Changing Yourself

Introduction

Good evening, everybody. Let’s open our Bibles to Ezekiel. We’re going to read right at the end of Ezekiel chapter 18. I’m going to begin reading in verse 30, please. In Ezekiel 18 and verse 30, need you to open your Bible there with me right now. Just need to say how much Dean and I are enjoying being with this congregation. Folks here, listen good. You’ve greeted us in a warm way and made us feel welcome. Just very thankful. The elders have asked us to come and be with you all and just enjoying it very much. Enjoying being around Josh. The fact that he cheers for Alabama doesn’t seem to be hindering him too much. Kind of getting to know him a little bit better. That’s a good thing.

And really getting to know Brother Harkrite or Brother Sister Harkwriter better have admired them from afar for a great long period of time. Brother Harkwriter said this morning that got to know each other back in high school, which was years ago, and uh I’ve got to thinking about that a little bit. It has been some time since we’ve been able to be together, but I’ve appreciated his work so very much. I know you do as well. And just a delight to be with him. Let’s be in the text, though, right now. I’m going to read in Ezekiel 18. Let’s start in verse 30. There we read. In Ezekiel 18 and verse 30. Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel. Everyone according unto his ways declares the Lord God.

Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God. Turn and live. I need to confess to you this evening that this is the kind of passage that bothers me the very most in the Bible. Not passages like the book of Revelation and the dark signs and symbols. What about that? Or maybe questions about the woman’s head covering in 1 Corinthians 11. Those are not the difficult passages for me. Passages that I struggle with and that, you know, honesty, terrify me, are exactly these verses.

The verses that set before me the way of life and the way of death, and that tell me if I’m going to live, I need to change. I need to put away all my transgressions. I need to repent. I need to cast away my sins. I need to change. That it seems to me is enormously challenging for all of us. Anytime we talk about change, someone’s going to say, oh now, what’s the big deal? Just do it. Come on now. Just do it. Fix it all, get it right, and so forth. Yet. You and I know, if you’ve ever really attempted to make the kind of changes that Ezekiel’s talking about, it is very much more difficult than just doing it. You can get a Visa card, you go to the mall, you can change your appearance.

You can get a mover, you can change your location. You can get a lawyer and change your last name. That’s not what I’m talking about this evening. When I’m talking about change, and I’m talking about the battle for the mind, we’re talking about thinking clearly in today’s world. I’m talking about being able to change yourself, particularly as it pertains to spiritual matters, as it pertains to sin and righteousness. You understand what I’m talking about? I’m talking about that sinful habit. That thing that we’ve worked on a number of times and yet it doesn’t seem like it wants to go away. And now we’re just kind of content to let it sit over there in that corner, from time to time. We visit it because we just don’t really think we’re ever going to be able to let go of that sin.

Or maybe this evening I’m talking about letting our spirituality go stale, where our walk with God is dry, and we’re not serving the Lord from a joyful heart. We are just kind of going through the motions and standing and sitting and bowing and doing the things. Well, because, well, that’s kind of what I’ve always done on Sunday, so that’s I guess what I’m going to do again this evening. Or maybe this evening I’m talking about someone here who’s a mediocre Christian. Just basic matters of discipleship challenge you. And you know you’re really not anything close to what the Lord wants you to be. You’re not growing, you’re not developing, and you know as well, there’s a pretty good chance that in five years you’ll you’ll still be the same mediocre kind of Christian.

We’ve got to do better than that. We’ve got to make the changes to ourselves that are essential to break out of sinful habits, to break out of a routine walk with the Lord, to put away a lack of growth and really pursue the Lord. We’ve got to change. Yet I know that that is so difficult. I’d rather go to work on the Middle East peace graces. I’d rather go to work on solving world hunger than to go to work on the guy that I shave every morning. I know him well. And I know that he’s not interested in changing. He doesn’t want to change. He does everything he can to convince me that he doesn’t even need to change. Let’s just leave things as they are.

I want to set before you this evening. The kind of ideas in a very practical sort of way that’ll cause us to be able to enact changes in our own life. You know, and I know there are some that teach that if a person is baptized magically, something transforms that individual, a second work of grace or sanctification, some call it. You and I know as well that even without answering that kind of idea from the Word of God, from a practical standpoint, we know it isn’t that way. We go into the waters of baptism a sinner with much that needs to be changed to be molded into the image of Christ. We come out of the waters of baptism, a forgiven sinner with much work to do.

