When Your Planning Reveals Practical Atheism

Father, I pray, we know all too well a reality. There are birds in the Bible. But those birds aren't birds.

Those birds are things we can't see with the naked eye, but they pluck up the seed of the Word as it's cast. Lord, I pray that You would hold the devil at bay in this place. Help our minds to be focused.

We pray for the winds of the Spirit to blow through this. We pray that You would just allow Your presence to be here. Lord, we pray that some good things, as far as the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Christ, would take place here today.

We ask it in Christ's name, Amen. Okay, brethren, I hope to finish up James 4 right now. James 4, I want to begin reading in verse 13.

James 4.13, Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you're a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

The ESV reads, so whoever. This verse starts with a very pronounced therefore. Therefore, to him that knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

And I was just putting a little non-ESV spin on it because I think that's more accurate. Whoever knows the right thing to do. Therefore, whoever knows the right thing.

Therefore, to him who knows the right thing to do. And the only reason I emphasize that is because oftentimes we quote whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it's sin. And we basically say it disconnected from the rest.

And that's okay. There are biblical principles that oftentimes in Scripture get applied in a certain context, but the principle is good, obviously, even outside of that context. But the truth is that there is a connection there.

So, who is James addressing? Oh, perhaps whoever the guy is or come now you who say. Whoever this is that's speaking here, obviously this is somebody that's talking about trading. It's some business thing.

They're making a profit. Perhaps it's businessmen. The thing is when we get to chapter 5, look how 5 starts.

Come now you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted. Anyways, he talks about the rich here.

Maybe he's talking to the rich. Here's the thing. When you closely examine the argument that he makes here, James is admonishing any one of us who approaches life as an atheist.

Just think that thought. Just notice six things very quickly about verse 13. First, they have a plan.

Their plan is to embark on a trip. You see it. Today or tomorrow.

Second, they have plans as to where they're going to go on this trip. Today or tomorrow we'll go into such and such a town. The third thing, they plan to spend a certain duration of time in the town they're planning to travel to.

Today or tomorrow we'll go into such and such a town and spend a year there. The fourth thing, notice, they're thinking to involve themselves in some sort of business venture while in that town. Today or tomorrow we'll go into such and such a town, spend a year there, and trade.

Look at the fifth. They not only expect success, they express the certainty of it. Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town, spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.

It's not questionable in their mind. Sixth, the New American Standard, MacArthur's recent translation, they put a period right at the end of this. Period.

Our DSV has a dash, so do some of the other. But the fact is that James is quoting somebody and they're done. With the word make a profit, that's it.

Period. Nothing more is said. And that's important.

So here's the thing. I hope you all see that James believes that whoever speaks like the guy in verse 13 speaks, that guy is in the wrong. That guy is not right.

That guy is not speaking correctly. And of course the question is, why? What's the problem here? Let me ask you this. Is it wrong to make plans about the future? Is it wrong to plan what I'm going to do today or tomorrow? Is it wrong to plan on where I'm going to go? And what I plan to do when I get there? And what I would like to see happen when I get there? Is there anything wrong with that? Can a Christian have expectations? Brethren, I hope you have expectations about the future.

I hope there's some place you want to go. And I hope you're making plans on how to get there. Brethren, is it wrong for a Christian to scheme and strategize and make plans about what he's going to do tomorrow to be intentional, to bring his expectations to pass? Is it wrong to be intentional and proactive and deliberate about where I'm going? Calculated? Make calculations about how I'm going to get there? Brethren, I hope you think about the future.

Because people that don't plan and strategize never get there. Why? Because they had no plan. And brethren, the truth is, I could prove this to you a hundred ways, but just one of the Proverbs, which by the way, the Proverbs are all about wisdom.

Okay, you want to be wise when it comes to plans? Here's what Scripture says. The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance. Ah, that's helpful.

Scripture doesn't tell us not to plan. That's not James' point in chapter 4 of his epistle. Plans are good.

And listen to what it says. The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance. Everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

Well, that's the contrast. Why does the hasty person come to poverty? Because they don't make plans. You see what the haste is? The haste is that they just go do things, knee-jerk reaction with no plans.

The first guy plans leads to abundance. The second guy doesn't plan. He's just hasty.

He just flies around in this life, not really looking to the future. Not figuring out how to get to where he wants to go. He just kind of floats through life.

And you know what? It's going to work towards poverty. This guy is foolish. That's the idea.

