Hindrances to Meditation, Part 2

Review: The Way of Blessedness Requires Meditation

0:00 We continue our studies in this very basic portion of the Word of God, which sets before us the way of blessedness under the description of a blessed man. Blessedness being that quality binding together such thoughts as biblical happiness, fulfillment, enrichment, a very difficult word to define or describe in the English. The word our Lord used, of course, in the Beatitudes, describing the blessed person under those eight characteristics commonly called the Beatitudes. And here in the first psalm, we have the will of blessedness set

0:48 forth in this description of the blessed man, what he is, what he does, what he does not do. and in being this kind of person in doing what he does and refusing to do what he refuses he experiences true scriptural blessedness and as we've said from week to week all men by nature are seeking blessedness but they do not find it because they seek it in a way that is contrary to the revealed will of God and no true blessedness comes to any man or any woman except it comes in the way described in the first psalm. We are introduced in verse 1 with the negative. The blessed man is one who walks not in the counsel or the advice of the ungodly. He does not stand in the way of sinners,

1:39 nor does he sit in the seat of the scornful. No man will be a blessed man who does not know something of the negatives of blessedness. You can't go wholly positive. There are these negatives, and the psalmist begins with the negative description, the blessed man refuses to shape and mold his life according to the dictates of the ungodly. He refuses to sympathetically stand in that course of action of rebel sinners who disregard the law of God. He refuses to put himself in that seat of the scornful, that is, to set himself up as a judge of the mind of God, as revealed in Holy Scripture, but rather he comes with childlike teachableness

2:25 and brings his mind to be taught of God. He fears the way of ungodly sinners, for he knows it's a way of destruction, and he's convinced that the counsel of ungodliness can only be given as it is shaped and molded by the presuppositions of the ungodly, and he knows that no blessedness can come therein. Now we have been several weeks on the positive side, set forth in verse 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3:01 We spent one whole study considering what it means to delight in the law of the Lord. For the meditating is the fruit of the delighted. His delight being found in the law of the Lord, he then meditates in that law day and night. And the main principle that I trust you retain from our study of the first part of verse 2 is this.

3:23 We delight in something that is agreeable to our nature. A bird delights in the air because a bird is made for the air. A fish delights in the water because a fish is made for the water. And so the blessed man is a man who, because the Spirit of God has regenerated him, given him new life, the very life of God, He has this affinity for the Word of God.

3:47 For by nature, Romans 8, 7 declares, His disposition is absolute enmity to God and to His holy law. But when God has quickened him and given him life, has taken out the heart of stone and given him a heart of flesh and written his laws upon his heart, then he delights in that law of the Lord. For in that law he sees his Lord. In that law he reads the mind of his Lord.

4:12 and like a lover delights to study the picture which is a representation of the beloved, so the child of God, this blessed man, delights in the law of God, for herein is pictured his God, and he traces out the lines of his face, and he finds the expression of his mind. Then, delighting in the law, we saw last week, he meditates in that law day and night. And we tried to answer several very basic questions. What does it mean to meditate?

4:46 And the word here is translated elsewhere, mumble. It's the picture of someone concentrating to memorize something, and he's mumbling it over and over again, muttering the word of God. This is why God said to Joshua, This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. Not out of thy mind, but out of thy mouth.

5:09 but thou shalt mumble, mutter therein, day and night. So meditation, according to the very word used here and then the other word used throughout the Old Testament and in many places in the Psalms, means to talk with oneself silently, but the thought of intense mental activity. Meditation is not sitting on a stone out in the middle of a lake somewhere, shifting the mind into neutral and letting thoughts just come as the birds fly through the air. There is conscious, deliberate, many times arduous mental activity involved in muttering, in meditating in the law of the Lord.

5:53 When is the proper time to meditate? Day and night. Whenever the mind is free from legitimate tasks, it should turn to ruminating in, turning over, letting the mind be marinated in the word of the Lord. Now, tonight, I want us to consider, as I announced this morning, at least to begin to consider, some of the hindrances to meditation and how to overcome them.

6:19 For if this passage is true, and it is, that the blessed man is one who meditates in the law of God day and night, we may write it down as an absolute truth, that the person who does not learn the art of meditation will not be blessed. and I am convinced that with all of the sermon hearing that most of us do and with all of the truth to which many of us are exposed one of the reasons why there is this tremendous input of divine truth and such a little trickle of output of practical godliness is because there is a breakdown in the realm of meditation. For you remember last week we tried to focus upon the whole function of meditation by the analogy of the human body.