This evening I want to put our feet on that path to get that essential work done. The fixing, the molding, the changing of self so that I can be like Jesus Christ. As I’m preaching this evening, I need to ask you to listen in a very special way tonight. I need to ask you to listen particularly and only for yourself. This evening as we’re working in the Word of God, it’s going to be tremendously tempting to think, whoa, I wish Uncle Bill was here. My, he is skinning that. I wish he was here to hear that. Particularly, there’ll be a great temptation to warm your elbows up, ladies. And to say to that husband or say, gentlemen, a little bit of that elbow to the wife, oh boy, this is something you need to hear.

1. Not Some Kind of Emotional High

I’ll tell you right now. If we’re listening for anybody else but ourselves, we’re going to miss it. We’re not talking about changing somebody who isn’t here. We’re not talking about changing the person near and dear to you, maybe sitting next to you. We’re talking about what the Word of God says you need to do so that you can change yourself and be the disciple the Lord wants you to be. The beginning of all of that, of course, as is always is the case, is to understand things that are just not going to get it done. And to get rid of wrong ideas. I’m talking about the kinds of things that obstruct real progress that oftentimes people associate with change, have nothing to do with change. For example, what about that thinking that in order to change, we’ve got to have some kind of emotional hive.

We’ve got to have some sort of pep rally atmosphere. Now, as you’ve met my wife, you can tell she’s an energetic and enthusiastic kind of person. I’m kind of shy and retiring, but I appreciate enthusiasm in life. And in some ways, I appreciate someone who has some intensity about the things that are going on. But it disturbs me that in our world today, if something isn’t accompanied with fanfare, if the band isn’t playing, if there aren’t satellite trucks outside broadcasting this to the whole world, well then, well then, just how important can it be? As a result of that kind of thinking, people transport that into religion, and what do they want? They want to have some sort of emotional experience, some kind of fervor and frenzy, really get built up and say, that’s what it’s going to take in order to make a change.

You see that on your television, set. There’s a band whipping people up, and the percussion beat is driving. There’s a speaker and he’s firing out, getting people whooped up, people pour down front to the altar. They’re getting religion. My it’s an exciting thing. You know what I know, though. Next morning, those people ride back to where they were. That kind of change isn’t going to hold. Look in Exodus 19 with me, please. In Exodus chapter 19. In Exodus 19, we read about the people of God at Mount Sinai. In Exodus 19, notice how the Lord instructs them there. Here we read in Exodus 19. I’m going to begin reading in verse 1, please. There we read that in the third new moon, after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

And they set out from Rephidim, and they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They encamped at the wilderness. And there Israel encamped before the mountain. While Moses went up to God, and the Lord called him out of the mountain, saying, Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and you shall tell the people of Israel. You yourselves have seen what I did of the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle’s wings, and I brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you’ll indeed obey my voice, keep my covenants, you shall be my treasure possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine. You shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you shall speak to the people of Israel.

Moses came. He called the elders of the people. He set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him. And the people answered him and said, All the Lord has spoken, we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I’m coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear what I speak with you and may believe you forever. What a dramatic scene. God appearing here in the thick smoke at the top of the mountain, the very ground itself shaking and quaking. What happened here with these folks? Forty days later they were worshiping a metal cow. If God’s pep rally, if you understand the point I’m making, if the kind of enthusiasm and fervor that could be generated by an appearance of the Lord himself, if that will not make lasting change, what would cause any of us to ever imagine that something that we would generate as mere humans could affect real change?

2. Not Changing to Please Others

Could I say here? There’d just be no additional charge for this. This is why we need to be so careful that we don’t see the end result of worship, the object of worship to be to generate some sort of emotional high. Lots of people want worship to cause some sort of feeling. That’s not what worship is about, and it won’t cause people to change. Something else that won’t cause people to have real change. And that’s a business of changing to please others. This is a very deadly trap. I see what others are doing, and then I evaluate myself in comparison to them. I think, man, I need to do differently, so they’ll be impressed with me. My wife and I got married. I discovered something absolutely remarkable about my wife.

