Planning Your Future | Part 2

We never know if this day is our last. Listen to Adrian Rogers. If you have your Bible turned now to the book of James, Chapter 4 will begin in verse 13, as Adrian Rogers gives practical insight for planning your future. I'm going to read to you a story. It's a story about a first century wheeler dealer, a boastful businessman, a man who was making plans for his future.

And he has many brothers here in this 21st century. And I want us to look at the story and we're going to learn some lessons from it. In James, Chapter 4, beginning in verse 13, Go to now ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain. As ye know not what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away, for that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings. All such rejoicing is evil.

Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. All right, this man made three major mistakes, and I don't want you to make them. So as you plan for your future, I want to give you three warnings.

We'll let each one of them begin with the word beware. First of all, beware of self-centered planning. Beware of self-centered planning. Look at this man and you'll find out what was wrong with him. He left God out of his plans altogether. He's not consulting with God.

He's not seeking the will of God. He's like so many here, your worship life is one thing, your business life is another thing. You've divided your life into the secular and the sacred. And so you come to church and worship. And then you plan your life as if there were no God. And the biggest fool is not the man who says there's no God.

The biggest fool is the man who says there is a God and then doesn't live like it. Have you really taken God in to your plans? You see the key to all of this. Look in verse 15 and you'll see the key to all of this. For that we ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. He had not said, Lord, what is your will? He's not seeking the will of God.

He's not saying, oh, God, show me your will. He says, I'm going to do it this time. I'm going to go to this place. I'm going to do this procedure.

I'm going to make this kind of money. He has not at all sought to bring God into his plans. There's a big if in all of this. If, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. Have you ever asked God, Lord, bless what I'm doing rather than, Lord, help me to do what you're blessing? To find really the will of God. Now, God wants to show you his will.

God wants to show you his will as you look into your future. Beware of this godless planning. Beware of self-centered planning. Okay?

Let's move to the second thing. Not only should you beware of self-centered planning, but you need to beware of self-confident presumption. Look in verse 14, where ye know not what shall be on the morrow.

For what is your life but even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away? For that you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live or do this or that. Proverbs 27, verse 1 says, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. So I'm going to ask you, as you plan the future, to say, Lord, help me not to waste time. Help me to apply my days unto wisdom. Lord, may I live out the rest of my days, whether they be few or whether they be many.

May they be used for you. To kill time is suicide by degrees. Don't presume upon the time that you have. If this were the last sermon you would ever hear, would you go from this meeting place to heaven or hell? Many times I've preached the last sermon that a person has ever heard before they died.

Are you ready? Do you know Jesus? Are you saved? Are you saying, I'll get saved one of these days? Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Now here's the third and the final thing I want to lay upon your heart as you think about your future. Not only beware of self-centered planning, leaving God out of your planning.

Beware of self-confident presumption to think that you have so much time. By the way, before we leave that point, you'll know Jesus in Luke 12 told of a rich farmer. He also was a businessman. Farmers are businessmen. This man had great crops and so great that he didn't even really have enough room to warehouse it all. He said, what am I going to do? My barns are overflowing. He said, well, I know what I'll do. He said, since I have much goods laid up from, well, first of all, I'll tear down these old barns.

I'll build bigger barns. And then I will say to myself, so, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Eat, drink, and be merry. And Jesus said that God said unto him, you fool, thou fool. This night, thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be that you have laid up in store? You've got a big bank account, do you? You say, I've got enough squared away from my retirement. I'm all right. You may not have 24 hours. Thou fool, this night, thy soul shall be required of thee.

He said, many years, God said, tonight his clock was slow. Here's the third thing you need to be aware of. Not only self-centered planning, not only self-confident presumption, but perhaps the most dangerous thing of all, and it is this, friend. You need to beware of self-complacent procrastination.

Self-complacent procrastination. Now, notice to where James is headed. Look at it. He says in verse 15, for that you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings. Here was a man very complacent, very boastful.

All such rejoicing is evil. Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Now, here's a man who knew what he ought to do, but he didn't do it. He's boasting in himself all that he's done.

He has become complacent. He is aware of God's will, but he doesn't want to do it. Procrastination may be the biggest problem that most of us have today. It's a very deceptive sin. You see, other sins are very obvious. Drunkenness, stealing, hate, violence.