7:07 Meditation is to the soul what the stomach is to the functions of the body. It's in the stomach that the raw materials for nourishment and strength are broken down and made absorbable for the rest of the human constitution. Cut out the function of the stomach and you can take in all the foods you want. It won't be long before you die.

7:30 because it's not food taken in the raw that nourishes. It's food broken down and then subsequently assimilated. And those processes that go on in the stomach are a beautiful analogy in the realm of the physical to that which occurs in the spiritual with meditation. Here's all this food coming in.

7:55 Sermon after sermon, twice on Sunday, many of you, reading the scriptures privately, listening to tapes, listening to WFME, all this truth coming in. But how much real output is there in practical godliness, conformity to Christ, zealous service in the kingdom of Christ? You see, the problem may be that there is malfunction of the stomach. There is not that breaking down of that truth so that it can be assimilated into life.

8:24 This is the peculiar function of meditation. If that's so, and I believe those who are here were convinced after an hour and five minutes of study on this, that it is so in the light of Scripture, then we must learn to conquer and hurdle every obstacle that will stand in the way to us having good functioning spiritual stomachs. We must learn the art of meditation, and we must learn it at any cost. and so tonight I want us to focus on this problem hindrances to meditation and how to overcome them and I believe being realistic that we'll only get to the first of these hindrances which is probably the greatest and it's what I'm calling the indisposition of the flesh

The Irreconcilable Warfare: Flesh Against Spirit

9:12 now I'm using that word not because I'm trying to make scholars out of you and put big words in your vocabulary but because I don't know the better word Now I'll explain what it is. When you are indisposed to something, you are not inclined toward it. There is an aversion toward it. And the greatest hindrance to us becoming those people who meditate in the law of God day and night is this indisposition, this aversion of the flesh to the duty and privilege of meditation.

9:49 Now to set this study in a scriptural context, I want us to turn to Galatians chapter 5, and then we shall be looking at a verse in Romans chapter 7. Galatians chapter 5. And I might add that I'm very much indebted in the unfolding of these matters tonight to John Owen, one of those dusty old Puritans whom people feel have nothing to say to us in the 20th century. And some months ago, as I was working through Volume 6 of the reprinted works of Owen, my own life was so greatly helped by some of the insights of Owen that I'm passing them on to you tonight.

10:32 I trust digested at least in little measure by my own experience and my own understanding. Galatians chapter 5, verses 15 and, I'm sorry, 16 and 17, particularly a phrase out of verse 17. This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.

11:06 And these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. Here's the phrase. The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other. Now Paul is using present tenses here.

11:27 He's speaking of a conflict that is as contemporary as the breath that he breathes into his own lungs. And he says there is this tremendous conflict between that which he calls on the one hand the flesh and on the other hand the spirit. Keep that in mind as we turn to read several phrases from Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7 and verse 21.

11:55 In this context, he's been unfolding again this concept of the conflict, even though he's a regenerate man. He's been born of the Spirit. He delights in the law of God with his inward man. Verse 22, he loves the holy law of God.

12:17 His confession is, verse 21, I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me. When I would set myself to do that which is good, my mind delighting in it, as he says in verse 22, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. The renewed me, Paul, delighting to do that which is good in the sight of God because it is according to the revealed will of God. When I would do good, at that point I am particularly conscious of another principle that would fight against me.

12:59 When I would do good, evil is present with me, particularly at that point that I would exert myself in the direction of good Now can you put those two concepts together For they simply describing the same thing in little different terms The flesh is lusting against the spirit The spirit lusting, warring against the flesh. These two contrary the one to the other. When I would do good, evil is present with me. Present to do what? To oppose the good that I would attempt to do, to hinder me in that good which I would seek to perform.

13:37 So if these passages teach anything, they clearly teach that there is an irreconcilable warfare between this principle called the flesh and between the spirit. Now prior to the quickening work of the Spirit of God in regeneration, if you are a person with all you had by virtue of your natural birth, the flesh reigns and dominates in your life. Jesus said to Nicodemus, with all of his culture and religious background and privilege, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. It may be educated flesh, religious flesh, moral flesh, but it's flesh. Flesh reigns and dominates. The

14:23 principle of fallen nature is the dominating reigning factor in everyone who is not born of the Spirit. But when a man or woman is quickened to new life by the Holy Spirit and is brought to repentance and faith, the flesh is basically dethroned, deposed as a reigning principle. Romans 8, 9, ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. So if you're a Christian tonight, Galatians 5, 24 and Romans 8, 9 is true of you.