She has an amazing skill. It is just the most incredible thing I’d ever seen. My wife, you’ll think I’m making this up. I’m not. My wife can eat vegetables. It was a shocking thing to me. She could eat broccoli and cauliflower and pizza. I’m talking about without ketchup. I see, she can eat vegetables. I’d never seen anything like it in my life. So it was very apparent very quickly who was lacking in the healthy eating department in our new family, and so I resolved to make some serious changes in that regard. And so I got two big spoonfuls of peas, and I swallowed them down. I had changed. Of course, immediately I split them back up all over Dina. And then I told her that real love accepts you as you are.

This business of changing to suit others, it’s not really going to hold, is it? Look in your Bibles in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, I’m always so impressed with what Paul says there. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul talks about how he gauges his life and what he does not allow to have effect in his life. In 1 Corinthians, the second chapter, I’m reading in verse 4, please. In 1 Corinthians 2, I’m actually going to begin reading in verse 3. I read from the English Standard Version. I was asked about that this afternoon. I think there are several very fine translations available. We’re blessed to live in a time where there’s lots of good Bibles that you can buy. The ESV is a relatively new translation.

It’s enormously accurate and even still readable, very readable, and I like it, and that’s where I’m reading from this evening. In 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 3, Paul says, I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. I’m not all about impressing you, Paul says. I’m not all about causing you to think I’m really something. No, that’s not what this is about. And this business of causing people to change, oh, so that Paul will think I’m something, or Paul is going to change so that we’ll think he’s really okay.

Paul says, I’m not going to be part of that. In fact, in chapter 4, as he continues to develop these ideas for the Corinthian brethren, in chapter 4. Look at verse 3. In chapter 4 and in verse 3, he says, with me, it’s a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even judge myself. Not interested in whether you’re impressed with me. I’m trying to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 4. I’m not aware of anything against myself, but I am not therefore acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. I’m going to change to suit you, not going to change to impress you, or to cause you to say, oh, you’re really something. Yet spiritually, people do that kind of thing all the time.

I’m going to make an adjustment. So that my wife will stop elbowing me during the preaching. Or so the elders will stop calling me. Or, maybe in a little slightly different fashion, so that people will be impressed with me spiritually. I’m going to sing louder than everybody else. Or I’m going to carry my big fat large Bible in the upright and pious position to church so that everybody will just know what a fine Christian I am. That’s not going to work. That’s not going to last. That’s not going to be real. Certainly not saying that we don’t ever modify our behavior in marriage so that we can please our spouse. That we don’t ever do to help other people and serve in other areas. But in spirituality, when we’re trying to live to the standards of others, when we’re making it our goal to try to impress others, what’s going to happen is we’re going to go down the road of the Pharisees, becoming secretly smug and very self-righteous, or just really overworked and tired as we try to get everyone to look at us.

3. Start with Genuine Repentance

Well, I don’t want to have any part of that kind of thing. Not interested in having a pep alley that’ll result in some momentary emotional change. Not interested in changing so that people will be impressed with me. That’s not going to work. Instead, I want to suggest that we need to start, we need to start with genuine repentance. Would you look at me in 2 Corinthians 7, please? In 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 9. This is an enormously important passage when we want to talk about the change process. In 2 Corinthians 7, let’s look at verse 9, please. There, Paul says, 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 9, I rejoice, not because you are grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us.

Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. I think, I think right now this would be a good time to make some differentiation between the kinds of changes we’re talking about and maybe the most common kind of changes people entertain, which is New Year’s resolutions. It’s very important you don’t see this as some sort of New Year’s resolution that we’re working here. At New Year’s time in January, we do think about making some changes, maybe exercising a little more or doing things that are nice for our spouse, like not leaving dirty socks all over the floor. However, in the grand scheme of things, whether I exercise a little more and pick up my dirty socks, that probably doesn’t have very much to do with my eternal destination.

If I get to comparing that to serious spiritual problems like gossiping or lying, or not worshiping when I’m assembling with the saints, then what I’ve done is I’ve poured a big old bucket of apples into a bag of oranges. I’m comparing two entirely different things. Let’s be honest, though. Lots of times that’s how we view spiritual change. Just like we view our New Year’s resolutions. We just kind of look at it. Well, that’s kind of a nice thing to do. Everybody makes some resolutions on the 1st of January. Going to eat less, going to exercise more. It’s kind of a good idea. Does anybody really break a sweat when by the afternoon of January the 1st, we’re not doing that anymore? Oh well, better luck next year.

