vocational ministry, like Pastor Ernie and I work full time for this church, or whether it's your ministry coming in and volunteering your time and your hours and your evenings. Last night, I made contact with a friend of mine. He's 51 years old. We were freshmen together in college, went all the way through college together. We were like oil and water going through college. We didn't really get along our freshman year at all. And we were both preacher boys. Doesn't that encourage you? Just two different philosophies. Sophomore year, we tolerated each other. By our junior year, we were kind of seeking each other out. And by our senior year, we were really good friends and even officers together. And then we got into life. He went into evangelism and then into a local church setting, a pastoral setting where he remains till this morning. But I noticed yesterday he had posted something that says, we're forming a search committee after the service this morning. So I contacted him. I said, search committee, what's going on? He says, Jim, you're not going to believe this. Less than a year ago, something invaded my vocal cords. They are basically paralyzed. I cannot speak above a whisper. And the doctor says they will never recover because you don't regenerate those nerves. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. I mean, that's my age. And I spent about an hour with him just brainstorming what some options can be for him moving forward last night. That's ministry. Fourth word, marriage. Whether you are married and you're making all these plans for your marriage or whether you're not married and you're making all these plans to be married or to find that perfect person. E, parenting. These are promises that you make to your family about parenting. Promises for the future. Promises for you to be more engaged. And then trials, of course. Trials, this sixth word, is the syndrome of the greener pastures. In other words, when your marriage gets tough, or the ministry gets tough, there might be some plans being made to evacuate. It could be persecution that you're enduring from strangers or loved ones. These are the six in your mind that I want to set up right now. And we're gonna take aim at these, beginning with the second question. Question number two. Am I guilty of committing the classic assumptions of the practical atheist? The classic assumptions of the practical atheist. You say, what are these practical assumptions? The first one is this, the assumption of a guaranteed tomorrow. assumption of a guaranteed tomorrow now look again at verse 13 come now and that's an important introduction there you're gonna see those same words used to introduce chapter 5 talking to believers here unbelievers in chapter 5 verse 1 come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow This first classic assumption of the practical atheist is the assumption of even just a guaranteed tomorrow. We can stay up all night worrying about the future one year, five years, ten years, twenty years down the road. We're not guaranteed of Monday. This is something that is super clear to my wife and me right now as we're walking a valley that many of you have walked or are walking now. I was just supposed to go up on a Friday, the weekend of June 1st, and preach my nephew's graduation. And we did. And we had a great time. And the next morning, Saturday, we went to a baseball game with the whole family, with Lori's parents, and watched my nephew play his last baseball game. Played against Bethany of Troy for a state semifinal, or a state championship, and he got second place. After that, my nephew's open house. And we're having a great time. The whole family's there. And I'm sitting at the table. My brother-in-law, Ed, is sitting here. Lori's sitting catty corner. And my mother-in-law's sitting right across from me. And towards the beginning of the open house, she had a stroke right there. Immediate confusion. Immediate hesitancy and lack of communication. And within 90 minutes, we had her at the hospital, and they said she's having a stroke. And we're like, well, okay, we can get through this, right? My mom's had a lot of strokes. This is my mother-in-law, 73, healthy as an ox. And you know the rest of the story if you've been reading my wife's emails. The stroke was a bleeder, and it pointed to something we didn't realize she had, and it's an extremely fast-growing tumor, brain tumor. And my wife's been home one day since then. She's giving care and helping to take in all the information and absorb it for my father-in-law and just being a help to him. My mother-in-law's still in the hospital. And the Lord is good. I'm not complaining. But I am going to say, I was just at a graduation with her. I just was at a baseball game. She had my sunglasses on, my bifocal sunglasses, at that game, saying, I've got to buy some of these for me and dad. And I'm like, OK, yeah, I'll order them for you. We were just talking like that. She's at the open house, eating the same taco salad I was. And she wasn't guaranteed another couple weeks or months. We're down to weeks or months with my mother-in-law now, and then she'll be with the Lord. But let's bring it back to this room right now. You're not guaranteed Monday. You got that, right? But the practical atheist assumes, listen, that Monday will be there and I'm in charge of it. He says, you do not know what your life will even be like tomorrow. As a matter of fact, Proverbs 27.1 is such a well-known verse in this regard. Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Hold your finger here and let's hear what James' older brother Jesus once said in Luke chapter 12. Look at Luke chapter 12 with me. Luke chapter 12. Look at verse 13 with me. Luke 12 verse 13. Someone in the crowd said to him, to Jesus, teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me. But he said to him, man, who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you? And then he, Jesus said to them, beware and be on your guard against every form of greed, for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions. And he told them a parable saying the land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself saying, what shall I do since I have no place to store my crops? He said, this is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones and there I will store all my grain and all my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come. He's thinking years ahead. Therefore, take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry." And I want the words of verses 20 to 21 to haunt us. But God, God was listening to that whole heart dialogue. It says in verse 17, He was reasoning in Himself. God is the audience of even our reasonings. But God said to him, you fool, This very night your soul is required of you, and now who will own what you have prepared? So is a man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God." Interesting. He said, this very night. I mean, this warning to the practical atheists out there is timely, is it not? We are not guaranteed tomorrow. But there's a second assumption of the practical atheist. The second assumption is this. I call it the assumption of independent control. The assumption of independent control. Again, look at verse 13. It says, come now you who say, today or tomorrow we will, watch this, go to such and such a city, spend a year there, engage in business. Here's our plans. Here's the plans I'm making. I'm going to go. I'm going to spend time there, and I'm going to conduct business. When we talk only like that, it sounds like we are enjoying a sovereign confidence. Planning's not a problem. Proverbs blesses and encourages us to be prudent and to have a plan, but to do it in our own confidence that we know for sure what's coming, that's independent control. Watch the confidence of this man. He's assuming that he's gonna even be able to be mobile tomorrow to go to another city, let alone have the ability to do the work there. My oh my. He's in control, isn't he? I call it a sovereign confidence. This is what you see between two boxers when they have their weigh-in, and then they face each other for the photo op, and they start talking. I'm going to knock you out, man. And the other guy's like, I'm going to knock you out, dude. And these guys, someone's going to lose this fight. But they're both confident they know what's going to happen. the assumption of independent control. There's a third assumption. I call it the assumption of happy results. The assumption of happy results. Again, I want to direct your attention to verse 13 again. You're saying that you're going to go to such and such a city, spend a year there, engage in business, and look at the end, and make a profit. It's like, oh, You know how this is going to end up, I guess, huh? What is that? That's the assumption of happy results. You see this on some of the new movie teasers. They'll start showing you teasers now for a movie that might be coming out in the fall. And the way they show you the teasers and the way they build up this film, it's like it's going to be an amazing, amazing blockbuster. That's not what happened with the most recent Star Wars film, Solo. It flopped. the assumption of happy results. Let me give you the fourth assumption, then we're going to raise our eyes to the six things we're taking aim at. Number four is the assumption of divine agreement. The assumption of divine agreement. I mean, there's a quiet assumption going on in verse 13. Remember, he's writing to believers in this part of the letter. You've got to keep that in mind. Believers are saying today or tomorrow we'll go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Something's missing there. Or rather, someone's missing. It's easy for us as Christians to look at our plans for education, to look at our plans for a career path or for a job change, our goals with business, to look at our plans and involvement with ministry now and in the future, to look at our plans if married for our marriage or if we're not married for someone to marry. We look at all these plans and make our plans and we look at parenting goals and promises. And we even look at our trials. And we can talk about them a lot. But someone's missing in our talk. Again, it's not a sin to plan. A failure to plan is a plan to fail. It's true. But there's something that sounds, listen, like practical atheism when God's people talk about their goals. Now look at those answers you put to question number one. If you're taking notes, I would encourage you to