14:59 They that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and the lust thereof. But though the flesh is basically crucified and deposed, it is not completely removed. There is the remaining corruption, as the old writers called it, and I think it's a very graphic and accurate term. there is the problem of indwelling sin.

15:23 This thing that Paul says, though I have been basically transformed from a rebel who hated the law of God to a subject of King Jesus who loves His law, when I would do good in carrying out the principle of that new life, I find another law. There is conflict. There is this battle. There is this warfare within.

15:45 Now every true child of God knows exactly what I'm talking about. I don't need to enlarge any further. If you're sitting there scratching your head inwardly, if not outwardly, saying, What in the world is the preacher talking about? I fear that you're probably a stranger to the grace of God.

16:04 For everyone who's experienced the grace of God to his own shame and pain, he knows precisely what I'm talking about as I quote these verses. that sense of conflict that you never knew before. You see, a Christian is known not only by the new joys that he gets in forgiveness, as Bill mentioned tonight, but he's known by the new conflicts with which he's involved in carrying out the principles of his new life. Before he's regenerate, he's content to be moral, if that's his goal, to be thought of as a moral man.

16:38 He doesn't care about his thoughts. He doesn't care about coldness to God. He doesn't care about having a heart that doesn't respond in prayer and praise. But that man, when he's quickened by the Holy Spirit, and he comes into vital communion with the living God, and he comes to church, he's not content to simply sit there and move his mouth like some kind of a religious parrot.

17:00 And if he's singing a hymn like we sang tonight, majestic sweetness sits enthroned, and he finds that in his mind he knows he ought to be carried out in praise to Christ, but his heart feels like a lump of lead, he has conflict right there in the church service. Do be disturbed that he doesn't love Christ as he knows he ought to. Now, if you don't know anything about that, my friend, you know nothing of grace. If you're a stranger to that kind of inward conflict that touches spiritual issues,

17:34 it has nothing to do with whether or not you go to the shows and suck on cigarettes or anything else. Just take all that business and clear it all out.

17:43 The real issue is here. Are you conscious that when you would do good, evil is present? Are you conscious that the flesh is lusting against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh? Now, the more purely spiritual an activity is, the more violent is the aversion and opposition of the flesh.

18:07 now we had a good ball game at our picnic yesterday any of you fellas were you conscious of the flesh lusting against the spirit when you were playing ball anybody conscious of spiritual conflict no some of us were conscious that there are a few more muscles that we forgot we had when we got out there and tried to play like little boys some of you girls ladies But you weren't conscious of spiritual conflict, were you? I wasn't, were you? Any of you conscious of spiritual conflict? Why?

18:43 The two principles are there.

18:49 Indwelling, remaining corruption was just as much there in you on the ball field as it is here tonight. But now if you came home from the picnic and tried to get on your knees and have a little time of prayer before you went to bed, will your conscious then with this principle oh I'm so tired well tomorrow is the Lord's Day and I'll get a good nap and I'll pray tomorrow you know you see you go to pray and suddenly you enter the arena of conflict some conflict listening to sermons more conflict when you say I'm going to go home and think about what I heard and I'm not going to go to bed until I know that what I heard tonight touches me in some specific areas of my life. I'm going to meditate. I'm going to put my spiritual stomach into operation.

19:37 I'm going to break down the sermon to the place where it can be assimilated into my life. Then you'll be really conscious of conflict. The more spiritual the activity, the more violent is this indisposition of the flesh. Now, having, I trust, established this first principle, that this indisposition of the flesh is a principle that touches us at every stage, let's apply it now particularly in the realm of how it opposes meditation.

How the Flesh Wars: Alliance of Physical and Spiritual Flesh

20:12 If we are to be blessed men and women, we must be men and women who meditate in the law of God day and night. For that's the only way of blessedness set forth in Scripture. well how then does this aversion this indisposition of the flesh oppose us in the holy art of meditation may I suggest three or four ways in which it operates number one it operates in the realm of the weariness of the physical flesh there is a beautiful or perhaps I should say tragic example of this in Matthew chapter 26 Here our Lord is grappling with the Prince of Darkness himself as he enters Gethsemane.