That’s not what’s being covered in 2 Corinthians 7, is it? Paul’s talking there about repentance. He’s talking about putting away sin. This is not some sort of trivial resolution that if I keep it, that’s great, but if I don’t, oh, that’s no big deal. Paul’s talking about a change of mind. And I think many times that’s what we need the most about our spirituality, to change our thinking in regards to sin. Let me just ask you. How long has it been since you repented of sin? Think about that now. I’m not talking about how long has it been since you said in a prayer, that wonderful cliché, Lord, forgive us of all of our sins. Since the last time we’ve had the privilege to ask thee for pardon.

No. I’m asking, when is the last time you came before the Lord and you said, This is sin in my life, Lord? This is not right. It can’t be right. It’ll never be right. There’s no excuse for it. I did it, it’s wrong. I don’t ever want to do that again. Help me, Lord. I want to repent of this. Let me ask you this. When’s the last time you read your Bible? And someone says, oh boy, see where those two things are going. You see how we treat Bible reading? Bible reading is a good idea. Everybody ought to do some Bible reading. I’d be diligent reading the Bible. I think the Bible even says that in there somewhere, doesn’t it? But we don’t honestly imagine that if, for example, I have failed to be diligent in my reading of God’s word, because I’m pursuing trivial things, because I’m entertaining myself with NASCAR or football or playing my we until my eyes bleed.

We don’t really imagine that because we’ve not put first things first, that we need to come before the Lord and say, Lord, I’ve sinned. See how that sticks in our mouth? It didn’t feel right. Oh, I didn’t get around to it today. I’ll do better tomorrow. Then we wonder why we can’t make change. It’s one thing to say, maybe I sort of should have said that about that sister, you know? Or maybe I shouldn’t have posted that on my MySpace. Young people, do you know what I’m talking about? That probably wasn’t the nicest thing to say. But it’s different to say, I need to repent of the sin of gossip. It’s different to say, you know, that movie had some things in it that wasn’t all that right.

That girl, she wasn’t wearing the clothes she should have been wearing. It’s different than to say, you know what? That movie caused me to lust. My thoughts were impure and wrong. I need to repent of lusting. Wow. That feels different, doesn’t it? And I’m saying to you this evening, I’m saying to me, rest assured, that if we’re going to make serious spiritual change in our lives, we’ll have to start treating sin as it is. So that then we can take the God given steps to deal with sin, repentance. In Proverbs, please, look with me in Proverbs 28. In Proverbs chapter 28, look at verse 13. In Proverbs 28, in verse 13, please. There we read, in Proverbs 28 and in verse 13, whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper.

He who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. I need to be honest with the Lord. When I come into his house and my mind’s a million miles away, I didn’t pay attention to the singing. I didn’t pay attention to what the brother said in prayer. I wasn’t listening to the sermon. I wasn’t making application. My mind was somewhere else and the elements were served. I need to be honest. I have failed to worship the Lord. I did what was wrong. And I need to come before God and say, I am repenting. I need to make some changes, because if I keep doing this, I’m going to be lost. I’m in danger of losing my soul because this is wrong. That’s the change of mind that I believe we need first and foremost to make genuine change.

4. The Right Purpose: I Want to Go to Heaven

As we’re doing that, I hope we’re basing that out of the right purposes for change. Would you look at me over in Philippians the third chapter? In Philippians the third chapter, when you begin to think about making change in life, you’ll just be amazed to see how much the Bible really deals with that. And how the Bible shows people who made dramatic reversals, really stunning kinds of things, because they were able to say, I’m in sin, I need to get out of sin. And the fellow that I’m talking about in Philippians 3 is the guy who wrote Philippians 3. The Apostle Paul. In Philippians 3, he says there, beginning in verse 7, whatever gain I had, I count it as a loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. That I may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes from faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends upon faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, that I may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I’ve already obtained this or I’m already perfect, but I press on to make it my own.

Because Christ Jesus has made me on his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do. I forget what lies behind, I strain forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. You’re looking there at the blueprint. The life of a man who made a dramatic change. A man who was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, he says in verse 5. A man who had everything to live for. If he would continue his stellar career as a Jew, as a Pharisee. Turned it all down. Left it all. Walked away. Began the life as an unpopular preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What happened?

How could he do that? Paul, what were you thinking? No exactly what Paul was thinking. Because he tells us in this little passage, what Paul was thinking is, I want to go to heaven. That’s what Paul was thinking. I’m going to die. One of these days I’m not going to be here anymore. I’m going to stand in front of the Lord. When that happens, I want to go to heaven. Did you notice how many times he said that in those verses? Look at verse 7. Indeed, I count all things as lost. What? For the sake of Christ. That’s what he’s talking about. I count verse 8, everything lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ. There it is. How about the verse? End of verse 8.