circle two or three of them that are at the front of your mind this week. Things that you've been wrestling with, As you pillow your head at night, or as you lift your head up off the pillow each day, each morning, these are what's on your mind. And as you look at education, or business, or ministry, or marriage, or parenting, or trials you're enduring, what kind of reasoning has been going on in your own heart about the future in those areas? You see, the one who is missing in this type of boasting has something to say about it. Look at verse 16. As it is, you boast in your arrogance, and all such boasting is evil. That's not merely the verdict of James. That's the verdict of God. For you and for me, when we live in these four assumptions of the practical atheist, we're guilty. We're just as guilty as the guy we read about in Psalm 14, verse 1. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Could I read it this way? In our context here this morning, the fool has said in his planning, there is no God. One of my favorite commentaries on James is by a guy named Craig Blomberg. he makes this point that I just so agree with he says it is not their occupation but their attitude that has become secular now we know James has already talked in chapter 1 and then again in chapter 2 that these persecutors in many regards, in many of these settings, were those who are well-to-do in this present world. And so James addresses that in James 1 and James 2, basically saying, don't envy those who are persecuting you. You're poor, they're wealthy. When you have wealth, that's your confidence. You have a huge cushion. And that can be tempting to you, when you don't have that and when you're getting crushed. And James has said in chapter 1 and 2, and he's going to say at the beginning of chapter 5, stop staring at them. Don't start making plans so that you can end up like them and get a cushion, a protective cushion in your life and live for that. That's practical atheism. Well that brings us to the third question. The third question. How do I move from practical atheism to lordship submission. How do I do that transition? And James, I think, gives us very simple yet profound counsel. First of all, here's how you make that transition in your planning in those six areas. View each moment as a gift. Or you might want to put another word in that blank. View each moment as a stewardship. A stewardship. Look at verse 14. You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. But what do you have? What do you have? I have today. I have today in my education. I have today in my marriage. I have today with my parenting. I have today in my trials. I have today in my business. I have today in my ministry. And today is a gift. You see, when I was in yesterday, I wasn't guaranteed that I had today, but I got it. View each moment as a stewardship, as a gift. If you haven't noticed, Life is passing by quickly, right? Just ask Pastor Ernie. He's aged since I started the sermon. None of us know how old we are. None of us know how old we are. James has already talked about this in James 1 verse 10. The rich man is to glory in his humiliation because like flowering grass, He will pass away. Job 7, verses 6 through 7, my days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and they come to an end without hope. Remember that my life is but breath. My eye will not again see good. Job 9, 25 and 26, now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good. They slip by like reed boats, like an eagle that swoops on its prey. Job 14 verses 1 and 2, man is born of woman, is short-lived and full of turmoil, like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain. I came across these verses in Psalm 39 in my devotions this week. Verses 5 and 11, behold, you have made my days as a hand breath. And my lifetime as nothing in your sight, surely every man at his best is a mere breath. You consume as a moth what is precious to him, surely every man is a mere breath. Psalm 89 verse 47, remember what my lifespan is. Psalm 90 verse 10, as for the days of our life, they contain 70 years, or if due to strength, 80 years. yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for soon it is gone and we fly away." Psalm 102 verse 11, my days are like a lengthened shadow and I wither away like grass. Look at verse 14 of James 4, you are just a vapor. So like Jared and I are figuring out this bachelor life right now, right? And it's OK. We're doing OK. Lori makes sure that we have what we need. But I've noticed something. I'm very serious about my morning coffee, right? Not just that I want it, but I want a fresh grind and taste the roast thing going on. And I want to fill my Yeti tumbler twice in the morning. So I'll make a pot. And I remember yesterday, I made the pot in the morning, and I took a drink of it, and I'm like, oh, this is awful. Same coffee, same grinder, everything. It just tasted awful. I still drank it, of course, it's what you do. It's like, oh, it's awful, you know. And so when I was finishing with it and cleaning the pod out, I looked in the bottom like, yeah, maybe I should be using soap. It's been about a month. You know, you rinse it out, the guy rinses it out and pours it out. Well, Lori has taught me a neat little thing that cleans