Up until Friday, I was preparing to preach on Ephesians 5, 20 through 24. And I thought perhaps the Lord was stalling me, so I thought I would focus on 520. And then on Friday, and I don't have this very often, but it was as if there was a massive obstruction and the Lord did not want me to preach through that this week. And so I'm going to preach sort of a topical sermon based off the last couple of Sundays. And all I can do is pray that this is of the Spirit's doing. I endeavor to be one who seeks to be filled with the Spirit, to keep in step with the Spirit's promptings and leadings. And I'm just hoping that what He has done will be according to His good and sovereign will. Yeah. Let me read the text that we've looked at over the last couple of weeks and then dig into something I think that needs to be said and some practical applications of it. And please pray for me. I really wasn't able to start the sermon until last night and I am not ready. But the Spirit who is sovereign, the Spirit of 1 Corinthians 2, I thank the Lord for those promises that He is able to work where feeble men like us are not. Father, we just ask, would you speak? Lord, would you change us? Lord, for those sitting here dead, would you convert? For those sitting here troubled, would you comfort? To those sitting here broken, would you heal? To those sitting here depressed, would you encourage? Lord, to those sitting here proud, would you humble? To those sitting here sleepy, would you awaken? Lord, to those who are hungry, would you satisfy? To those who are thirsty, would you slate their thirst? And Lord, to those who are needy like me, would you assist and strengthen? Father, you say that blessed are the poor in spirit. Father, there is no greater place to be than with Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. and frail and helpless in our own strength, because it avails for you a glorious opportunity to show forth your great strength, your great power. Even as Matt read in Isaiah 43, 7, you alone are the Lord and you alone are Savior. And Lord, if anyone is saved or encouraged this morning, basically it will just underscore and highlight that truth, that it's not by might nor by power, but by your Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Holy Spirit, we have prayed for You all week. We have prayed for You this morning. And by hearing with faith, and with the faith of the simple child, we expect, because You promised in Luke 11, Father, through Your Son, that Your children who ask for the Spirit will receive. And that's what we need, Lord. We don't need a pat on the back this morning. We don't need a rod on the back from a man. We need to hear from the Living God. through the word made living by the Spirit. Would you do that? We pray, Father, through your Spirit. We ask you in Christ, your Son, and our Savior's name. Amen. Verse 15. Let me start, actually. It's just so hard to do this. Verse 10. Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful darts of workness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, hence our prayer. I can't expose sin. Not savingly, not convictingly. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible. 4. Anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. That word can be ushered and uttered from the lips of a mere mortal, but it's the Spirit of God who takes that summons and produces life, grants repentance, enables faith, shows Christ. Many of us have been sleeping for a long time. Look carefully then, how you walk, in light of the previous context. Therefore, look carefully how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, buying back every opportunity. Many of us are not. Many of us single people are not. Many of us married people are not. Many of us who are getting older, we're not buying back opportunities, we're squandering them. Why? Because we're not filled with the Spirit. The days are evil. I don't know if it's just me. But I was thinking about it last night when we used to live on the farm and there was a tornado watch. And I'll never forget the terror that struck my heart because we had just a little girl in Nisha at the time. And we looked outside and part of me was just overwhelmed and I was a dick and the clouds were swirling. I really believe that's what's happening over our nation right now and the church is so dead and blind and slumbering and sleeping. I don't know, I don't want to be a prophet but I see it and I weep for my children who are growing up in this godless society and the church doesn't realize that these are evil. Awake church! Awake! Soon we will be persecuted. Soon, our children will be mocked because they believe that gay marriage is sinful. Do you not see it in Europe? Do you not see it throughout the states? Do we think that we who are asleep are going to be any different? I think a lot of World War II. And I think of the folly of the UK British Prime Minister named Neville Chamberlain, who would not heed to Winston Churchill's, as it were, unsubtle encouragements for him to wake up. If you study it, Chamberlain was duped. He didn't think the days were evil and he thought that Hitler wasn't as evil a man. as he was made out to be. And he signed a peace treaty in Berlin. Two weeks later, Hitler laughed at him and attacked Poland. The church is like Neville Chamberlain. The church needs to be more like Winston Churchill and realize the days are evil. We're in a war. And let me give you a quote that has been circulating through my mind for the last three weeks. You want to know why the prayer meeting this week was not so faithfully attended? And I'm not getting legalistic, but let me give you a quote. We will not know what prayer is for until we know that life is war. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. The will of the Lord is not for us to prosper materially. The will of the Lord is to obey Him, to the praise of His glorious grace. And here it is, this is what we've been focusing on the last two weeks. And, do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is. And, no period, and, do not get drunk, do not labor, do not linger with the things of this world, do not get drunk with wine, for that brings about debauchery, it leads to useless living. That's what debauchery really is, it's just excessive, wasted living. How do we counteract that? Instead, rather, it's a very strong, adversative conjunction, but, be filled with the Spirit. How? And what is the result? We saw that part of being filled with the Spirit requires means. Gathering together to address one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your hearts, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. That's next week. The other illustration the Lord gave me was when we were moving After I'd graduated from seminary to come out to Lethbridge, but first my friend Caleb was getting married in New Jersey, so it's been a pretty heavy intro Let me lighten in a bit, but it'll get heavy again. I promise so don't get too jovial But we wanted to stay at Niagara Falls, as Cheryl can attest, one of the most beautiful places in all the world. We stayed at a bed and breakfast. And I'm always planning. So I was even poorer then than I am now as a pastor. And so I was trying to squeeze every last cent. And anybody who knows, the United States has far cheaper prices for their gas. And so I was trying to figure out just how we could get into Buffalo and fill up to save myself a couple dollars of gas. and my wife was pregnant with Alicia at the time and it was hot it was the end of May and so we were driving out of Niagara Falls and I did not realize or I had forgotten that the border crossing into Buffalo is eight lanes and it is packed and we were in traffic plus 35 with the gas light on And Christina has confessed to me that she was praying in Precatory Psalms against me. And she was praying that God would humble me and that I'd have to push that car through the border. By God's grace we didn't. This only happened to me once. I've never actually been pulled over on the side of the road empty of gas. And I prayed without ceasing and it was foolish. There's means of grace that prevent the need to pray like that. And I'll never forget that as we were getting, we passed through the border, of course I had to turn the air-condition off and Christine was not happy with that being pregnant. And as we were driving into the gas station, I tried to put my foot on the pedal and there was nothing. No power. We were literally driving on fumes. I'll never forget the sound when I opened up the gas cap. That tank was almost dry. And I thought, that is the church of Jesus Christ. So many gas stations available. So dry. So many means of grace. So dry. When you need gas, you try to put your foot on the pedal. Nothing there. So this morning I want to give you four hindrances of why we are not filled with the Spirit. Of why we are like foolish Ryan, thinking that somehow he can get to his destination on fumes. We have a greater destination, by the way, than Buffalo Gas Station. We're marching to Zion, and oh how we need to have our tanks full of the Holy Spirit. The illustration that I have borrowed from John Piper is for those who feel dry, and I know many of you feel dry. He gives the analogy of getting under the waterfall of grace. It's not enough to bemoan and complain and even weep that you feel so dry. You need to get under the waterfall of grace. And some of those means are corporate fellowship. Prayer. I was reading my big fat book by Thomas Schreiner and he was saying that prayer unleashes the power of the Spirit within the Christian. The Word of God. We saw that last week. Being filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5.18 is synonymous with being filled, or letting the Word of Christ dwell richly in our hearts of Colossians 3.16. The psalm that comes to mind, and I betrayed it was my favorite part of Psalm 119 yesterday is, My soul clings to the dust. That's verse 25. Revive me, give me life according to your Word. He doesn't say, bemoan and cry and complain and feel sorry for yourself. Get into the Word. My soul melts away for sorrow. Strengthen me according to your words. There's waterfalls of grace that God has given us. And some of you feel so guilty right now. And let me just encourage you, don't feel guilty. Get under the waterfall. Don't sit there and wish you were under the waterfall. Get into it. Get under it. You need it. Don't cry any longer. Joshua, get off your face. And yet some of you, because you're very clever, will say to me, but I've been under the waterfall of grace and I'm still so dry. I come to church, I listen to the word, I gather for prayer, the songs we sang, nothing to me, I still feel so dry. Why? Did you know that it's possible to stand under a waterfall and remain dry or barely just have the mist get your face? If you have a strong enough umbrella, you can stand under a waterfall. You can remain pretty much dry. Or even better, you can be in one of those fancy suits that they go diving with. You can go and you can immerse yourself in water all you want. And you can come out dry. And so to some of you I'm saying, get under the waterfall. And to those of you that are playing religion, get rid of the umbrella. Let me give you four eyes. Because it is possible to sit in a church Sunday after Sunday. It is possible to go to Bible studies. And those are all good things. Those are all necessary. Those are all part of the waterfall of grace. And you need them. I'm not saying don't do that. I'm telling you to run to the waterfall of grace. But it costs you much. It costs you too much to not do it. I plead with you. If it costs you too much money to come to prayer meeting, I will pay for your gas. I will. I will do whatever