So what's wrong with the type of planning and talking that we have in verse 13? If planning isn't wrong, then what is wrong? What is it that's so off base? Well, I already said the word. Atheism. Brethren, I'm talking practical atheism.

Look, you can have a guy like Richard Dawkins who says there's no God. Or you can have a guy like James 4.13 who just leaves God out of his thoughts and his talk. That's what you have there.

Don't acknowledge God. And brethren, I'll tell you what happens by that mouth. You see, what this is really indicative of is a lack of God-consciousness.

You just leave Him out. There's just an absence. Brethren, the thing is, I one time heard John Piper talk about driving around a city.

Of course, he lives up there in Minneapolis. But just driving around the city, turning on the radio and not hearing anything about God. Now you may have K-Love and you may hear some fluffy stuff or whatever there is.

But he was just saying, go through the majority of your radio stations. Turn on the TV. Drive around the streets.

Look at the billboards. He said there is just an absence of God. There is nothing in this universe that is more real.

There is no presence that is greater. He is the greatest being. His will is supreme.

Your will, God. Your will. There is no will that's greater.

His will will be done. His will is supreme. His will how He stands.

There's no one else who upholds the universe by the word of His power. We are dealing with the greatest reality of all. It is God.

And He is the great planner. He is the great designer. He is the great creator.

And the person in verse 13 has totally left God out. You see, this person's view of life and of God and how things really are is totally wrong. Brethren, you can listen to people talk.

And oftentimes that's where we're at. As leaders in the church, that's often where we're at. We listen to people talk.

We'll sit. We ask people their testimony. Brethren, it is the most dumbfounding thing imaginable.

I cannot tell you the number of times I have sat with somebody to ask them their testimony and they will give me a testimony that is Christ-less and God-less. Brethren, how we speak our words. This person's view of life.

And when you speak how this guy speaks in verse 13, it says your ideas about God, your ideas about your life, your ideas about your plans are just wrong. And you know what I asked myself? I said, hey, don't we all kind of talk this way at certain times? Now look, you never want to vindicate because we all do it. But what I'm saying is this.

Can't you even take a godly guy, a godly gal, who they've prayed about something, they have a God consciousness, and yet they can at least say, oh, this is just one sentence. Can't the most godly person sometimes say one sentence without using God in it? James is actually going to get to the place where he says, if you talk this way, it's arrogant and evil. Do you feel arrogant and evil when you talk that way and leave God out? See, brethren, some of the things we think very minor, God looks at it and there is an arrogance, there is a boasting, and there is a wickedness that is over the top.

We get so used to living in the air of just... Brethren, quite honestly, it can just be atheistic. It's where even we get to the place where we think about things and we leave God out. Now yes, it's very possible that the godliest person can say three sentences in a row without mentioning God or Christ.

But brethren, you've got to recognize this. James is talking about this man's words. And you know, if you listen to somebody's words and they tend to sound like this on a regular basis, our words speak.

Didn't somebody somewhere say, you will be justified by your words and you will be condemned by your words. And brethren, all you have to do is listen to somebody long enough. James is just shooting to the heart of the matter.

These words, they give you away. They say something about you. And I brought this up years ago in a message I believe from Ephesians.

I had come across this, praying Payson of Portland, Maine. I had his works. But because James is talking here about somebody who is talking about their business and going somewhere, Payson imagines basically all of us in this room.

He imagines us like picturing the solar system. And God, Christ, is the sun. And the rest of us are the planets.

And we all circle. We're in an orbit. Concentric circles.

But some of us are more like Venus. Some of us are more like Mercury. They're in there close.

Listen to what he says. Suppose professors of religion to be ranged in different concentric circles around Christ as their common center. Some value the presence of their Savior so highly that they cannot bear to be at any remove from Him.

And he specifically ties this to our work. Even their work, they will bring up and do it in the light of His countenance. So imagine that.

You've got a person that is living so close to Christ that all of your work you bring up to His countenance. He's in your mind. He's in the forefront of your mind.

You're thinking about Him all the time. Brethren, will that have an impact on the way you speak? And they bring it up and do it in the light of His countenance. And while engaged in it, will be seen constantly raising their eyes to Him as if fearful of losing one beam of His light.

Others, now we're moving out. This describes some of you. Others, who to be sure would not be content to live out of His presence, are yet less wholly absorbed by it than these.

You're more forgetful. You're not His conscience. Conscious.