21:02 And in this particular trial, he, as a true man, for remember, he was not only God of God, but man of man. And as a true man, he wanted the sustaining influence and strengthening influence of his brethren, of his disciples, to stand with him in this hour of conflict. And so he says, watch with me while I go and pray yonder. And you remember how our Lord came back and found them sleeping, awoke them, urged them to pray, went away, came back, found them sleeping again.

21:39 Same thing happened three times. But the words that are of particular interest to us tonight are Matthew 26 and verse 41. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

21:59 Now flesh here is not that principle of remaining corruption, but it's speaking of the mortal body. but the flesh, the human constitution is weak. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. But now the problem is this.

22:14 There is an alliance or a compliance between sinful, spiritual flesh, the flesh lusting against the spirit, and physical flesh. These two line up and form a conspiracy against the ongoings of the spirit in the life of a believer. that's why a Christian longs for deliverance from this present body he doesn't look upon it as sinful in itself he doesn't look upon his appetite for food and other legitimate physical needs as sinful in themselves but he recognizes that this body has sort of signed a treaty with the powers of darkness and sin and becomes so often the vehicle through which sin defiles the light That's why Paul says in Romans chapter 6,

23:03 don't yield the members of your body as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. That's why he says in 2 Corinthians 5, we that are in this tabernacle, this body do groan, being what? Being burdened, longing to put off this body and to take up that one that's prepared by God. That's paraphrasing 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

23:27 So there is this alliance between physical flesh and sinful spiritual flesh which wars against the purposes of the Spirit within us. Let me illustrate how practical this is. You come home at night weary from the long day of work, or you wives from chasing the kids and chasing dirt around the house and chasing food into the pots and pans and then the remains out of the pots and pans and all of the rest. and you've got a few minutes to relax.

24:00 And so the suggestion comes, well, maybe you ought to just pick up the Word of God and catch a phrase of Scripture, fix it in your mind, so that as you go off for the remaining duties of the evening, you can be mumbling the Word of God. What happens? There's this weariness of the flesh that comes as, oh, that's an insult to God, to read the Word with that kind of a dull mind. So you pick up the newspaper, And isn't it strange how suddenly the mind becomes alert?

24:29 You can follow the headlines very easily. You can follow the funny paper and the particular columns that you follow with interest, with great avidness. No realiness! How come?

24:40 How come?

24:42 Beloved, there's no explanation for this but the indisposition of the flesh to that which is a spiritual activity. And unless you and I recognize it as such, so that we can deal with it mercilessly and brutally as such, we're going to go down in defeat again and again and again in this area of failing to meditate in the Word of God day and night. There's this indisposition of the flesh, and it crops out in this area of the weariness of the flesh. Secondly, it'll crop up under a very pious guise we might call the call to other duties.

Manifestation 1: Weariness of the Flesh

25:19 Now, a Christian is concerned with his duties, is he not? He is a man concerned to do whatever his hand finds to do with all of his might is unto the Lord. So how does the flesh war against the spirit in this activity of meditation? Well, when you snatch a few minutes to get your mind unraveled and quiet, to fix it upon a thought of God and his holy word that you might mumble therein, meditate therein, immediately the mind is filled with all these duties that must be performed.

25:50 Well, it's certainly not honoring to God to sit down and meditate on the Word of God with dishes piled in the sink. Certainly not honoring to God to sit down and meditate with grass that looks like a jungle out front of the house. I just must get out and mow that lawn and certainly be far better to do that while the sun is not so high, so I won't be quite as weary, and then this afternoon in the hot hours I can sit in the quiet of my room and read the Word. You know how it goes.

26:16 All of the arguments of the flesh for what Other duties that must be performed Is it a duty to meditate Ah yes but it also my duty to do this and to do that And so the flesh manifests its warring by reminding us of other duties. Have you experienced this? Maybe you've not recognized it for what it was. We're going to come back to how to deal with these things.

Manifestation 2: The Call of Other Duties

26:41 First of all, I want to point them out and then see if the Word of God speaks to the issues. The third way, that this indisposition of the flesh will reveal itself with regard to the duty and privilege of meditation.

Manifestation 3: Suggesting Substitute Spiritual Activities

26:54 Weariness of the flesh, call to other duties. Thirdly, in suggesting that other spiritual exercises are an adequate substitute.

27:06 Oh, how subtle the flesh is in its drawing us aside from the duty of meditation. You go home tonight determined to spend a little time to meditate in what you've heard and what will happen. The flesh will say, well, that's really not necessary because you've been to church twice today and with Sunday school three times.