These are all very obvious. Procrastination is so deceptive. Many of us think we're doing good if we don't do the dirty dozen sins. You know, we have our little list of sins, and we say, well, I don't do any of those things.

I'm fine. But most of us don't think of procrastination as a sin. Now, the Bible says, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. It is a greater sin to fail to do what you ought to do than to do what you ought not to do.

Now, most of us don't believe that, but I believe with all of my heart. The Bible teaches it. The Bible teaches that the sins of omission are greater than the sins of commission. It's very simple if you think about it. Why is it a greater sin to fail to do what you ought to do than to do what you ought not to do?

Simple. If you're doing what you ought to do, you can't do what you ought not to do. But even if you're not doing what you ought not to do, you still wouldn't be doing what you ought to do. So it is a greater sin to fail to do what you ought to do than to do what you ought not to do. The sins of omission are greater than the sins of commission. A little boy said the sins of omission, those are the sins you ought to have done and didn't do.

No. What are the sins of omission? Why does He say, therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin? It's not that the man says I will never do it.

He just doesn't do it. It is self-complacent procrastination. Now, this sin is not only very deceptive, but, you know, it's kind of respectful because you can't, you don't know what God is leading me to do. You don't know what God is telling me to do, so I may look very fine to you. I'm very respectful to you, and yet this sin would be in my heart and in my life. Let me talk to you about the sin of omission, the sin of procrastination. Let me tell you why it is such a dangerous and deceptive sin.

It's the reason that people are lost. Why do people go to hell today? Because they lie, steal, commit adultery?

No. Oh, those are sins worthy to damn us. But those sins have been paid for.

Now, the reason a person is lost today simply is because he's failed to do what he ought to do. John 3 and verse 18, Jesus said, He that believeth on him, speaking of himself, is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed. No longer is a man condemned to hell because he's a sinner because those sins have been paid for. He that believeth on him, on Jesus, is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already.

Why? Because he has not believed. One time I read of a tract. On one side it said, What must I do to be saved? The answer, Acts 16, verse 31, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. On the other side of the tract it said, What must I do to be lost?

And there was nothing printed there. Why? Because you don't have to do anything to be lost. You don't have to curse the church. You don't have to blaspheme God.

You are already lost. He that believeth on him is not condemned. He that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed.

It is the sin of omission now that sends a soul to hell. Many of you want to correct your thinking. You say, My mind is messed up. How am I going to get these images of pornography out of my mind? How am I going to get this hatred out of my mind, these negative thoughts out of our mind? Do you know why you think wrongly?

Because you're not thinking rightly. You see, the reason we do this, what Zig Ziglar calls this stinkin' thinkin', is because we are not thinking what we ought to think. Your mind is like a garden. You don't have to sow weeds. All you have to do is to fail to cultivate the garden.

The weeds will come. God created you, God made you, where you cannot think two thoughts at one time. If you're thinking what is right, you cannot be thinking what is wrong. Now, when David got into trouble and committed adultery with Bathsheba, the Bible teaches that it was in the afternoon. David was still in bed. He hadn't gotten out of bed. He had forgotten, I'm certain, to have a quiet time with the Lord in the morning. His problem was not aggressive lust. It was simply neglected duty. He was failing to do what he ought to have done, and therefore he did what he ought not to do. Center your heart, your mind on God.

Fill your heart and mind with that which is right, true, just, lovely, pure, virtuous, of good report. You're not going to have difficulty with impure, unclean thoughts. The sin of omission is the reason many homes are broken up.

Now, God's plan is one man married to one woman till death do them part. But we have homes even in our Christian churches that are being fractured and coming apart. What do you have to do to harm your home? Do you have to beat or curse your wife? Do you have to commit adultery against your husband? No. Just neglect to do what you ought to do.

Therefore, to him that knows to do good doeth it not to him that is sin. I don't know how many times a day I tell Joyce that I love her, but I do. I hold her in my arms and say, I love you. You're precious. You're wonderful to me. Listen, one man said to his wife, she said, why don't you tell me you love me? He said, when we got married, I told you I loved you.

If I change my mind, I'll let you know. Love is not like a diamond that you get and hold and treasure forever. You know they add, diamonds are forever. No, love is like a flower. It has to be cultivated. It's tender. Love is a growing, living thing. This is why so many homes fail, just by neglect. Your love, you have to visualize it. You have to verbalize it.