And you may be seen a little further off. Engaged here and there in your various callings, your eyes generally upon your work, but often looking up for the light which they love. A third class beyond these, but yet within the life-giving rays, includes a doubtful multitude.

Isn't that interesting? He says you're within the life-giving rays, but it's a doubtful multitude. Many of whom are so much engaged in their worldly schemes that they may be seen standing sideways to Christ, looking mostly the other way. See, I think that this is exactly who James is dealing with.

James is dealing with the guy, the gal, who's living the Christian life and they're engaged in their things like this person. They have business. They're going to go somewhere.

But they're sideways to Christ. Looking mostly that way. And so God isn't in all their thoughts.

And so they can very easily talk. Well, you know what, I'm going to go do this. They make plans.

You know, we're supposed to acknowledge God in all of our ways and He's going to direct our path. But they're not acknowledging God. Well, they might be within the realm of these life-giving rays and so once in a while they look over here.

Only now and then turning their faces towards the light. And now He goes even further. Yet farther out amongst the last scattered rays.

So distant, it's often doubtful whether they come at all within the influence of those rays, is a mixed assemblage of busy ones. Some with their backs wholly turned upon the sun. And most of them so careful and troubled about their many things as to spare but little time for their Savior.

Concentric circles. And where are we at? And brethren, undoubtedly the way we speak says something about how much we're pointed to Christ and how much He's in our thoughts. And look at this.

Verse 14. Yet you do not know. Jesus says to these folks who plan ventures sideways and backwards, with God not in the thoughts.

No God thoughts. He says, you don't know. You're ignorant.

That's what it means to not know. You don't know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You're amiss.

They're ignorant about the way things really are when it comes to tomorrow, when it comes to life. They plan and plan and plan and they talk about their plans, but don't think right thoughts about tomorrow or about life or about themselves or about God. And the evidence they aren't thinking right about any of this is they're not acknowledging God in it.

God is the greatest reality. God is the greatest reality in whether my tomorrow is going to come to pass and the plans that I've made are going to be blessed of Him or not. He is involved in everything.

This is my Father's world. He is involved in every bit of ground that I tread upon, everywhere where I drive, all the roads. He upholds the whole thing.

He is constantly there, constantly involved, constantly watching. And these people... I mean, the first thing is this ignorance about tomorrow. Look at it.

You do not know what tomorrow will bring. And I can plan. I should plan.

But I don't know if God's going to allow my plans for tomorrow. I don't even know if I'm going to make it till tomorrow. I don't know.

A couple of the Proverbs say things like this. Proverbs 16.9, The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. Proverbs 19.21, Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

You see, to talk like the guy in James 4.13 talks, that is so presumptuous. That you just talk dogmatically, I'm going to go there and I'm going to profit. I'm going to make money.

I'm going to be better off. As though what? He's in control. And you hear people talk like that all the time in this world.

They tell you what they're going to do, what they're going to do, where they're going to go. And brethren, we can talk just the same. And like I say, Brethren, if we say something, but we have acknowledged God, we've prayed to the Lord, and God is very much in our thoughts, it just happens that in that sentence we don't mention Him.

Well, obviously that's one thing. But brethren, so often when our words lack reference to the Lord, and that's a habit, it's because He's absent in the mind. Brethren, the mind and the mouth are connected.

You can't get away from that. This person is so presumptuous. Now look, it doesn't mean when you declare something about tomorrow, it doesn't mean that God's people can't be led.

Because if I acknowledge the Lord in all of my ways, He's going to lead me. It doesn't mean that God doesn't come and indicate to me where He might want me to be tomorrow, and where He might not want me to go. It doesn't mean that.

I'm not going to rule that out. It doesn't mean I can't be led by God and have a strong sense of what God has for me in the future. Because Scripture likewise says this, Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

And so if I'm taking all my plans, and I'm constantly putting them under His gaze, and I'm wanting to make sure, Lord, I'm asking You to lead me, and here are the plans that I feel like from Scripture, from counsel, from Your providence in my life, from my own desires, here's what it feels like You're doing. I want it under His gaze. I want to be like the guy that's there at Mercury.

I want to stand in His presence, and I want to hold that out. Brethren, we obviously can be in that. But how is that person going to talk about tomorrow? Well, they're going to talk about how they believe God is leading them.

They're going to believe about how they believe God in His providence, God in His counsel. They're going to talk a lot about the Lord and how He's led, when there's just an absence. Brethren, that's bad.