27:24 I mean, really, enough's enough, isn't it? I mean, you've heard enough to really help anybody. So maybe, so you won't be ignorant of what's going on in the world, you ought to just turn on the radio and catch the news instead. Or turn on your TV and get the 11 o'clock news.

27:41 I mean, really, it's not honoring to God for Christians to be ignorant, is it? And certainly, if you're going to witness to people, you've got to be abreast of what's going on. And on and on it goes. You see, a lot of you are smiling.

27:51 You say, hey, somebody's telling you the same lie as they've been telling me. That's the working of your flesh. The working of my flesh. I haven't gone around taking a survey.

28:02 I haven't read this out of a book. You just keep a notebook on your own heart, and it'll be amazing how close your notes will line up. with a notebook somebody else keeps on his side. That's this indisposition of the flesh, you see, suggesting that other exercises can adequately substitute for the omitting of the duty of meditation.

Manifestation 4: Promises of a More Convenient Season

28:24 The fourth way, this will be the last that I'll suggest tonight,

28:29 the flesh will manifest itself in warring against the spirit in this particular area by giving promises of more diligence in that duty at a more convenient time. Remember what Felix said to Paul? He didn't say, now Paul, look, this whole business of conversion and getting right with God and judgment in the world to come, that's all just a lot of hot air. Forget it.

28:53 I don't want to clutter my mind with it. Oh no. That would have been too gross a rejection. What did he say?

29:01 Well, this is what he said to Paul. Go thy way for this time and when I have a more convenient season, I will call for thee. Oh yes, Paul, I'm convinced that thinking about righteousness and judgment in the world to come in spiritual matters is terribly important. Why, Paul, anyone with any sense knows that's very, very important.

29:22 But when I'm a little bit less cluttered with the matters of administrating my official responsibilities, when I'm a little less encumbered with my domestic past, you see, I've got some family problems right now, Paul, and I've got some personal problems and I've got some kingdom problems and as soon as these are resolved and I can really think seriously upon the things you're talking about at a more convenient season.

29:49 A more convenient season. Well, you know as well as I do, manana never comes. It's always manana.

29:57 And how often does this happen to us? Get up in the morning and the first thought is, if I'm to meditate in the Word of God day and night today, I must take a few minutes to fix the Word of God in my mind. But then, with all these duties calling for me, it wouldn't be right to go and spend this time with a mind caught it up. So, as soon as these duties get done, a more convenient season will be there.

30:22 Then I will expose myself to the Word. Then I'll be able to meditate. There are those few minutes, only a few, at this time of the day, at that time of the day. And it's this warfare, you see, between that which is going to turn the mind to the things of God and that which is going to keep them enmeshed.

30:40 And how often the warfare of the flesh against the spirit is revealed in this matter of giving promises of more diligence in that duty at a more convenient time. No, I must not take time to fix the word of God in my mind so that I might meditate in the a.m. too short a time.

30:59 So by the p.m., well, too weary. Not at midday, because, well, you give the reasons that your heart tells you.

31:10 Now, what are these things? All of them are manifestations of this one general principle, when I would do good, evil is present with me. The flesh lusting against the spirit. Now, how are we to deal with it?

Remedy: Recognize These as Mortal Enemies

31:25 I want to be intensely practical. for with all my heart I want to be a blessed man and I want you to be blessed men and women. And this psalm says, blessed is that man or woman who meditates in the law of God day and night. Clearly teaching, unblessed is that person who does not meditate in the law of God.

31:48 How are we going to deal with these problems that we've discussed? Well, I think scripture gives us some clear guidelines. for that first manifestation of the flesh and its indisposition to meditation, the weariness of physical flesh, what are we going to do? What about the second, the third, the fourth?

32:08 What are we going to do? Well, let me suggest several things tonight from the Word of God. Number one, recognize these things for what they are. The lusting of the flesh against the spirit.

32:23 As long as you are deceived And as long as I am deceived into considering these things as legitimate reasons to forego the duty of meditation, we're undone. For you don't deal mercilessly with that which is reasonable and right and legitimate.

