Good morning.
Growing up
You probably experienced many of the same
things that I did.
You had parents who reminded
you regularly of the things you ought to
already be doing.
The things which you should have already
known that you were supposed to do.
That may have been chores around the
house,
that may have been picking up your room.
That may have been your schoolwork,
that may have been double checking your
math.
It all of these things are things that,
at least growing up as a homeschooler,
we were reminded you ought to know this
already.
I’ll spend some time with that word ought
today.
We’re going to begin as we consider the
things which
are necessary. The things which
God tells us we ought to be doing.
We must be doing.
It is needful for us to be doing.
In Ecclesiastes chapter twelve,
the preacher, as he
refers to himself in the beginning of
Ecclesiastes Solomon will write that
to fear God and keep his commandments is
what we should
be doing because this is the all of man.
This is what life is here for.
If you’re unfamiliar with the book of
Ecclesiastes,
you can go through the entirety of the
book and you can read as Solomon searched
in his life through his own failures,
his own mistakes, his own fa ~ lack of
understanding to find the meaning of life.
And he came to realize that all the things
that everything
the world thought life was about,
he would find again and again and again to
be vanity.
To be as he described vanity of vanities,
all is vanity, except for this,
to fear God and keep his commandments.
So this morning I want us to examine four
things
you ought to do.
Number one
Things you ought to do in life.
In John chapter 9,
Jesus presents to us things we ought
to do based upon what he said he had to
do.
In John chapter 9, Jesus is
coming into the city
And we read in chapter 9 and verse 1.
Now, as Jesus passed by, he saw a man who
was blind from birth.
And his disciples asked him, saying,
Rabbi, who sinned? This man or his
parents?
That he was born blind? Now we had a
lesson just recently on this,
and we’re not going to go into great
detail concerning the events that
transpire
here or all of the lessons to be learned,
but understand that as the
Disciples observed this man who was born
blind.
They ask the question, Who was at fault?
This man or his parents?
Jesus answered, Neither this man nor his
parents sinned,
but that the works of God should be
revealed in him.
Now notice the beginning of verse 4.
You may have a footnote like
I do that the I there is we in some
translations.
But no matter how you read it,
you’re going to see what Jesus is trying
to help you understand.
He says, I must work the works
of him who sent me while it is day.
The night is coming where no one can work.
Jesus, as he responds to these apostles in
their questioning of who is at fault,
informs them of something they never would
have known,
they never could have imagined,
they would not possibly have just grasped
on their own unless it was after the fact.
That the man was born blind,
so that the power and the work of God
might be revealed in his life.
We read in the next verse, as long as I am
in the world,
I am the light of the world. When he had
said these things he spat on
the ground and made clay with the saliva,
and he anointed the eyes of the bore of
the blind man with clay,
and he said to him, Go wash in the pool of
Saloon,
which is translated scent. So he went and
washed and came back seeing.
Jesus is going to heal this man’s
blindness in fulfillment
of old testament scriptures of what the
Messiah would do.
But Jesus doesn’t say that he’s doing this
because the Old Testament scriptures
say that he would heal the blind and make
them see.
He doesn’t say,
I am doing this to help this man know who
the Messiah is.
Jesus says, I must work the works
of God while it is day.
Jesus is making this point as we learn
from
his example that we ought to
be building our lives around the necessity
of doing the work of God.
And Jesus points out that for every one of
us,
that has a limited window.
That is a limited time opportunity.
That is something that Jesus had to do as
he uses in the passage while it is day,
because there is coming a night,
there is coming night where no one can
work.
Jesus is emphasizing that he had to be
about his father’s business while
he was here on this earth. You might
remember if you think back
to the events where Jesus was found by his
parents when he was but twelve years
old in the temple.
And when his mother inquired of him as to
what he was doing,
He said, Do you not know that I must be
about my father’s business?
Even at age twelve, Jesus realized that
his time was limited.
in life. And the emphasis there is while
we are alive.
There are things we ought to be doing.
There are things that we must be doing.
And they are the work of God.
But then consider number two, we ought to
be doing certain things
in communication with God.