Brethren, do you see James' point at the beginning of verse 14? It really matters. You see verse 14? You do not know what tomorrow will bring. It really matters whether or not you have a grasp of truth, Scriptural truth, so that it shapes the way you think about tomorrow.

That's obviously what he's after here. Your mindset about tomorrow matters. How you talk about tomorrow matters.

Where you fit God into your views about tomorrow matters. It matters to God if you stand sideways, or if you stand with your back towards Him. That matters.

And how you speak says everything about whether you stand sideways. You think God wants you standing sideways to Him, and mostly looking away, once in a while casting, and then sometimes even turning your back. And I'm talking in your thoughts.

I'm talking as you think about tomorrow, and you think about your plans, and what are you going to do as far as marriage, what are you going to do as far as houses, what are you going to do as far as where God wants to take you in life, your work, and whatever. Brethren, do you think God wants you sideways? He is the greatest reality. Brethren, the truth is that He has created us, and He saved us, for us to be communing with Him, and Him involved.

Brethren, do you recognize what we've fallen away from? Brethren, the truth is, we allow these atheistic tendencies to come in, where we basically think about life, and we think about plans, we think about our tomorrows, with God not in the equation. And then there's a second thing here. They're not only ignorant about their tomorrows, they're ignorant about life.

Look at James 4.14. There's a second thing here. What is your life? For your mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Okay, I'm a mist.

So I'm a vapor. So what? Do I stop making plans about next week, and next August, and next year, because of my mistiness? Because I'm just a vapor? Is that what I do? Do I just sit back, and wait for my little mist to just vanish away? How should I think? And brethren, when you really want that truth to control you, that we are a mist, you go through Scripture. Job.

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. Now you've probably, maybe you've seen it before, where they're moving that shuttle back and forth. They're weaving one strand after another.

We've got machines that do it. You watch how fast they work. Obviously in Job's day, it was all done by hand.

But he said, my days are swifter than that. He says, my life is a breath. Now you could think about the time it takes you to breathe, or you could think on a cold day, how long your breath, and then it's gone.

It's just a vapor. Swifter than a runner. That's what Job says also.

My days are swifter than... They flee away. The psalmist, my days are a few hand breaths. My lifetime is nothing before you.

A mere breath. A shadow. The psalmist again says, like a dream.

That's how our life is. Like grass. You know, the grass is here today, and it's gone tomorrow.

My days pass away like smoke. So you've got hand breaths. Swifter than weaver's shuttle.

Swifter than a runner. A mere breath. A shadow.

Grass. A dream. Smoke.

Obviously, God wants me to view the nature of my life. Because brethren, we don't. We tend to think we're going to live forever.

You are really certain about tomorrow. I can imagine that if you'd gone back to the men's retreat, Kevin was pretty certain that he'd have made it till today. Brethren, you think you're going to be alive tomorrow.

I know you're certain of that. And yet the truth is, God wants us to view your life and your time in the proper sense. The truth about the uncertainty of my life really matters.

It really ought to bear on the way I think and I act and I speak. Because brethren, we all know. We all know that if we only had one week to live and we knew it for a fact.

You've got a guy in death row. He knows he's going to be put to death. Well, he starts doing things in that last week.

And there are certain things he doesn't do. Why? Because he knows his time is very limited. But see brethren, we live like our time is not very limited.

One of the things that impressed upon me at the conference is I had a meal with Joel Beeky. And he was talking about the fact that he wished that every day had 36 hours. That he didn't even want to waste a minute.

And brethren, it was convicting. And that guy does so much at the age he is and the number of books he cranks out and all the things that he's doing. Brethren, we want to live in light and have a proper mindset in light of the reality of what our life is.

I need to see my life as short and fragile like Scripture says it is. And I need to see God as absolutely in control of my life that is so fragile. That he does what he wants.

He's in control. And brethren, God obviously created us to look at these things, these realities and speak accordingly. And what's obvious is that God didn't He didn't just create us and save us to do certain things and go certain places like this guy in 13 is talking.

He wants us to speak. He wants us to project by our words what the reality is in this world. He wants us to project by the attitudes behind those words.

The convictions you have. Brethren, you need to be convicted about this. My time is short.

Brethren, you only have so much time to live in light of that judgment day. If indeed what we heard about it came up in the prayer meeting today about Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19.

You know what it is. There's a bride. The bride is prepared for Christ.