it takes. It is possible to be sitting here this morning and leave here dry. The first one is the umbrella of incredulity. I try to make them all eyes. If you read John Bunyan's Holy War, he's one of those fiends that is hard to get rid of. Even when they get rid of all the diabolonians, old incredulity is still there. And it's a fancy old English word for unbelief. Some of you can listen to preaching, and have listened to preaching, and you're dead in your sins this morning. You don't need so much to be filled with the Spirit as you need to be regenerated by the Spirit. Jude chapter, oh there's only one chapter, turn there, it's right before Revelation. The Lord convicted me. I'm not just going to hammer off verses. I want you to follow with me. There's something to be said about seeing the verse in your own Bible. And I know it's not as entertaining. But God didn't call me to be an entertainer. So look at Jude verse 12. And of course some of you are going to say, well he's talking only to false teachers. Of course he is, but this applies in a much broader context. Such people, Jude is warning the believers. Remember in the beginning, I wanted to talk to you about the gospel. I want to talk about our common faith. There's something very important that needs to be dealt with before that. There are people who are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear. There's people who come to church, and they hear about Jesus Christ, and then they laugh at dirty jokes. I think nothing of sin. They go right back into the world. And yet they sit there and feast with us. There's a possibility that some of you, under one of the primary means of grace, the proclamation of the Word, you're dry. Is this you? Are you sitting at the feasts and yet without a fear of God? Shepherds feeding themselves, you come to church not to be filth but you come to have fellowship so you're not lonely. You come to church so you'll have good and well-meaning Christians help you with your cleaning or with your kids. There are people who abuse the church. There are people who come because all their friends do. There are people who get baptized because all their friends get baptized. There are people who don't have any unchristian friends and so they sit in the church. Scary stuff. Is this you? A waterless cloud? The Proverbs talks about a man who has the appearance of one thing and yet is the exact opposite. It's enough that I can give you the 1689 or recite some doctrine. Is there water in that confession? Swept along by the winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead uprooted. I pray that the Spirit is speaking if you're one of those people, because there's hope for you. You can be saved if you hear the voice. Do not harden yourself, as the Israelites did in the day of provocation, when they tested the Lord at the waters of Meribah. You know what the problem was with the believers? I prayed it this morning. It was in Hebrews. They heard the word, but you know what the problem was? It wasn't mingled with faith. So, O faithful Christians, would you pray for the Spirit to grant faith and repentance. These things, saving faith and saving repentance, are gifts of God. They do not naturally arise out of the unregenerate. Trees that are twice dead and uprooted cannot bear these saving graces. The days are evil. Are we redeeming the time? Jude says, In verse 19, that such people are devoid of the Spirit. That is what I wanted you to understand. That there are people who sit in churches devoid of the Spirit. So, you're sitting here, and I think a lot of the children, I don't know your hearts. But one of the reasons, Tony, I don't like to preach from notes, and one of the reasons why Tony and I detest satellite churches, is because there's no human being to look into your eyes. I can see when people are disinterested with the gospel Sunday after Sunday. And though I can't do seven things at once like Spurgeon, I can grieve inside while I'm preaching. When I see the same people, the same kids slumbering Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, looking at the clock, looking at their watch, wishing they could be doing anything, wishing that the guy up front would shut his mouth. Perhaps you're one of those people. I just don't get it. I'll come here and I'll be religious, but this makes no sense to me. No light has gone off. Those words up there, they mean nothing. I would rather sing whoever the coolest person is. I'm like five years behind on who's cool. I'd rather be singing whoever it is on YouTube with a hundred million downloads. I don't want to be singing about Jesus Christ. This just makes no sense to me. A person devoid of the Spirit. Oh, how you need to be saved. Turn to Romans 8. I remember in my first year, Sharon told me an analogy. Actually, she gave me a tape of Chuck Coulson's conversion testimony. It's fantastic. I think I lost it. And if I gave it back to you, Sharon, I'd like to listen to it again. And he says something like this. It's a cliche. He says, sitting in a church doesn't make you any more Christian does than sitting in a garage makes you a car. But there's some truth to it. That's why we need to plead for our kids and why we do plead for our kids. Let's look in verse 5. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Do you desire more than anything else this morning? More of Christ. Do you desire to be filled with the Spirit? If you have no desire to be filled with the Spirit, but you're just fulfilling some religious obligation of a Christian duty of Canadian citizens, you're devoid. You have not the Spirit. And I know those are harsh things. I'm just saying what Paul's saying. Is your mindset on the things of Christ. I'm not just talking about a bad Sunday now and then. Some days I come in tired. Some days I come in with... But I'm talking about a characteristic virtue that just... Virtue's not the right... A characteristic trait that describes you Sunday after Sunday. But I was baptized, Pastor. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. Are you hostile to God? You can sit under the waterfall of grace for two hours. You can sit under Paul Washer's waterfall of grace. You might be hostile to God this morning. You do not submit to God's law. Indeed, you cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Here it is, but you. He's talking to a church of believers. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if, in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you. So, all of my ranting and raving for you to be filled with the Spirit is of no avail until you are first indwelt and sealed by the Spirit. If you do not have the Spirit of Christ in you this morning, you do not belong to Him. regardless of your denomination, regardless of your creeds, regardless of all of your knowledge. That's the one thing. That's the mark, I believe, in Revelation, that God seals His elect with. Not some weird tattoo or something. It's the mark of the Spirit, drawn from the imagery of Ezekiel. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, The Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your moral bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. When you hear about Christ, does the Spirit give you life? Because if you can hear about Christ week after week and then leave unchanged... Here's my diagnosis. You need to repent and be saved. So then brothers, we are not debtors. So he's talking to Christians here. You are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Some of you feel as Christians that you're not living. That's a great verse for you. Actually, one of the books that we offered Noni for her scripture memories by John Owen, The Mortification of Sin, that's Romans 8.13. The whole book is on that verse. I feel so dead as a Christian. You're just reaping what you're sowing. Mortify those deeds of the flesh. Don't ingratiate them. Get rid of them. Don't make room for them on your calendars. This is harsh preaching. I know. But we've been praying that the best friends you will have speak the most truth to you. That's from John MacArthur. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. Verse 14, for all who are led by the Spirit of God, our sons of God. Are you led? Kids, do your parents drag you to church? Or do you gladly follow the lead of the Holy Spirit? Kids, are you resisting? It's because you're still dead in your sins. You're still in Adam. And parents, if your kids don't want to come to church, You take off time from work if you have to pray, and to fast, and to weep, and to mourn, and to plead, and to seek Christ. Your children's soul is far more important than any stupid hobby you might have. If your kids don't want to come to church, it's because they're dead. They're not being led by the Spirit of Christ. But you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. Here it is, Christian. Can you honestly say this? The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may be glorified with Him. You might be sitting in church, but I might have just given you an adequate description of your true nature. You're a tree that is dead, doubly uprooted, bearing no fruit, a waterless cloud driven by the wind. Is that you? Are you devoid of the Spirit? Oh, that He would save you this morning. So before we're filled with the Spirit, we must be regenerated by the Spirit. Let me give you the preaching of the apostles in the book of Acts. And I'm not going to preach on it, I'm just going to highlight what they said was necessary. The first one is in Acts chapter 2, verse 38. Everyone has memorized the first part, repent and be baptized, but no one or very few people understand that the verse continues on. So, 2.28, 2.38, so Peter's been preaching the gospel and the power of the Spirit, and you can tell because the people are pricked in their hearts, and they say, what must we do to be saved? Verse 38. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts chapter 3 verse 19. This is going to be a recurring theme if you're wondering why I'm doing this. Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. That's the giving of the Holy Spirit. So you have these recalcitrant Israelites being pricked now at the preaching of the Gospel. What should we do? Repent. What should we do? Repent. What should you do this morning? Repent. Chapter 5, verse 31. Again, this is what happens when the Word is preached. Here's the summons. God exalted Christ at His right hand as a leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him. Who gets the Spirit in Chapter 2? Those who repent. Who gets the Spirit in the times of refreshing in Chapter 3? Those who repent. Who gets the gifts of God in Chapter 5, i.e. the Spirit? Those who repent. Those who obey God in repenting. Do you sit here, Sunday after Sunday, dry? Repent. What does it mean to repent? Turn from all of those useless trifles, all of the sins that so easily entangle and ensnare you. Turn from them! Get rid of them! And run! Sprint to Christ! That's the definition of repentance that Paul gives the Thessalonians. Leave all of those useless idols and they turn to the living God. You have no life because you're far from the life that is God. Ephesians 1.13, and we'll move to our second point. I don't even know what time it is. So Paul is unpacking all these glorious truths. In verse 11 he talks about the inheritance, and then he talks about what happens when those who receive the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, what happens? We receive the Spirit. And you, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and Believed in Christ. We're sealed with the Spirit. Have you believed in Christ? Apparently, when you get older, you get wiser. And I've been duped by a lot of people who have just