In order that I may gain Christ. Beginning of verse 9, be found in him. That verse 10, I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Verse 11, that I may attain the resurrection. Verse 13, I don’t consider this my own. I’m pressing forward. Verse 14 now to the goal. I’m going to heaven. That’s what Paul says. Every pore of his body was straining in one direction. I want to be saved. I thought I was going to be safe doing what I was doing. I found out that was just wrong. I wasn’t going to get there. I made the changes necessary because I want to go to heaven. And I want to suggest to you and me this evening that that is exactly the purpose we want to have in our lives for genuine change.

Here’s heaven. Here’s me. This is what I need to do to bridge the gap. I want to get there. I need to be more active in evangelism, or I need to control my temper. I need to love my wife more as the Bible instructs. I need to do what God expects of me and God desires me to do so that I will be saved. Now that’s not real theologically deep. But I’ll tell you this, it works for change. Particularly when you understand. God wants you to go to heaven too. I believe this is a very overlooked point. Sometimes we act like we’re down here struggling on our own. As if the Lord is kind of hoping we won’t make change. Look at that. I think he might get in here.

We don’t want that. Crowd the place up. That is not the Lord’s attitude at all. Look in Philippians 4. In Philippians the 4th chapter, look at verse 13. How can somebody make those dramatic changes? How can somebody turn their life around in that kind of way? You want to go to heaven? The Lord wants you to go to heaven. Look at verse 13. Paul says, Philippians 4 and verse 13, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. The Lord’s not going to help hypocrisy. The Lord’s not going to help false ideas about change, but the Lord will help people who will repent and who will genuinely say, Lord, I want so much to go to heaven. Honestly now. Do you think? That the Lord sent his son to die on that cross.

Did all of that work, all of that effort, down through time as the Bible records for us. Then his Holy Spirit comes and records the Bible and protects the Bible so that we’ll know about it. And now the Lord’s going to leave you high and dry. The Lord has moved heaven and earth, literally, so that you and I could have a way, could find the way, could be on the way to heaven, and the Lord wants you to get there. Our world doesn’t. Our world says all the time, you can’t change. Our world all the time wants to talk about genetics and that we’re just creatures of our upbringing. You can’t change. That’s just how you are. You were born this way, our world says.

And then the Lord says, He will help you do what it takes to be saved. To say I can’t is not only to deny the power of God in my life, it is to deny his love for me. And yet I say again, I feel sometimes that heaven has been turned into some sort of hall of fame. Several years ago, Dean and I visited Cooperstown, the baseball hall of fame. It is a wonderful and magical kind of place. I love baseball. Just some great things there. I’m just not going to be in the Hall of Fame anytime soon. That’s just not going to happen. Just the bestest of the bestest going to ever be there, isn’t that right? And I think sometimes we get this feeling that heaven is for the elite few.

Maybe if you were an elder, probably not an elder at a good church, Brother Bob. You had to be an elder at a really tough church where there’s a lot of trouble and problems. Or maybe if you preach the gospel in really difficult places, not at a place like South Bombie, Brother Bob, you’re out on that one too. That’s not going to help you. I mean, if you’ve really had a miserable existence, I guess maybe you might get in the background. Isn’t that how people treat heaven? Preacher told me one time that as he was growing up, a preacher came in a meeting and he said that in an audience that night, as he addressed 500 people, he expected only about six or seven folks would go to heaven.

Are you kidding me? It certainly is possible, I suspect. That in an audience of 500 people, maybe six or seven folks want one’s going to go to heaven, but it’s hard for me to imagine. That in a Sunday night audience like this, people who love the Lord and want to do what’s right. People who’ve come together to hear about how to make the changes so they can do what’s right. That somehow we’d sell ourselves short and decide God doesn’t want me to get there. I guess I’m not going to make it. If the Lord wants you to go, you can go. Use that as motivation. The Lord is working through his word. The Lord is working providentially through circumstances. The Lord is working through these elders, through these preachers, through this meeting, through your brothers and sisters in Christ in this place to provide you the instruction, the knowledge, the care, the health.