up stainless steel tumblers like Yeti tumblers and coffee pots, stainless steel coffee pots. And the trick is, you probably already knew this, you know those little dishwasher pods? What you do is you fill the pot with scalding hot water, and you drop one of those pods in there, put the lid on, and you leave it there for a few hours. And I kid you not, a few hours later, you take it out, dump everything out, it looks like it just came from the store. And everything tastes better again. My coffee this morning was awesome. But I remember it took a while for my hot water to come through yesterday in the kitchen. So I remember what I did is I was doing several things in the kitchen. And so I just turned the hot water all the way on, full blast. And then I was on the other side of the kitchen doing some stuff over there in the laundry and in the closet. And I kept looking back at the sink. Why? Because I wasn't going to waste my time walking over there to put my hand under it to see if it's hot again, and only for it to still be cool. I wanted to wait until I saw what? Steam. Steam coming up. When the steam came up, I went back over to the sink then. That steam, it's just there and then it's gone, right? It's just there and then it's gone. Both Testaments say that your life is that. So what do we do? We view each moment as a gift. I don't know where you are in your education, but I know this. You're in it now. You have today. It's a gift. I don't know where you are in your business and your ministry and in your marriage or your plans for marriage or in your parenting. I don't even know where you are in your trials. But guess what? You made it to today. You have today. View today as a stewardship, as a gift. You don't get through your education, or your ministry, or your business career, or your marriage, or your marriage planning, or your parenting, or your trials. You don't just go through those so you can get on with life. This is life. Embrace it. Again, Jim Elliot reminds us, and I share this with you often, wherever you are, be all there. I love the writing of another pastor, Kent Hughes. And he tells this story, long ago, when an Eastern emperor was crowned at Constantinople, the royal mason would set before his majesty a certain number of marble slabs. One he was to choose then and there to be his tombstone. At the beginning of his reign, he had to pick out his tombstone. Kent Hughes says, the ancients thought it wise for him, the new king, to remember his funeral at the time of his elevation for his life would not last forever. View each day as a gift. How else do I make the transition from practical atheism to lordship submission? Start your decision-making process in what we'll call gospel footing. Gospel footing. And again, I need to remind you that we're talking about Christians in this last paragraph, not the unsaved. That's coming in chapter 5. He's been telling these believers in every chapter about this new life, about how faith has works, about how they have been rescued by the Word and the Gospel and the promises in Christ. So as I make decisions as I face education, and business, and ministry, and marriage, and parenting, and trust, as I'm making decisions at those six areas as examples, I need to face them keeping in mind that I am forgiven, I'm redeemed, I'm sealed, I'm heaven-bound, I'm grace-saturated, I'm spirit-empowered, I'm lifelong commissioned, and I therefore have to make decisions facing that direction. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2, 8 through 10, by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast. But keep reading. If this is true, then we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. God has foreordained good works for us to walk in when it comes to these six areas. And I need to remember I'm one of the redeemed moving forward with these decisions. What's a third way that we can transition from practical atheism to lordship submission? Here it is, require that your contentment in life be found only in demonstrating submission to Christ's Lordship over you. Look at verse 15. Instead, nothing like James giving us the answer, right? Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. What's the this or that? That's just James summarizing v. 13 again. All the planning of v. 13. He's not saying in v. 15, don't do the planning of v. 13. He's saying something's missing in v. 13. And here it is. If the Lord wills. You know what the New Testament pattern is for believers like us facing six issues like this? The consistent pattern is a posture awaiting permission." In other words, I'm going to make plans as best as I can with godly counsel informing me and with prayer involved. I'm going to make my plans, but I hold loosely to my plans awaiting the Lord's permission. I'm going to keep moving forward in these plans until He stops me, and I'll be fine with that if the Lord wills. He's already talked about this in chapter 4, verse 7. Submit, therefore, to God. You know, one thing we've noticed as we've gone through the epistle of James is that he's constantly quoting the Sermon on the Mount. He's doing it again right here. When he says that the Lord wills, does that sound similar to anything our Lord taught in the Sermon on the Mount? How about chapter 6? When he's teaching his disciples to pray, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This sounds like Paul in Acts 18 verse 21, I will return to you again if God wills. Romans 1.10, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. 