given me a little quick little and I was just like, OK, they must be saved. They understand the gospel. You say, do you sit here sealed with the Spirit? I hope so, because the Spirit is only given to those who repent of their sins and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of them. There's a quote from A.W. Tozer, I don't know if it's in my notes, but he says that so many people, Christians especially, they have all of these extravagance, and all these fancy ideas of what it means and how they're to get filled with the Spirit, but no one just takes God at His word. You go to a charismatic church and they've got all kinds of goofy ways for you to be filled. And you think of all these weird analogies. Go to the book. This is how you get filled. So the first one is the umbrella of unbelief. Or if you like eyes, it's incredulity. The second is ignorance. Many of us are not filled with the Spirit because we actually don't think we need to be. And I, actually it was reading a book on revival by Martin Lloyd-Jones that stopped me in my tracks. I had all these fancy notes for Ephesians 5, 20 through 24. And after I read this, the Lord halted me and said, you're not preaching that. Or at least I hope he was. He preached out of Mark 9, Lloyd-Jones. And it was right after, Peter and James and John had gone up onto the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord, they'd seen Him in His glory, and they descend down, and there's a skirmish, an argument, almost reminiscent of what happened with Moses when him and Joshua descended. And there was a man with a son who was demon-possessed. And the man came up to him, he said, I've come to you disciples, And you know what Jesus says to them? And Lloyd-Jones picks up on this. This kind only comes out by prayer. And King James adds fasting. And Lloyd-Jones, the doctor that he was, diagnosed their problem. They thought that they could do something that required the power of the Spirit in their own flesh. This kind. But until you realize this kind, says Lloyd-Jones, you're not going to depend on God for His power. Christ needed the power of the Spirit to be able to do this. He was baptized and the Spirit came upon Him, as John said, without measure. But Christ did these miracles, these great wonders in the power of the Spirit, even though He is God. We need the Spirit. A lot of us, especially in churches, this is what God woke me up to. All of your fancy schemes, Ryan, of a building, and programs, and shorter messages, and all this jazz that fills other churches. What you need, Ryan, is the Spirit. We're ignorant. We think we can accomplish the work of God in the flesh, this kind. Your kids can only be saved by God's almighty power. This kind comes only about by prayer and fasting. What do churches run from first? Prayer. I don't know how many churches there are in Lethbridge, but my estimation is that 10% or less of them have prayer meetings. So Tony sent me... This is just me trashing. He sent me a clip from Victory Church. They got the smoke show, the light show, the cool, the cafe. That is so unspiritual. I don't want to feed goats. You can stand under the preaching and realize, I don't need this. Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Is it not I who preached to you? Christ crucified publicly? I placarded Him? I don't know, a big banner like the open air preachers did? You who begun in the Spirit, are you now being perfected in the flesh? Oh, Church of Canada and America, who has bewitched us? If we just get such and such to speak, if we just have such and such a conference, if we just... If God visits, He alone can bring about this kind of revival. Tozer says this, before we can be filled, we must be sure we can be, and must be sure that we desire to be, and must be sure that we need to be. Do you know that you need to be filled with the Spirit? Until you are poor enough in your own spirit, you will never cry for more of the fullness of God's Spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Why? Because they know they need help. I'm talking to you, Christians. Are you poor in spirit? Because until God empties you of yourself, and your self-sufficiency, and your self-absorption, and your self of everything, you will never be filled with the Spirit. The desire must increasingly become all-absorbing. If there is anything bigger in your life than your desire to be a Spirit-filled Christian, then you will never be a Spirit-filled Christian. He says elsewhere, Christians are often as Spirit-filled as they want to be. It's the truth. And that's why we need to pray. You might know, I don't feel a need to be filled with the Spirit. Then may the Holy Spirit rock your world. May He give you cancer this morning. May your house be burning down right now, if you're a self-sufficient Christian. May you lose your job tomorrow. I mean, when your kids go to the hospital, because it's not until then when you're going to cry out to God. And you're going to stammer with the power of the Spirit in Romans 8.26. Incredulity, ignorance, third, indolence. Christina said, why do you got to use those big words? Well, one, it breaks up the scheme of all my eyes. But indolence is a glorious word, which means to be sluggard, to be lazy. Let me just read to you some Proverbs about the sluggard, and then we'll press on. Proverbs 13, 4. The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. So I meet lots of people, I want to be filled with the Spirit. Really? That's like me listening to a sluggard who refuses to work. I want to work. Where are your applications? Why are you not calling people? No, I want to work. I want all these good things. I want a job. Do you? It's not enough to crave. It's not enough to have good intentions. If you want to be filled with the Spirit, you got to get under the waterfall. If you want to be filled with the Spirit, you actually got to