In Luke chapter 18, Jesus,
as he is teaching his apostles and also
teaching those
who were around him, will teach them by
parables.
And one of the parables he spoke,
we read in chapter eighteen, verse one,
he spoke a parable to them that men always
ought to pray and not lose heart.
Jesus is trying to communicate,
according to Luke, revealing this through
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
a very important lesson to people.
That it is necessary, it is mandatory,
it is beyond assumption, it is that which
we should,
we ought to be doing,
to always pray and not lose heart.
You notice he says to the people,
there was in a certain city a judge who
did not fear God nor regard man.
Now there was a widow in that city,
and she came to him saying, Get justice
for me for my adversary.
And he would not for a while, but
afterward he said within himself,
Though I do not fear God nor regard man,
yet because this widow troubles me,
I will avenge her lest by her continual
coming.
She weary me.
Then the Lord said, Hear what the unjust
judge said.
And shall God not avenge his own elect who
cry out day and night to him,
though he bears long with them?
I tell you, he will avenge them speedily.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes,
will he really find faith on the earth?
Jesus, as he is teaching his disciples,
as he is teaching his apostles,
he will tell them.
You’re gonna have adversaries.
You’re going to have those who oppose your
faith,
your Christianity, the work of God that
you are doing.
And as those adversaries come against you,
whether they are of your own house,
whether they are of your own family,
whether they are of your own nation,
whether they are of those who are on the
outside,
or whether they are of those within the
very body of Christ.
You communicate with your father.
You pray and tell
God what’s going on.
But he says, do not think that if you pray
once,
that’s enough.
Do not think that if you don’t see the
culmination of God dealing with your
adversary after the first prayer,
that He said no, or that you should stop
praying.
Sometimes we come to this passage and we
wonder,
is God just testing us to see how long
we’ll pray for something?
No. Jesus gives you the answer in the
text.
God’s being long suffering with someone.
Aren’t you glad that God’s judgment
doesn’t come upon you
the very first time you do wrong to
someone and they pray for God to deal with
it?
Aren’t we all happy about that?
Art we glad to have received mercy and
long suffering from the Lord.
But as Jesus is teaching his disciples
what they ought to be doing.
He teaches them to communicate with God.
When you turn over in the New Testament to
the book of Acts,
you find there is an occasion where the
Christians are doing that very thing.
There are some within the body of Christ
who are in a house and they are
at there at night and they are praying and
they are praying fervently that
the Lord will handle their adversaries,
because their adversaries had taken and
imprisoned Peter and were threatening
his very life.
And as they’re praying insistently,
incessantly to the Father, there comes a
knock at the door.
And they send one of the young women to go
answer the door.
And it’s Peter.
You know, sometimes we’re praying for
things even after the Lord’s already
handled
it. We just don’t know it yet.
But Jesus teaches us that we ought
To communicate with the Father.
And then we ought to wait and allow him to
deal with
our adversaries. But then consider number
three.
We ought to do certain things in regard to
the mission of Christ.
Over in Ephesians chapter six.
We read as Paul writes to the church at
Ephesus,
as he writes concerning the armorment that
we wear,
the thing that we just sung about in that
song.
We read in Ephesians chapter six,
verse ten finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord and in the power of
his might.
Put on the whole armor of God that you may
be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and
blood,
but against principalities, against
powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this
age,
against spiritual hosts of wickedness in
the heavenly places.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to withstand in the
evil day,
and having done all to stand. Stand
therefore,
having girded your waist with truth,
having put on the breastplate of
righteousness,
and having shone your feet with the
preparation of the pe of the gospel of
peace.
Above all, taking the shield of faith with
which you will be able
to quench the fiery darts of the wicked
one,
and take the helmet of salvation and the
sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God. Praying always
with all prayer and supplication
in the Spirit. Being watchful,
he says, to this end, with all
perseverance and supplication for all the
saints.
As Paul says,
goes through the list of things.
He says, You need to put this on,
you need to put this on, you need to put
this on,
you need to put this on, you need to
clothe yourself and adorn yourself with
God’s
tools to fight against Satan.