32:43 If you're convinced that the man who comes to your door has come on a legitimate errand of mercy, or he's come to sell you something and you're not particularly hostile to salesmen, you'll admit him. But if you're convinced he's come to that door for no other purpose but to gain an entrance in order to pick your pocket or to shoot you or to harm you, you'll do all within your power to bar the door against him. And if we look upon these things, the weariness of the flesh, the call to other duties, the suggestion that other exercises are an adequate substitute, if we listen to these promises of more diligence at a more convenient time, if we look upon those things as legitimate visitors and welcome them in, we'll do so at the jeopardy of our own spiritual lives.

33:31 We must recognize that they are our mortal enemies, and that the flesh, when it manifests itself in these four ways, is out to do one thing and one thing only, utterly kill and slay the life of God within us. Now, thank God it cannot do this. God has purposed that the grace of God shall triumph in his children. But scripture and human experience both unite to testify that the operations of grace can come down to a pretty small trickle so that the river of grace that once flowed is like that stream back there in the days of Israel by which Elijah the prophet sat.

34:12 And day after day he saw it drying up and drying up and drying up. And some of us have seen the streams of grace within our own bosoms become but a little trickle. Why? One of the reasons is we have failed to recognize these things for what they are.

34:31 We must, this is the first principle, recognize them for what they are. Paul did. He tells us that he was not ignorant of the devices of the enemy, of the devil, and it's obvious that he was not ignorant of the ways of the flesh. Then, secondly, combat them with scriptural perspective and scriptural weapon.

Combating Each Manifestation with Scripture

34:58 How are you going to combat these fair arguments of the flesh? Let's deal with them in order very briefly. How are you going to deal with this matter of the weariness of the flesh?

35:13 When you would set yourself and your mind to those things which will assist in the realm of meditation or any purely spiritual exercise, there is that weariness of the flesh. How do you deal with the weariness of the flesh? Well, Scripture gives us some very clear directives. 2 Timothy chapter 2, Thou therefore endureth hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

35:36 when a soldier's in a battle and he knows that his life and the lives of his fellow soldiers are at stake he doesn't throw down the gun take his helmet off and make a pillow of it in the middle of the battlefield simply because a little weariness has seized his flesh some of you have seen some of the very graphic pictures in our popular periodicals of some of our boys in Vietnam who sometimes have been on duty around the clock day in and day out and they're baffled weary and their faces are lying but none of them would be so foolish to say well I'm weary not too much is at stake throw down his rifle in the middle of a conflict and use his helmet for a pillow it won't be long

36:21 before he'll be pillared away for good and so the scriptural directive when there is this weariness of the flesh and our Lord clearly indicated this to the disciples he knew they were weary this was the middle of the night probably getting on towards what we call early morning. And yet he said, Rise and pray. Stir yourself up. I know that you've lost sleep.

36:45 I've lost sleep. But tremendous issues are at stake. And if you'd only be aware of the realm of the spiritual conflict, you would discipline yourself and buffet your body. And that's the other passage, 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

36:58 a passage, one of the passages which was used of God to keep me from falling prey to the kind of teaching that the Christian life has as its secret rely and relax all you do is just somehow in one big push give yourself over to the Lord and shift into neutral and the Lord will just as it were live through you there won't be conscious struggle conscious effort here's one of the passages that God used again and again to say something's wrong here that's not the whole story That's part of the story, but it's not the whole story. Listen to what he says in verse 25 of 1 Corinthians 9. And every man that striveth for the mastery that is, who strives to excel, exceed, to win, is temperate, self-controlled in all things.

37:45 Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight high, not as one that beateth the air. but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. The original is extremely strong here.

38:02 If I were translating it literally, I would say this. I buffet my body to black and blue, lest by any means when I have preached to others I myself should be a castaway. Notice that the object of his focused concern was keeping under his body, this physical flesh, ever keeping it subservient to the goals of the spirit. Never allowing the physical flesh to dominate and dictate to the spirit, but the pursuit of spiritual goals to dictate to the flesh.

38:39 And so when we have that weariness of the flesh that would make us indisposed to meditation, that would turn our minds into that state of mental sluggishness and laziness, We need to buffet our bodies. We need to talk to ourselves. We need to bring our mind around and say, Stop it! Enough of this!

38:59 We might literally have to slap our face.

39:03 Many a time I've done it in my study. When it's come over me, I felt I couldn't read another page. Couldn't pray another line.

39:15 You must buffet the body. Sometimes literally. Let me go out and take a strap. If you've got to get up off your knees, you've got to maybe dress a little lighter than you should.