get rid of your umbrella or umbrellas. Proverbs 15, 19, the way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns. All the pathways to the means of grace are blocked. Proverbs 24, the sluggard does not plow in the autumn. He will seek and harvest and have nothing. He needs to look to the end. Here's a time of grace. Now play Xbox. Here's a time of grace, I'll do this, I'll watch YouTube. Am I getting legalistic? No, I love you too much. This is me. This is me. Ryan, I'm working in the church. I'll watch a football game. I know I'm going to be tempted to watch football tonight. You're going to be tempted with some of your besetting sins and hobbies that detract. You can crave the Spirit all you want, but you must say no to those things, Titus 2. That's the evidence of grace, not just wanting them. Are you a forgetful hearer? Or are you a doer of the Word? Because the doers of the Word are blessed in their not wanting, they're blessed in their doing. You legalist! Well, then I'm a legalist with all the rest of the writers of Scripture, I think. Proverbs 21.25, here's my paraphrase. Despite their desires, the sluggard will come to ruin, for his hands refuse to labor. When's the last time your hands have been in this book? Quit getting legalistic! Okay. Just don't listen to me, I'm a legalist. But this is what Solomon is saying. Their hands refuse to work. Well, of course you have no spiritual vigor. Because you haven't been in the Word of God for a week. The sluggard in 26.13 says, there's a lion in the road, there's a lion in the street. They have every excuse to not appropriate the means of grace. I've got this, I've got this, this is... Of course it's more important. And that's why you need to repent. I've got to do this, I've got to do that, I've got to do this, I've got to do that. Okay. There's a line in the road. I understand. Don't come. That line, that's fine. Whether the line is real or imaginative, I think of Pilgrim's Progress. 2614. As the door turns on its hinges, so a slugger turns on his bed. A little sleep. A little slumber. Sunday morning begins Saturday night. Here's my favorite. 2616. The sluggard is wiser in his eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly. So some of you are spiritual sluggards and you've already come up with every justification for why what I'm saying doesn't apply to you. He's a legalist. He doesn't understand my situations. What you need to do, in the words of Paul Tripp, is deactivate your inner lawyer. When the Spirit is working in your heart, you need to quit putting up the walls of defense, and maybe, just maybe, maybe the Word of God is right, and you're not. Maybe. Some of you are going to leave here wiser in your own eyes and your sluggardliness, and you're not going to heed the Word of God, or a man pleading with you. Fourth one, and our final one. The umbrella of idolatry. Okay, so they're all nice eyes for you. Four eyes. Nine times out of ten, those who are spiritually dry are so because there is sin or an idol that needs to be repented of. Psalm 66, 18. If I had regarded iniquity in my heart... How does that verse end? You wouldn't have heard me. So let me give you just a couple of quick examples. Wanting to be filled with the Spirit is not enough. Joshua chapter 7. God works powerfully through them when they overtake Jericho. That's supernatural. Walls falling down after priests marching around it. I know the atheists laugh at it, but that's supernatural stuff. That's not good military strategy. That's not how I would seek to take out Iran or Iraq if I was waging war against them. Just put away your weapons and just walk around singing Amazing Grace. Okay, the Spirit was working. But in between Jericho and Ai, there is a very important account that takes place with a man named Achan. And God had given the people of Israel a very specific command that they were not to keep any of the accursed things, but were to devote them to destruction. And that sounds nasty, but if you look at the Hebrew word that devoting to destruction is the idea of worship. Oh, here's something very good. It's good, it's silver, it's gold, I can tithe on it. None of it devoted all to destruction. Why? Because God is more important. Sometimes we think that way. God can use this extra money that I worked for. So what Achan does, as he looks like James 1, and he's enamored, and then he takes, and then he hides. And Joshua goes up to take Ai, a city much smaller, less fortified than Jericho. And they're chased away like a bunch of pansies. You know what Joshua does? He does what's right. He gets on his face and he begins to weep and bemoan that somehow God is not working. And what does God say? Get off your face! There is sin in the camp! So some of you are crying that there's no power of God in your life. Get off your face and get rid of the idol of your heart. Turn to Haggai chapter 1. It's right before Zechariah, which is right before Malachi, which is right before the New Testament. While you're turning there, this is part of the post-exilic Israelites coming back into the land. God sovereignly decreed that after 70 years He would bring them back. And if you read Isaiah and the rest of the prophets like Ezekiel, He would build His temple. And His temple was the manifestation of His Spirit, His presence, His glory, His empowering presence in the midst of His people. Hey guy, chapter 1, verse 2. Thus says the Lord of hosts. These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Their priorities were wrong. It's just a house. It's just a temple. Who cares? It's the house by which God said He's going to dwell in the midst of His people. So by saying we don't care about God's house in the Old Covenant was basically saying, I don't care if God's at work in my life. Is it a time for you, yourself, to dwell in your panelled houses, while this house lies in ruins? That's us. We're panelling our houses. We're concerned about the wrong house. We're concerned about the wrong glory. God's house seems so empty. I, as a temple, feel so empty. Then quit panelling your house. Quit panelling your life. Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. I don't know if there's a footnote, but really it says, look to your heart. My paraphrase? Examine your heart. I'm not filled with the Spirit. Is there an idol residing in your heart? I don't know. How do I know if there's an idol? What occupies your imagination? If I took something from you, would it hurt? If I asked you to give something up, would you? If I said, give me your Xbox because it's taking away time from Christ, would you? If you justify it, it's probably an idol in your life. Christina read me a tweet. I think Paulina had it on Pinterest. Tim Keller says that the idol is the thing that you're most defensive about when someone confronts you on. That's my paraphrase. I don't know. There's so many idols. We were reading in Jeremiah. He says to him, you have as many idols in Jerusalem as there are cities in Judah. There's all kinds of idols. Entertainment, food, cars, houses. I don't know what the idol is. That's why you look to your heart. Don't look to your neighbor's heart. As I'm reading this, I'm thinking, I got to look to my own heart. Consider your ways. You have sown much and harvested little. Here's a very useless people. Everything they do seems cursed. Consider your ways, he says, twice. This is the verse that I want to look at the most though. So, Haggai rebukes the people whom God loves. Haggai is maybe not as bad a guy. Sometimes a guy actually is sent by God Because God loves the people, to rebuke the people. Maybe. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Sheolphiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnants of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent them. And the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message. So note, The chronology here. When I preached this, I, being a proud Calvinist, I reversed it. And I'm ashamed. I actually want to take that sermon off. I said the Spirit came, then they feared. That's not what Haggai says. So here are the people living in materialistic idolatry. God loves the people, sends a prophet, rebukes the people. Check your hearts. What's more important? Your comfort or God's kingdom? By God's sovereign grace, the people heed the message of the prophet. This is what God says after they obey. I am with you, declares the Lord. My paraphrase in light of Ephesians 5.18. Now I'll fill you. I'm not going to fill you until... Here's Jonah 2.8. Those who cling to worthless idols forsake the hope they can have of grace. Let go of the idol if you want grace. But I'm a Calvinist. God is working now by His Spirit. Let go of the idol. And His grace will be poured upon you. Last one. I have a whole bunch more, but the time is getting away. James 4. Because you're just thinking maybe that's just the harsh Old Testament God and Jesus is all about love. The New Testament is so much more easy on our idolatry. No. James chapter 4 verse 4. Problem is they're either not asking or asking wrongly. Why? So they can spend it on their passions. Verse 4. You adulterous people. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? 1 John 2.15 says the exact same thing. Are you friends with the world? 2 Corinthians 16 says, what place has Christ with Belial? What place has the temple of the living God? What place has the Spirit with household idols? Read it in 2 Corinthians 6. The Spirit does not like to share a bed. with a concubine. I don't think Christina would like that. Ryan, I'm married to you, but you could still have a whore called the world. You think Christina wants to bless someone like that? You think she's going to be happy around me? That's Christians. Living in the world thinking that somehow the Spirit is going to bless their lives. If you don't believe me, let's just keep reading. Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture said, he yearns jealously over the spirit he has made to dwell in us? God's jealous for your time. He's jealous for your affections. And if you want to capitalize that, as some commentators do, He's jealous, Christian, for the spirit that dwells within you. But he gives more grace. This has been a heavy message. I didn't even plan on it. I had no idea what I was going to say this morning, other than I had my four eyes and a couple of scriptures. I know it's been a heavy sermon, but you know what sermons point me to Christ often the best? Heavy ones that deal with my sin. Because I can't look to Christ when there's sin in front of my eyes. It's a big, big honking tower like Nebuchadnezzar. Christ is there and I'm told to look to Him. But every time I look to Him, that idol is there and it needs to be destroyed. There's a danger of me preaching the gospel and you leaving hardened because you will not let go. You are clinging to that umbrella as though your life depended on it and you leave here dry. Let go of the umbrella. Get rid of the idol. Clean your house. He gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. It's very simple. I'm waiting for Him to draw near to me. He can't. Because he's repelled by that idol you will not get rid of. Habakkuk 1.5, he is far too holy to look upon sin approvingly. How badly do you want to be filled with the Spirit this morning? Would you give up your idols to experience the abundant life Christ offers? This is where faith comes in. I know whatever you love to do attracts you. I know it. I haven't played. So I'm just thinking because I'm doing video games. I'm not saying that it's sin, but if you're giving up copious amounts of time rather than redeeming it. I'm not against it. I'm not against football. I'm not against Pinterest. I'm not against food. I'm against wasting time