It's the bride of the Lamb. And you know what? She is clothed in some beautiful linen. That pure linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

Brethren, our 30 fold, 60 fold, 100 fold you only have a little bit more time to pull that off. And your days can be cut short. Brethren, we don't know how much.

And this ought to impact us a bunch. We need to reflect this truth of how my tomorrows really are. It needs to be reflected in my attitudes and convictions that are behind my words.

And that we speak like we really believe this. Look at verse 15. Instead, you ought to say if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.

But you notice how the Lord gets brought in. There's no greater truth in the universe than that God is. And that this God has a will.

And God means for that reality about Himself to be realized by you and me to the extent that our mouths proclaim the reality of it all. Brethren, don't be afraid to say to lost people. You have a lost grandmother? You have a lost parent? You have a lost co-worker? God help you not be ashamed to say to them, well, if the Lord wills, I will do that.

That isn't just church talk. James is talking about how a guy speaks in all of life. This guy's not sitting around the church.

This guy's planning his business. When you're out there in the business world, when you're in the supermarket, you can include God. Brethren, you can talk about the fact that you might hope to do certain things if God allows that to happen.

Don't be afraid to talk that way. God's made us to work. Yes, He's made us to go to certain places and pull off certain things and perhaps even profit.

But more than that, He's made us to have thoughts and attitudes and words that proclaim that you see yourself, your life, your tomorrows according to truth. Brethren, it matters that you grasp the mistiness of your life and your plans and your tomorrows. Brethren, it matters that you see God big and you small.

Brethren, it matters that you not have these categories. Don't have a religious category and a secular category. Like you can float in here and you can say to one another, well, if God wills.

But you don't dare say that out there. Don't be like that. What is that? Brethren, it matters.

You want your words to reflect that you have a right view of things. You are a mist. We need to think that way and talk that way.

I might not make it back from Lebanon. I recognize that. I may not make it to there.

My airplane might be the next one to have a fire in the engine. Brethren, you don't know. You travel to Lebanon.

You see, brethren, sometimes we can think we're safe here. Oh yeah, he's in far more danger if he goes over there and there's all that. Brethren, we are invincible until God wills that we're not.

Don't think you're safe in your safe place. There is no place that you are safe and out of the reach of some calamity or some disease or whatever. People drop dead.

My uncle was at work. He simply stepped out of his truck and bang! Some aneurysm and he dropped dead on the spot. Brethren, that kind of stuff happens.

And you know what? The thing is no matter how far you run, how fast you run, and what kind of safety nets you put around you, death is going to get you. And brethren, we just need to live in light of that reality. Our time is short.

So brethren, proper mindset. If the Lord wills, you'll see your child grow up. If the Lord doesn't will, you won't.

If the Lord wills, you'll get married. If He doesn't, you won't. And brethren, look, God is in control.

And yes, back to the first message. If you're a child of God and you fear Him, then you don't have to fear His providence. And you don't have to fear the tomorrows.

But you just realize, I don't have very many of them. So God help me use them well. God help me to talk and have the right attitudes when it comes.

Brethren, do you think about it? The day is coming when your seat is going to be empty. Do you ever think about like a week after you're gone? The rest of the world is going to go on. I recognize when I die, the vast majority of you are probably going to outlive me.

The vast majority of you are younger than me. And I recognize a week after I'm gone, you're going to continue to drive and eat and drink and go to work just like we all did with Kevin gone. Life goes on.

And you know what? You get forgotten. Oh, you get remembered from time to time. But brethren, that's how it is.

And the length of my life, it's in God's control. He's already got it marked. I mean, we go out and we look at cemeteries and we see on the tombstone.

But God already knows. You have a birthday and you have a death day, which in another way is a birthday for the Christian. If you're not a Christian, it is a double death day.

It is a bad day for you. But He governs how many days I have. God holds sway over death and life.

This is the true view of life. It's the true view of God. So we need to let it shape our mindset.

That's what's lacking in verse 13. It doesn't seem to have an awareness of this. Paul said things like this, on taking leave of the Jews in the Ephesian synagogue, Paul said, I will return to you if God wills.

And he set sail from Ephesus. Another time to the Corinthians, he said, I will come to you soon if the Lord wills. If the Lord doesn't will, we won't.

Paul never knew from one day to the next whether he was going to make it, whether he would still be alive. And you know what? For Paul, to be absent from the body, present with the Lord, to be with Christ was far better. Didn't he say something like that? Brethren, God means for this truth to be known and spoken.