1 Corinthians 4.19, but I will come to you soon if the Lord wills. 1 Corinthians 16.7, for I do not wish to see you now just in passing, for I hope to remain with you for some time if the Lord permits. John Calvin put it this way, Jesus, Paul, and the other disciples do not always state this condition when they plan for the future. They don't always use those words if the Lord wills. What was important is not the verbalization, but that they had it as a principle fixed in their minds that they would do nothing without the permission of God. Proverbs 19, verse 21, many plans are in a man's heart. but the counsel of the Lord, that will stand." Proverbs 19.21. And then just one more. How do you make a transition from practical atheism to lordship submission? Be alert to the constant onslaught, the constant assault of the sin of practical atheism. You may make it through Sunday, But you know what? Monday's going to be a whole new battle. And you fight Tuesday's battle on Tuesday, Friday's battle on Friday. But count on it. The temptation, the pull, the gravity for you to plan your life outside of if the Lord wills will be present every day. Not only in these six examples of education, ministry and business, marriage, parenting and trials, but in everything. It'll be there. That's why we have this warning of verses 16 and 17, but as it is, you boast in your arrogance, all such boasting is evil. Therefore, here's a conclusion, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it to him, it is sin. Living life, listen, living life as a practical atheist is the ultimate sin of omission. Practical atheism. We get alarmed by things we see on buses and billboards, even here in Ann Arbor or on buses in London. And when we see things like that by atheists and agnostics out there, that should burden us to take the gospel to them. We have the answer. But we need to be equally bothered, if not more bothered, by the practical atheism in churches like ours, in days like we're going to live this week. The only freedom, the only freedom comes from living under the Lordship of Jesus. He says, take my yoke upon you. My burden's light. So yokes were heavy, weren't they? Yeah, but you know what? Now he's in charge. He frees you. Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher and illustrator, One Sunday morning, Spurgeon, who was known for teaching directly from the passages of Scripture, stood in the pulpit, and he left his Bible closed. He got up to preach, and he left his Bible closed, and everyone could see it. And he said these words, some have found fault with me, contending that I am too old-fashioned, I am always quoting the Bible, and do not say enough about science. He continues, well, there's a poor widow here who has lost her only son. She wants to know if she will ever see him again. Let's turn to science for the answer. Will she see him? Where is he? Does death end all? And then he stood back from the pulpit and there was silence. And he stayed back long enough to make everyone a little uncomfortable. finally he stepped back in when no one spoke up and he says we're waiting for an answer and then he waited some more he says this woman is anxious and then he waited again nothing to say then we'll turn to the book and then he began to cite the joyous promises of God and heaven and assurance and Jesus now listen You're here today. You may be a member, a non-member, first-time visitor, and you don't know how to make sense of your life. But I got some good news for you. It's the best news you've ever heard. Jesus has fully absorbed the wrath of God that's aimed at you because of your sin. He died on the cross and he rose again. he's offering to you today the free gift of salvation you need to believe you need to repent of your sins I don't know about you but that just solved the greatest problem you'll ever have of planning that one goes into eternity but his kindness to you doesn't end there If you place your faith in Jesus this morning, you join the rest of us that are on a journey, and we have to be careful to keep God and his sovereign control and his lordship an active factor in our moments and in our days. And as we do, we see clearly. If you're here and you don't know Jesus, here's what I want you to do. If someone invited you to church today, I want you to ask them this week, even this afternoon, how you can know for certain that you're going to heaven. And if you're invited by someone, they'll explain it to you. I'm also going to remain up here after the service and greeting people. And if you'd like to talk with me, I'd love to talk with you. And I'll give you the greatest news you've ever heard. And it's not just going to take care of your eternity. Listen, it's going to take care of your present. It's going to take care of your present. And to the rest of us who are in Christ already, may Jesus continue to deliver us from living as practical atheists as we make plans for our marriages, and business, and ministry, and trials, and parenting, and education, et cetera.