And then he said, and you need to be
praying always.
But notice there in verse 20, sorry,
verse 19. And for me,
that utterance may be given to me,
that I may open my mouth boldly to make
known the mystery of the gospel
for which I am an ambassador in chains,
that in it I may speak boldly
as I ought to speak.
Paul, as he describes to the Christians
their adornment,
they’re putting on the breastplate of
righteousness,
they’re putting on the helmet of
salvation,
they’re shodding their feet, they’re
putting on the belt,
they’re putting on and taking up the
sword,
their prayers always.
He says, but don’t forget to pray for me.
Don’t forget to pray that I
may speak boldly as I ought.
Do you think Paul was saying, you know
what,
I I I know everyone else doesn’t need to
be worried about boldness?
I’m quite certain that there are no other
Christians who have
the responsibility of speaking boldly.
Is Paul indicating that he is the only one
or the apostles are the only ones
who ought to speak this way?
No, rather Paul is once again,
as he often does.
Emphasizing a lesson to them as he
examines himself in his bonds,
in his chains, sitting in prison in Rome,
as he writes to the church at Ephesus and
says,
You know what? It really doesn’t matter
what your circumstance is in life.
You ought to speak boldly concerning
Christ.
It doesn’t matter what they threaten
you with as he sits in prison in Rome.
You ought to speak boldly for Christ.
It doesn’t matter where you’re taken,
or if you were.
taken to the place that you thought you
were going to go to or not,
you ought to speak boldly for Christ.
You see, Paul is helping all of us to
realize that not only
is it important that we serve and act as
we ought
in the mission of Christ.
But even when we’re in the midst of doing
so.
We’re still in desperate need of the help
and the support of saints to do so.
Paul didn’t say to the church at Ephesus,
y’all need to work on this. I’ve got it.
I mean, I’ve spent all this time in
prison.
I’ve been put again in prison for the
testimony of Christ.
Clearly, I’ve got this done.
I’m good, but y’all need to work on it.
That’s not what Paul says.
Paul says as he tells them, you be praying
always
for the saints everywhere.
He says, you pray especially for me.
You ever think there was a time where Paul
was ready to give up?
You don’t have to guess. There was.
Paul wrote to the church at Philippi and
said,
I am in a straight betwixt two,
for I am ready to depart. I am done with
this life.
But I also know it’s more needful for me
to remain.
Paul says we need to be bold.
in the mission of Christ. It is a
necessity.
It is what we ought to do.
But then consider number four.
What we ought to do in our daily walk.
In First John chapter one
John has already written to them about who
the Messiah is.
He’s already written to these Christians
about how they ought to walk
in the light as he is in the light.
He’s already written to them about the
fact that he knows they’re going
to sin at times. He knows that they’re
going to need to confess those sins
to the Father, but the Father is faithful
and just to forgive us of those things.
He’s already told them if you say you have
no sin,
you’re a liar.
And the truth is not in you.
And he’s already told them.
That Christ and his blood is the thing
that cleanses us from all sin.
But as he opens chapter two,
he writes to them, he says, My little
children,
these things I write to you, so that you
may not sin.
And if anyone sins, we have an advocate
with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself
is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only, but also the whole
world’s.
John right to these Christians.
He says, I know you’re going to struggle.
I know you’re going to sin.
And if you were to look at yourself and
examine yourself and say,
you know what, there is no way that I
could repay the Lord for my sin.
John would say, You are correct.
And yet the substitutionary sacrifice that
was adequate
for your sin has already been paid.
Not for yours only.
But Christ was that sufficient sacrifice
which Isaiah wrote about
in Isaiah 53 for the whole world.
So knowing this
John says, chapter 2, verse 3,
now by this we know that we know him.
If we keep his commandment.
John doesn’t leave it for you to feel to
understand whether or not you’re walking
in the light, to understand whether or not
the blood of Christ is cleansing
you from all sin, to understand whether or
not you are in fellowship with God,
the Father, and with one another.