He means for it to be a part, some in substance of our conversation that we talk this way. A true view of His sovereign self, of His control. Brethren, we want to grasp that.

We want to love that. We want to embrace that reality. We want to keep that in the forefront of our minds and in the forefront of our words.

God means that reality to shape our thinking. And brethren, I would just say this, I notice how the psalmist, he liked to take the brevity of his life and actually use it to argue with the Lord towards receiving answers to his prayers. Listen to this, because you know what? If it's in the forefront of your mind how little time you have, you're really impacted by it, it will also be in the forefront of your mind when you go to God to pray.

And so you will pray like this, How long, O Lord, this is Psalm 89.46, How long, O Lord, will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my life is for what vanity you have created all the children of man. And then there's this, Psalm 102.2 Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me, answer me speedily in the day when I call, for my days pass away like smoke.

Brethren, I'll tell you this, when you go to God in prayer, if you're gripped by the fact of the mistiness of your life, just a vapor, just a smoke, Lord, listen, this is a great way to pray that God would move quick. Why? Because my life is going to be over quick. It's like, Lord, if you don't answer me now in the land of the living, and if you don't come in some kind of quick fashion, then my life here is going to be done.

And I won't be a recipient of the answered prayer. And brethren, God gets glorified when He answers our prayers. And then we boast about it.

We tell everybody how God has answered our prayers and how faithful He is to answer our prayers. But brethren, that is a good way to argue with Him because of the brevity of your life. So back to our text.

Look at v. 16. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

So you see this. Brethren, it's not just bad theology. And it's not just ignorance.

It's arrogance. And it's evil. When we simply say something like this, today or tomorrow, we'll go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.

That kind of God-forgetfulness is nothing other than exalting self in haughty arrogance and it dishonors the Lord. It's arrogant not to believe in your mind and confess with your lips that ultimately God governs all of my ways and how long I live and what I'm going to accomplish. And so the idea here is, brethren, don't boast.

It's so presumptuous to talk this way. One of the Proverbs says, do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring. So, here at the end, I just ask this.

How do I get the kind of mindset that's so saturated with God that I have the certain kind of attitudes and convictions that get portrayed in my words? How do I have a mind that is so full? Brethren, what we want to do is, how do I deliver myself from atheism? How do I get to the place where God is in all my thoughts? Like everything. Brethren, that's where we want to be. In everything we recognize that God has the preeminent place in all my thoughts, anything that I could think about, that there needs to be a regard for Him.

How do I get a mindset that is saturated that way? I want my thoughts about tomorrow and life and everything else. God right here at the forefront. He's constantly there.

How? Well, Ephesians 4.23. Paul tells us, be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Be renewed. Spirit, small s, of your mind.

That's what he tells us. Renewal. Renew.

That suggests that there's been a departure. Brethren, you can be certain of this. Adam and Eve before the fall, their minds, God was in everything.

When they looked at the trees, they looked at the fruit, they looked at the creation, God was there. This is my Father's world. They saw God in everything.

Everywhere. Renew. Renew.

Re. Again. We've got to get back to somewhere we were at one time.

We've got to get back there again. Something that's been lost. Do you recognize what was lost? When they went out of that garden, and now all of a sudden, they're children of the devil.

They're dead in trespasses and sins. What happens in the mind? Oh, suddenly there's a darkness that creeps in. And Romans 1 says, man begins to suppress what can be known about.

He doesn't want God in his mind anymore. And he begins to suppress it and kick it out. Renew.

I need to be brought back to where man once was. And that verb, it's a continuous present. You've got to do it all the time.

Brethren, this is a fight. On a daily basis, you've got to fight to have a God consciousness. That's it.

Not something that happens once and for all, and that's the end. The other classic text is this, Romans 12. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

Now, not only do we talk about continuous present action is necessary. That verb, it's a passive imperative. What does imperative mean? What's imperative mean? It's a command.

I am commanded to do something that I need to be passive in. Don't you love that? Don't you love verbs like that? Listen, we use them all the time. Often times when you have a passive imperative, you get the word let.

Like if I said this to you, it's an imperative, let me fix your car. See, I've just commanded you to do something that actually I'm going to do for you. You're passive in it.

But you're commanded to do it. Well, that's what happens in this renewal of the mind. That's exactly the kind of verb that it is.