39:26 As far as the coolness keep yourself chilly to keep yourself awake go ahead and do it Remember when I came back from England our friend from England would appreciate this they keep everything much chillier over there but their clothing is about four times as thick as ours And after I got acclimated to it, to wearing two sets of underwear and two sets of socks and a waistcoat and the rest, well, I found my mind was much more alert just on that simple principle of having the temperature a little bit cooler and having more and cooler fresh air going through my head. I didn't get dopey quite as often. And when I came back home, I tried to convert the household and liked to give everyone pneumonia.

40:05 But these are simple principles that relate to our physical. But you see, you can't separate the activity of the spirit and the activity of the body, for we are one total integrated person. And so when the flesh would rise up against the duty and privilege of meditation, we must deal with this physical flesh by this buffeting this enduring of hardness how are we going to deal with this next matter of the call to other duties you've been indifferent to a dozen duties until you begin to meditate and then suddenly the conscience becomes very sensitive to its duty in a thousand areas why are you going to deal with it well I think scripture gives us again a beautiful example of how to deal with it In Luke, we have an example, a beautiful example of how we're to deal with this problem.

41:02 Luke chapter 10, verse 38.

41:12 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village, and a certain A woman named Martha received him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his words. See, she pumped herself down long enough to really hear. She sat at his feet.

41:31 She heard his words. She was hanging on his words. She was no doubt then going away from his feet, mumbling upon those words, cherishing the words of Christ that fell upon her waiting ears. that Martha was cumbered about much serving.

41:47 And she came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Therefore that she helped me. Certainly it is a duty to show kindness to thee. Thou art the Son of God, the Savior of the world.

42:02 It is not right to treat thee with anything less than the best.

42:08 Jesus answered and said unto him, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from. How do you deal with this indisposition of the flesh that rises up in terms of the call to other duties? you deal with it by seeking to bring other duties into the proper perspective of this one great duty. One thing is needful.

42:44 And what you need to do is do as I have often done and I find it helpful. And I want you people to know I'm speaking sympathetically. If you think that a pastor doesn't have these problems sometimes he has it even a greater measure. Because there's nobody to tell him what to do with his time.

42:59 and he has to seek to order it according to the principles of Scripture and it happens almost without fail every morning when I would set myself to go up to that study first of all to wait upon God and to pray and to meditate with no thought of sermons or pastoral duties I think of a thousand things that ought to be done letters that haven't been written calls that haven't been made people that haven't been visited duties, duties, duties You know what I do to myself? I say, now wait a minute. If you died and went to heaven at 12 o'clock today, those duties would get done, or the world wouldn't stop if they were left undone. If at 11 o'clock you had a heart attack and you were in the hospital at 12 o'clock, those things we can take in care of.

43:43 One thing is meaningful, and it's almost like fighting a physical enemy to push my way through all of the cries of other duties and drive myself to my knees to pray.

43:55 Well, this is real conflict. And it's going to be just as real in the life of every one of you as I'm sure many of you would confess that it is. But it must be as we bring these many duties. See, the Lord said, you're careful and troubled about many things, but only one thing is needful.

44:14 And it's amazing how when we give ourselves to that one thing needful and take enough time to fix the word of God in the mind that we might keep it upon our lips and mumble and meditate and mutter in it throughout the day. It's amazing how God is never debtor to our obedience to the one thing needful.

44:36 You see, perhaps Mary, and I think we must read between the lines of this, the Lord would never have rebuked legitimate concern, for he commends that elsewhere. Throughout Scripture, hospitality is commended as a Christian virtue. We preached the whole message on it here back some months ago. Two messages on the Christian duty of hospitality.

44:56 But what our Lord seemed to be rebuking in Mary is that cocking concern about things that really didn't have to be. Our Lord would have been far more pleased with a simpler place setting and a simpler bowl of soup and a sandwich thrown together than all this fancy finery at the expense of sitting at his feet.

45:19 Now, you can apply that in a thousand areas in your own life. One thing is needful. How are we going to combat this indisposition of the flesh that comes in the form of the call to other duties? This is how.

45:32 Put those other duties in the right perspective with this one duty. Then thirdly, how are we going to deal with this problem of the suggestion of substitutes? Well, you've heard the sermons all day Sunday. You know, no need to meditate on the Word of God too much on Monday.

45:49 You don't want to become over-religious, you know. There's such a thing as becoming so heavenly-minded. You're no earthly good. Really, you ought to sort of let the mind relax a little bit.