You have to vitalize it. Why do churches fail? Is it because people have gone to war against the church? No, they have simply neglected their church. There's a verse of scripture over there in the book of Numbers, chapter 32, verse 23, and this is what it says, but if ye will not do so, behold, you've sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.

Now, what sin is that? Well, what had happened is when the Israelites were coming out of Egypt and going into Canaan, before they crossed over into Canaan, there on the east side, before they went over to what we call today the West Bank, on the east side, there were two tribes, Reuben and Gad, who said to Joshua, look, we don't want to cross over. We just want to stay here.

The grass is tall and lush. Our families love it here. If it's all right with you, we'll just stay here. But Joshua said, but your brothers are going to war over there. When they cross over into Canaan, the Canaanites are there. There are going to be battles, and the tribes of Gad and Reuben said, that's okay. When it's time for war, we will come over and help our brothers, and here's why Joshua said, all right, but if you don't do so, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. Now, what does that mean to us today?

Well, you know, we have a lot of people who want to stay on the easy side of the river, don't we? We have a lot of people who want others to work and build their church, but they just want to sit over here on this side and not come to the aid of this church. He wasn't much for stirring about.

It wasn't his desire. While others worked to build their church, he was sitting by the fire. Same old story day by day. He never seemed to tire. No matter what the others did, he was sitting by the fire. At last he died, as all must do.

Some say he went up higher, but if he's doing what he used to do, he's sitting by the fire. No man has a right to be at peace when his brethren are at war. We have people in our churches that say, well, feed me, feed me.

Oh, brother so-and-so feeds me more than brother so-and-so. They want to eat the meat, drink the sweet, let others work. They don't do anything. They're the reason that so many churches are failing today. You don't have to go to war against the church. Listen, to him that knows to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. I'm telling you, the reason that people are lost is the sin of omission. The reason that people have wrong thinking is the sin of omission. The reason that homes break up, the sin of omission. The reason that churches fail, it is the sin of omission.

Failing to do what we ought to do. You say, well, one of these days I'm going to get to it. Friend, you have sin in your heart.

To him that knows to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. I've got to conclude the message today, but as we think about your future, beware of self-centered planning. Don't leave God out of your plans. As you think about your future, beware of self-confident presumption. You do not have a promise of tomorrow.

Your life is like a vapor. What you're going to do, do. If you think about your future, beware of self-complacent procrastination, saying manana, one of these days I'm going to do it, to him that knows to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Some of you need to give your heart to Jesus.

You say, one of these days I'm going to do it. Now, some people don't believe in God at all. They don't believe in heaven or hell. But I have met a number of people who know there's a God, a death to die, God to face, a judgment to go through. And you ask them why they're not saved, and they say, well, I'm going to do that someday. Listen to me.

Why would you talk that way? I've never talked to a man who ever said, I am determined to go to hell. But people think, one of these days I'll be saved. But the Bible says, behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. The Bible says, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. You want to face your future?

Face your future by giving your heart to Jesus Christ and letting the Holy Spirit of God be in you to guide you and to show you and to give you a hope that is wonderful and glorious. If I had 1,000 lives to live, I'd give them all to Jesus. If you're not saved, I want you to pray a prayer like this. Dear God, I'm a sinner, and I'm lost. I'm ashamed of my sin. I repent of my sin. I turn from my sin to you, Jesus. I open my heart. I receive you by faith into my life as my Lord and Savior.

Take control of my life and begin now to make me the person you want me to be. I will follow you the rest of my days if you will only give me strength. I will live for you, not in order to be saved, but because you have saved me by your grace.

I just trust you now. In your holy name, amen. And if you prayed to receive Jesus Christ just now, we would love to celebrate with you and invite you to our Find God's Love page on the website. There you'll find answers you may need about your newfound faith.

We have a response section. You can share your testimony with us or how this message has made a difference in your life today. Go to lwf.org slash radio and click the tab that says Find God's Love.

Welcome to God's forever family. We can't wait to hear from you today. Now, if you'd like to order a copy of today's message in its entirety, call 1-877-LOVEGOD. Request the title Planning Your Future. This message is also part of the insightful series The Mystery of History where that complete collection, all four messages, call 1-877-LOVEGOD or order online. Or you can write us at Love Worth Finding.

Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Would you like God to guide you this coming year? Adrian Rogers said, face your future by giving your heart to Jesus Christ.

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