How does that happen? How do I obey a command I'm not even supposed to be actively involved with performing? Well, I need to recognize this. I've got to let God do this. We don't like to talk that way about letting God.

But that's the idea. Anytime you get something, what you have to recognize is this. My mind, your mind is the workmanship of God.

What we want to do is be in a place where we are inviting God to come in and make the changes in our mind. That's the idea here. That's what this is all about.

You don't want to resist this. It's got to be something that you're striving to let happen. You're striving to let God work in all of the ways that He works.

Listen, there are some people whose minds are far more centered on Him. It's just like Peyton said. It's like some are much closer in their eyes.

They hardly want to take their eyes off of Christ versus the guy that's halfway. He's kind of turned sideways. We've got sideways Christians in here, there's no doubt.

And there are some much closer whose eyes are there all the time. What's the difference? And what do we make of the difference? In the end, don't we say that, listen, I can do nothing without Christ. Christ, His power, what the Spirit pulls off.

Brethren, I need God to work on me. And what we don't want to do is in any way resist this. We don't want to fight this.

How do I get my mind? This is something I've got to strive to let happen. Although it's done to me, the obvious implication is that I'm not without responsibility. There is something that I've got to be careful that I don't in any way frustrate God from doing in me what God does.

Just the sanctification of the brain. I don't want to frustrate that. The truth is you can encourage this.

You can discourage this. Renew. Renew.

It's like re-novate. Renovate. Refresh.

Revive. Revamp. It's got to be made new again.

Suggesting that my mind has a tendency to depart from where it's meant to be. And our fundamental way of thinking and reasoning, brethren, has become atheistic. It's become distorted by nature.

Just leave God out of your thoughts. When the mind and understanding are crooked, the whole man is crooked. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

That's how he is. And the tragedy for any of us Christians is when our mind goes wrong. So have this done to you.

Allow this to happen to you. So what can we do? Well, the first thing that I would say to you is you can get saved. One of the problems is, and again, it's like Payson said, you've got people that are on the outskirts of these rays whose back, and they're doubtful whether they're even in there or not.

Brethren, one of the things is, we used to sing this song a whole lot more down at CBC, but Christless Eyes. There's a song we have that speaks about Christless Eyes. Christless Eyes can see, but they simply can't see like the Christian can see.

They can see the green grass. They can see the blue sky. They see their work situation.

They see money. They see tomorrow. But the Christian, he suddenly has his eyes opened.

I remember this when I first got saved. Looking at trees. The sweeter blue is what the song talks about.

I would look at leaves and the trees, and it was like everything just spoke to me. This is my Father's world. He's in it all.

The rocks and the trees and the birds as they sing. And all of it, He's there. Christless Eyes can see the same sunset, but suddenly you get saved.

It's like, oh, the Lord is incredible. You could see that when you were lost. You didn't see that mountain range the same or the ocean the same.

You go out and stare at the stars at night. When you think of God speaking that into existence by a word, you're just like, wow, the handiwork of God, this is over the top. And you see, we have senses to perceive what the lost guy can't perceive.

That's what I say. Get saved. Saved people see souls differently and they see eternity differently and they see and feel the preciousness of Christ differently.

And you know what? They see tomorrow differently. Because suddenly they see tomorrow. They see time.

The lost guy just goes through life thinking, I'm not going to die today. Oh, I'll die sometime. And I hope I'm good enough.

Suddenly the Christian sees things. We just see things. Brethren, we just don't show up at church and put on the proper outward look.

The reality about the true Christian is the mind is changed. There's knowledge. There's been an intelligent change in the way we think and we see things.

It all works to make us talk different. Change the inside and what comes out of the mouth and on the outside. So that's a thing.

You can get saved. Or, you can just heed what Paul says. Christian, set your minds on things that are above.

You set your mind there and you get all your thoughts there, then you'll talk that way. One of the reasons you don't talk that way as much as James would have us talk that way and the God who inspired James is because, brethren, we can so soak up the world that we encourage atheistic tendencies to push God out, to push Him out of the thoughts. You just sit there and watch TV that is godless.

You just interact with people on social media that are godless. Even if they're professing Christians that are just argumentative, the whole thing is ugly and horrible, just immerse yourself in that. Brethren, set your minds on things above.

Heavenly things, higher things, kingdom things, Christ things, God things. It's a great error to believe that you don't have the ability to control where you set your mind. That is an error, folks.

You say, I can't help what I think about. You certainly can. You can influence what you dream about.