when God is convicting you. If you can do that without a... Okay. I'm not against going to... I'm not... I can watch a football game. But I want to make sure that God is okay with it, that I have first given my best to Him, my firstfruits to Him. Have I been in the Word? Have I prayed? Am I being obedient? Have I shared the Gospel? Then, Christ offered abundant life and it's fulfilled in the Spirit. Oh, how we waste our lives thinking that somehow the trinkets of this world will ever satisfy. It's like trying to put diesel in a gasoline only engine, but that's what Christians do. I keep putting in more diesel and it never seems to work. It's because you need to put the gas of the Holy Spirit in. That's how you're designed. That engine has been created by God. I'll steal a quote that Tony used when he preached. It's from R.W. Glenn. It's when he comes home after working out and he's got his big heavy gym bag on. I don't know if it's a son or a daughter. One of his children comes and he wants to hug them. But before he can hug them, there is an impediment that is somehow separating. Language of Isaiah, your sins actually have caused the separation. And so before he hugs his son, whom he loves, he's got to get rid of something. He's got to get rid of the baggage. That's a beautiful picture of repentance and getting rid of idols. Let me conclude this with an illustration. I am one of the cheapest men in the world. If my analogy of driving to Buffalo on fumes didn't seal it, I actually try to collect rainwater so I don't have to use water from my hose and pay for it. And so what I have is a big drum that collects water. And after a big rainfall this year, I ran out, it was just like Christmas. Because I wanted to see, ah, look at all this free water. Fools paying for your water, I get free water. It wasn't full. You know why? Because the gutters were clogged. And so before I wanted all of that rich, life-giving, nutritious water to give life to the plants which give me free food. I had to climb up on a ladder. I didn't just sit there and promote, the gutters are full, when is God going to take them? I got a ladder. I got a yogurt container and a spoon. And I got in there and I got rid of all the sludge. Have you ever smelled gutter rot? It's despicable. Rotting pine needles and pine cones and all kinds of dirt and dead insects. But I wanted that water so badly, I was willing to get out of my comfort zone. And I've got a really strong sense of smell. I almost threw up the first time I changed Elisha's diaper and I'm cleaning this out. And that's all I'm asking you is, are you willing to clean out the gutters? What are those rotting impediments of your life that are keeping you from the freedom, the glorious freedom of the children of God? What umbrellas need to be rid of? The solution is simply this. If you're an unbeliever, repent and believe the Gospel. The solution for a believer is the same. Repent and believe the Gospel. And for those of us who have, this is why we need the power of the Holy Spirit working. Because this is not the first time you've heard the Gospel. We preach the Gospel every Sunday, but why do you leave hardened? Why do you leave unconverted? It's because we've refused to pray. But if my people were called by my name, will what? humble themselves and seek my face and pray. Then I will hear from heaven and I will heal this land." Heavy sermon. But I thought that some of you were thinking, I'm appropriating these means of grace and I still feel dry. Get rid of the idols. Get rid of the indolence, you spiritual sluggards. Get rid of the indifference and the ignorance of somehow you think you can do the works of the Spirit and the power of the flesh. Get rid of that ignorance and renew the Spirit of your mind and the fact you need Christ. And oh unbeliever, get rid of your unbelief. Awake, oh sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Do you want Christ to shine on you? Awake, oh sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Walk carefully. Look carefully then how you live. Father, I leave this to you. We've prayed and I will just trust you to do your work. I will not be surprised if some people hate my guts and never want to come back here. Father, if I have sinned, if I have been angry for all the wrong reasons, then rebuke me and give me the grace to repent publicly. But if your spirit is working, Lord, would you grant repentance unto life, that times are refreshing, may visit your people. That's what I want more than anything else, Lord, is for you to visit your people. Oh God, the Almighty One, come back, we beg you. Look down from heaven and consider the plight of your people. Visit this vine, the root your right hand planted, the stalk, the son of yours that you have raised up for yourself. Lord, look at the miserable condition of your church and help us. I think of Elijah. Would you send fire down from heaven to show us that you've not left us, that you are turning our heart back to you again? Please, God, do not leave us. Come back, we beg you. Just think of the foolish husband whose wife says, enough, and she leaves, and he comes to his senses, and he says, I will do anything. Come back, I beg you. May we do that, Lord. If you do not lead us as you led Moses, then we throw in the towel and give up. Guide us, thou great Jehovah. Come back, we beg you. Save unbelievers this morning. Spirit, convict of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Oh God, that the dead might hear as you promised Jesus in John 5. Oh, that they might be spiritually resurrected. As Joanne reminded me, Jesus, your words are spirit and life, life-giving and life-sustaining. Speak, Lord, this morning. The words of a man will not do. We need to hear the words of Christ. May they abide richly in us. Change us. In turning, we will be saved. So turn thou us, we pray God. In Christ's name, Amen.