45:59 I mean, you've been thinking hard. The pastor makes you think when he preaches. And really, you really don't need to meditate. Just sort of back off a little bit.

46:12 You know how it works. How are we going to deal with that? How are we going to deal with this suggestion of the substitute of other duties? Well, just remember how our Lord rebuked those who thought that some duties would cancel out others.

46:26 He said to that crowd in Matthew 23, who omitted certain scriptural duties while performing others, He said to them, Matthew chapter 23, In verse 23, Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise in common, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. these ought ye to have done that is you ought to have obeyed the Lord in the duty of tithing but he said not to leave the other undone don't let the obedience in one area cancel out in your thinking disobedience in another area God calls us to what the old writers said universal holiness universal obedience just I think an accurate way

47:13 of describing what David meant when he said I will have respect unto all the precepts of God. I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right. And then that last suggestion of the flesh. You'll be more diligent at a more convenient time.

47:32 If ever the principle of Scripture is true, now is the accepted time. It's true here. Because you have no promise of any moment but the present. And as the Spirit of God within has stirred you up and even place the thought of meditating upon the word of God, fixing the mind upon the truth of God, as he has stirred you up to that thought, then capture that moment and turn it into your prophet and ultimately to his glory.

Look to God for the Spirit's Assistance

48:00 So there's two suggestions. Recognize that these things are your mortal enemies. Secondly, combat them with scriptural perspective and weapons. and then in the last place in all of these things look to the Lord Jesus Christ for the grace needed to meditate in the law of God day and night for if there is this indisposition of the spirit of the flesh in relationship to the activities of the spirit then the words of Christ will come home to us with greater power John 15 5 without me he can do nothing.

48:40 And if you set yourself to this spiritual exercise of meditation without consciously asking the Lord by his Spirit to give you the equipment of mind and heart in order to give yourself to this holy exercise you'll go down in defeat again and again. For the habits that we've established the mental habits the habits of the soul we might call them many of them shoddy, sloppy habits are not to be overcome by flesh, fighting flesh, but only as we cry mightily to the Lord and then set ourselves to avail ourselves of the direction of Holy Scripture. Then and only then will we know increased blessedness as more and more we meditate in the law of God day and night.

49:29 For only then will all of this truth to which we are exposed be broken down, drawn close to our own individual needs and assimilated into life and worked out in experience. And then in this way the prayer of Christ is fulfilled. Father, sanctify them through the truth. Thy word is truth.

49:50 But the word has no sacramental sanctifying power. It's not the word preached over the head in a building that sanctifies. It's the word preached into the mind, filtered into the heart, into the stomach of meditation. assimilated into the life by the power of the Spirit that is the sanctifying agent in the life of the child of God.

50:13 The Lord willing, next week, we shall consider the second great enemy to this meditation which is part of the way of blessedness. Not only is there the indisposition of the flesh, but there is the competition of the world. And we want to consider that, for I'm convinced as I was chatting with, I think my wife and I were talking, driving down to pick up Michael at the bus station this afternoon. If Paul and David found it necessary to exercise rigid discipline, to continue in the art of meditation, in their day, with no newspaper, no printing press, no television, no billboards, no radio,

51:00 all of which are clamoring for what? The attention of the mind.

51:05 That's where meditation goes on in the realm of the mind. If they found it difficult then, how much more are we going to find it difficult in the mid-20th century with all of these things competing for the mind? You know, I could just mention three or four little jingles right now. If I just gave the first three tunes, you'd be able to give me the rest of the tune right through, and you'd attach to that tune the product that's being sold.

51:32 I don't care if it's Salem cigarettes, and right now that little jingle comes right to your mind. You heard it? There it is. And you can never think of that jingle without selling cigarettes.

51:43 All I need to do is mention certain symbols and immediately you think of the product that is associated with it. Why? You didn't consciously sit down and say I'm going to learn that tune. No.

51:53 It just worked its way in until now. You can mumble it without thinking. I bet you there's some of you perhaps even find yourselves humming it when you're not careful. Mumbling that jingle.

52:04 They've done their work. Now that's precisely the area where the Word of God must come and do its work so that even as a reflex action we find ourselves mumbling out praises of Scripture. Mumbling the Word of God when we wake in the night hours. That man, the Scripture says, is the blessed man who meditates in the law of God day and night.

52:29 Well, let us pray and ask the assistance and help of the Holy Spirit that we might be those kind of men and women.