He doesn’t leave that up to your feelings,
to your emotions, to your gut instinct.
He says, hereby do we know that we know
him.
If we keep his commandments.
He who says, I know him, and does not keep
his commandments is a liar,
and the truth is not in him.
Don’t deceive yourself.
about what you ought to be doing.
Because God knows what you ought to be
doing.
We’re really good as humans at deceiving
ourselves.
We’re really good at convincing ourselves
of things.
We’re really good at getting our mindset
in such a
way as to believe something is true.
Even things that don’t even exist.
Consider false worship, consider false
prophets,
consider false religions, consider false
gods that don’t exist.
we’re good at it.
John says, But if you claim to know who
Christ is and you don’t keep
his commandments, you’re a liar.
He then says, But whoever keeps his word
truly
the love of God is perfected in him,
by this we know that we are in him,
he who says he abides in him, he who says
he abides in Christ.
ought himself also to walk just as he
walked.
John
He says, you want to know how you measure
yourself?
You don’t do it against the person in the
pew next to you.
You don’t do it against the person who
raised you.
You don’t do it against the person you
grew up with.
You don’t do it against your children.
You don’t do it against your
grandchildren.
You don’t do it against a stranger.
You do it yourself against Christ.
And you ask yourself, Am I walking as he
walked?
Am I living as he lived?
Remember what Jesus said?
I must do the works of Him who sent
me while it is day.
And what does John say? Hereby do you know
that you know him,
if you keep his commandments, if you walk
as he walked.
He goes on to say, Brethren,
I write no new commandment, but an old
commandment which you have
had from the beginning. The old
commandment is the word which you heard
from
the beginning. Again, a new commandment I
write to you.
Which thing is true in him and in you
because the darkness is passing away
and the true light is already shining.
He who says he is in the light and hates
his brother is in darkness until now.
John says, You better understand.
that he loved the people God gave to him.
And if you hate your brother.
You don’t belong to Christ. He will go on
to say,
He who says he is in the light and hates
his brother is in darkness until now.
He who loves his brother abides in the
light,
and there is no cause for stumbling in
him.
But he who hates his brother is in
darkness and walks in darkness and does
not know where he is going, because the
darkness has blinded his eyes.
What we ought to be doing.
in this life, in our daily walk,
is keeping the commandments of
God and loving our brethren.
Loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.
In John chapter 17, Jesus,
as he is about to go to Gethsemane,
as he is about to exit the upper room,
having observed the Passover with his
disciples,
will pray to the Father and ask the Father
to glorify him with the same glory that
he had with the Father before the world
was.
And then he will iterate in that prayer
I’ve kept all of them that you’ve given to
me.
All of the disciples, Lord, that you’ve
put in my hand,
I’ve kept them all. Save one,
son of perdition.
He will pray to the Father before he exits
the room to iterate
to the Father how much he loves those who
were given to him.
and how he is one with them.
And how he desires them to be one with the
Father as He is with
the Father and them to be one with one
another.
John will write years later.
If you say you love him, if you say you
walk with
him and you don’t love who he loves.
You’re a liar.
What we ought to do.
What we ought to do in life
What we ought to do in communication with
God.
What we ought to do in the mission of
Christ.
What we ought to do in our daily walk is
follow
the example of Christ.
measure ourselves against Christ.
And then ask ourselves,
am I doing what I ought to do?
If you’re here this morning and you’re
outside the body of Christ,
you need to know who Christ is.
You need to know who you are measuring
yourself against.
But I can guarantee you this if you’ll
come to know who Christ is,
if you’ll open the Word of God and study
with us and learn who Christ is,
you’ll learn to love Him.
And you’ll learn to understand why he’s
the measure and no one else.
You’re a member of the body of Christ and
you once measured yourself against Christ,
but now you’ve started measuring yourself
against other things.
Here’s what you ought to do.
You ought to hold yourself up against
Christ and examine yourself whether
you are in the faith. If you have need of
the invitation of our Lord,
it is available now, it is available every
minute of the day.
But if you have need of the invitation of
our Lord,
why not come now as we stand and as we
sing?