Set your mind. It's just like I can use the muscles in my arm to set that pen right there. Paul believes, and the Spirit of God behind him is telling you, you have the ability to set the muscles of that brain of yours where you want to set them.

You've got that ability. You can do that. You can place them there.

Brethren, don't fill your head full of ungodly stuff. Brethren, have you ever noticed the Spirit works in the atmosphere of Scripture? Someone has said, you're already clean because of the Word that I have spoken to you. Have you ever read the washing of the water of the Word? It's got a way of washing the mind.

Brethren, this isn't rocket science. When you basically sum up your week and the number of hours in that week, you have just as many as I do. We have just as many as the Puritans had.

If you spend how much ever percentage of that with ungodly people, with a mind wrapped up in social media, stuff on the internet, if you absorb that, the world, ungodly songs, you just absorb that, absorb that, absorb that, and then you can lightly and flippantly not be in your Bible for a day, two, three. Jesus said, you prove to be His disciples if His Word abides in you. Brethren, this is no small thing.

The Word of God is living, it's active, and you need to clean your mind with it. Let it act on you. But you can't let it do its work and the Spirit taking it.

You can't let God do that if you aren't putting it in there. If you're not exposing yourself to it. So that you view every tomorrow and the brevity of life through the lens of God, through the lens of truth of His Word.

Brethren, so that you can see God's sovereign hand in all of it. Brethren, what you want to do is engage in Bible study. Listen to sermons.

Read Christian literature that glorifies God. Read the best stuff. You've got to meditate.

Meditation is a huge thing. You can't just be on the fly. Everything is so short.

Everything you give to God is so little. It's so brief. Brethren, God has saved us to commune with Him, to walk with Him, to be His people, for Him to be a real presence in our life.

Brethren, He saved us. There we have the Word that He's given to us. Brethren, if you start thinking Bible ways, then you know what happens when you start thinking about today or tomorrow, what am I going to do? You get so absorbed.

You live out there in Mercury or Venus and you're so taken up by Him. You start thinking about today and tomorrow. Well, you already got your eyes on Him.

How is He going to fit in there? If I start thinking about taking a trip, well, I'm going to take a trip to do something for the Lord. If I think about making money, I'm going to make money for the Lord. Suddenly, He's the center of all of it.

And it will reflect in the way you talk. You don't just come along and say, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that and I'm going to get rich and I'm going to do this other thing, and you just leave God out of the equation altogether. Be mindful, brethren.

Be mindful of worldly stuff. Fight against that. Don't let that in there.

Brethren, just spend time. You've got to meditate. This has to be something that you give yourself to just chewing on in the mind.

You've got to think about His Word. You've got to unpack it. You've got to get down to the meaning of it.

You want to think about the glory and the beauty and the power of the Almighty and just resist the distractions. Brethren, there is a natural tendency to suppress. That's what lost man does.

And we still carry around the flesh. And so there is a fleshly tendency to still want to suppress. You've got to fight it.

And we've got the ability to fight it. God's given us His Spirit. We're regenerated.

We're new creations. Brethren, you've got the ability. Unless you lack the Spirit, then maybe you have an excuse.

But Christian, you don't lack the Spirit. If you do, you're none of His. So brethren, we've got to seek to replace those worldly minds of thinking and those atheistic ways of thinking with thoughts and affections that are directed toward God.

You've got to make holy thinking and meditation just a habit, a priority. Spend the necessary time walking with God and talking with God and getting Him in your thoughts. You've got to spend the necessary time just loving God.

Brethren, when He's the love of your life, when you really love something, it's very hard to make plans about what I'm going to do today or tomorrow and where I'm going to go and travel to such and such a town and I'm going to do such and such business. You can't even be thinking about that unless you're trying to fit in who's the greatest love in your life. Well, yes, if you love money more, then of course you're going to think that way.

Brethren, what we want is all this to be so real up here that when we open our mouths and we start talking, we don't sound like the guy in v. 13. We sound like the guy in v. 15. That's what all of this is about.

Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. That's the context, folks. Father, I pray that You would help us to really have a God-saturated mind, a God-consciousness, Lord, to be like those people in Payson's concentric circles that are in the innermost circles.

Lord, help us to fight for that, not to be these sideways people or these backwards people. Lord, we don't want to be sideways backwards. We don't want that to be the testimony written in our tombstone.

Here's the sideways guy. Lord, help us. Help me.

I pray in Christ's name, Amen.