I WANT A EASY RELIGION
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Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep:
AN EASY RELIGION
INTRODUCTION.
The characteristic of the age is a desire for an easy time.
This is true in serving God as in a great many other things.
People want an easy time with no self-denial involved. Thus, many do not want any spiritual exercise.
They do not want:
I. TO PRAY.
A. God’s Word is clear as to the believer’s duty to pray.
Pray without ceasing.
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
B. Satan whispers that it is too much for you to pray, and as a result spiritual strongholds are broken down.
1. Family altars.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
2. Public prayer sessions, as in the early church, are few indeed.
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
3. Mid-week prayer services are taken for granted, to be attended when one feels like it, etc.
II. TO READ GOD’S WORD.
A. The Word of God is to be desired.
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
B. The Word is to be a lamp and a light to guide us in the way of righteousness.
NUN.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
And a light unto my path.
C. We should be like the Bereans.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
III. TO YIELD TO THE WILL OF GOD.
A. God having redeemed us, wants us to serve Him.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
B. This is reasonable for all who have been saved.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
IV. TO ATTEND CHURCH.
A. God’s Word is plain here.
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
B. Satan will remind you of your need for physical rest, but he never mentions your spiritual needs.
C. There is much value in meeting with God’s people, at the house of the Lord.
1. Christ’s presence and fellowship.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
2. Obedience to any command of God, brings blessing. Note an example.
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
with
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
(Had they not obeyed they would have missed the blessing.[1]