5. Gotta Do: Devise Good

Why? The Lord wants you to be there. You use that. I can go. I can be there. I’m going to make it. I’m going to do like Paul. I’m going to press on for the goal. I’ll make those changes. Because I want to go to heaven. Finally, then we’re gonna have to do some stuff. A lot of analysis here. Going to have to do some things. Going to have to make that repentance real. Look with me in Haggai for a moment, please. If you’re turning to your old testaments, go to Matthew, take a left. Look over in Haggai with me in Haggai chapter 1. The people of God there found themselves in difficult places. Things were not going well since the return from Babylon. What the prophet of God came to tell them was that they needed to make some changes.

In Haggai chapter 1, would you read with me there beginning in verse 2? Thus says the Lord of hosts, Haggai 1 in verse 2. Thus says the Lord of hosts, these people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. There’s the problem. Going to have to talk about it. Going to have to think about it some. Going to have to study exactly how to undertake this obligation. That’s exactly the difficulty in Haggai. They knew what they needed to do. They needed to build the temple of God again. They knew God wanted them to do it. They needed to repent of the lackadaisical attitude that said, well, we’re just not going to do it. But they hadn’t ever just got off the dime and got busy doing it.

The weather wasn’t right, or the lumber hadn’t arrived, or you know, we need to go see Aunt Sally this afternoon. So I just guess we’re not going to be able to do it right now. In the end, the house of God lay in ruins, and the people of God did nothing about it. Gotta do.

Got to be busy doing what leads to change. I really like this poem an awful lot. Poem about the set of the sails. Have you heard this before? It’s a remarkable idea. Once one ship sails east and another sails west, while the selfsame breezes blow. Tis the set of the sail and not the gale that bids them where they go. As the winds of the air are the ways of fate as we voyage along through life. Tis the set of the soul that decides our goal and not the storm, not the strife. I think that’s exactly right. What’s the set of your sails? Have you even risen those sails so you can get out of the port? Get busy doing things. Sometimes when we talk about changes we are talking about this evening, all we can think about is something dramatic, something really large.

I’m going to fix this problem right now. I’m going to do something right now. And as a result, since I know, well, I really can’t overcome all of that right now. We just do nothing. We don’t ever set our sails. Look in Proverbs with me. Look at Proverbs chapter 14. I love the wisdom of Solomon about this. In Proverbs chapter 14, look at verse 22. In Proverbs 14, in Proverbs 14 and verse 22, Solomon says there, in Proverbs 14 and 22, do they not go astray who devise evil? Those who devise good meet steadfast love and faithfulness. I love that idea. Let’s devise good. You ever thought about that? Here I’ve got this giant spiritual problem. I’ve got this sin that I need to overcome. What I need to do is I need to devise some good things that are going to help me overcome that.

6. Devising Good Means Prayer, Patience, Perspective

Maybe I can’t overcome it all at once, but I’m going to get busy on it. I’m going to go to work on it. I’m going to do some things right now that’ll help me so that I’m a different person tomorrow, and I’ll work on it a little bit more tomorrow, and then the next day I’ll be a little different person. I’ll work on it some of that, and bit by bit, little bit at a time, I’m going to make that change. I’m going to make repentance be real in my life. Let me make certain as you’re devising good, that you’ve got several components working there. Look in Matthew 6 with me, please. The first component there is going to be prayer. Hear what Jesus said in this prayer that we call the Lord’s Prayer that he really gave to his disciples.

In Matthew, the sixth chapter. It’s part of this great Sermon on the Mount. Focus right there at the end of this wonderful sermon. In Matthew 6, please. Look at verse 13. Jesus says there, Matthew 6 and 13, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. There you go. Let’s get God involved in this. Let’s get God involved in our lives and in our plans to change. If we’re going to devise good, then we need to be pleading before the Lord. Not just repenting of sin, but now pleading that the Lord will help us to move forward in righteousness. We need some prayer there. Look over in Galatians 6 with me now. In Galatians 6 and verse 9, you’re going to need some prayer. You’re going to need some patience.

In Galatians 6, look at verse 9 with me, please. There, Paul says, Galatians 6 and 9, let us not grow weary in doing good. Galatians 6 and 9, for in due season we will reap if we don’t give up. The bad habit that you’re looking to overcome, it didn’t develop overnight. That spiritual dryness that you have, going through the motions of business, that didn’t just happen. These kinds of problems don’t just crop up suddenly, and they’re not going to suddenly go away. It’ll take time. Work on it anyway. Work on it bit by bit. If you fail, repent and ask God for forgiveness. But get up and go on. Don’t give up. Devising good means we’re praying. Devising good means that we are involved in patience.

And then finally, look in Matthew 6 with me again. Devising good means that we’re going to persevere on. In Matthew chapter 6, in Matthew chapter 6, we’re going to persevere on. Verse 33, because we have the right perspective. In Matthew 6, look at verse 33. Jesus says, there, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. Therefore, don’t be anxious about tomorrow. For tomorrow will be anxious for itself, sufficient for the days, its own trouble. Someone’s thinking right now, Brother Mark, you don’t know the trouble I have on the job. I tell you there’s all this pressure for me there to cheat on the bidding process so that we can get the bids. I feel so much pressure to do that.

I’m afraid I’m going to lose my job. When am I going to do this? And how am I going to feed my family? And on and on and on. Don’t worry about all that. Just worry about tomorrow. One day at a time. Going to serve the Lord tomorrow in the best way that I can. I’m going to do what’s right tomorrow. Worry about what happens the next day after that. After that. Just going to do right now. Someone this evening’s got trouble in their marriage. There’s fussing and fighting. Oh, you don’t know what she said. You don’t know what he said. You don’t know what she said. Don’t worry about all of that. Can you do what’s right right now? No one’s asking you to fix every problem in your marriage immediately.

No one’s asking you to become a perfect Christian in the next five seconds. What the Lord’s interested in is can we serve the Lord faithfully? Now. Right now. I can remember sometimes as a child thinking, wow, gonna live to be 60 or 70 years old. It’s when you’re about 10, seems like it’s really, really old. Think about how many times I’m gonna go to church in my life. Think about how many times take the Lord’s Supper. Wow, I wonder if I could live a life as a Christian for 50 or 60 years. That’s a long time. You know what? Lord wasn’t asking me to live 60 years right then. Lord’s asking me to live right now. Right then. Let all the rest of that take care of itself.

Conclusion

Do some praying. Find some patience. Find the perspective to say, I’m going to do right now. When we’re doing those things, we’re going to be able to make change real. We’re going to get off the dime where we’re doing nothing. And we’re going to start even the small steps necessary to change ourselves. Several years ago we sang an invitation song. And a lady we’ve been working with came forward. Just as worldly as she could be. So many pagan habits that she needed to overcome. Just a lot of wickedness in her life. I took her confession, and then I went over to the changing room. One of our elders comes and helps me change into those waiters. And I was trying to pull those on, and I said something to this brother about my oh my.

She sure does have a lot she’s going to have to work on. A lot of things got to be changed. A lot of things got to go on here. She’s going to serve the Lord. Lots to do. She’s going to go to heaven. This good and wise elder looked at me and he said, That’s right. But she’ll never get there if she doesn’t start. Amen. What are you waiting for? Right now there’s something in your life that you’re trying to get right about. You’re never going to get right about that if you don’t start. That sinful habit, that spiritual malaise that you’re in, that lack of real joy in serving the Lord. It’s not going to go away on its own. It’s not going to suddenly up and vanish one morning and it’s just gone.

No. You’ll have to say, I’m going to do the very most difficult thing of all. I’m going to change my self. I’m going to repent. I’m going to change because I want to go to heaven. And I’m going to go to work on it right now, taking the steps essential to make changes in my discipleship. We’re going to sing this song, get an invitation song book out. We’ll sing this song because the change that some of you need to make. Indeed. The change that God Himself is looking for right now is that you’d come down this aisle and say, I need to wash my sins away. I need to make that first change of repentance so that I can be baptized in water for the remission of sins.

I need to do what Paul did. I need to do what the 3,000 did on the day of Pentecost. I need to become a child of God, as Acts 2 and 38 instructs. For some of you, the change is that change that comes from walking down front and saying to your brethren, I’ve done wrong. And I want to repent of that. And I want you to know that I’m repenting of that so that you can help me make repentance stick. I want to make some changes. If we can help you to change in a very public kind of way, then we’re going to sing this song to encourage. I hope whether your changes are private or whether your changes are public, you’ll use this time during this song to think about devising good and the kind of things that you can do so that we can serve the Lord in a better way.

But if we could help you to serve the Lord as a new Christian, if we could help you rededicate yourself to become a better Christian, please make your way down front while we stand, while we sing.