Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Walking In The Will of God Pt.5

…crying the hosannas when everybody else is crying out, "Save now, Lord!" The worship factor—you know, when you really stop and realize what took place in that week, the hosannas… Can you imagine Jesus, in His mind, knowing what was going to take place? I’m not going to teach on that this morning. But Jesus knew what was going on. He rode [into the city] in humility, receiving the praises of the multitudes. Later on, there are those who are close to Him. Peter stands, and he says, "Lord, though they all forsake You, I’ll never leave You. Don’t worry about it, Lord. You’ve got one faithful disciple." All the while—the Scripture says that from early in Jesus’ ministry, He never committed Himself to any of these people, because He knew what was in man. Isn’t that interesting? He knew what was in man, and because He knew what was in man, He knew what He had to put into him. That’s what redemption was all about. Aren’t you glad that we have the Holy Spirit living in us now, and we have the presence of God by the Spirit, by the lordship of Jesus, and through the Word, and He is tabernacling in us? Now we can say, very honestly and truthfully, that we have the knowledge of God. We have the ability of Him working in us, to where we can say, "Lord, as long as You’re working in me, as long as it’s Your power and Your strength, I can say this: I believe that Your faith will never fail in me." Aren’t you glad for that? You don’t have to rely on your own ability; you don’t have to make empty promises. You just say, "It’s no longer I that live but Christ that liveth in me. The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me, praise God!" That’s what it is all about, so we can rejoice in that. Don’t let the failures of others create needless fear in your life. He is working in us to will and to do His good pleasure; amen? He that’s begun the work will finish it, and the bottom line is all we have to do is let Him. Just walk in obedience to it.

Let’s turn again, if you would. I want to pick up where we were Wednesday night, and continue dealing with the inner witness of our conscience. I don’t know if we’re going to get over into the voice of the Holy Spirit this morning, or whether we’ll be doing that tonight. But we will teach on how to discern those voices. We’ve been talking about being led of the Holy Spirit, and last week we were talking about the first aspect of spiritual guidance: the fact that God has made His Word a lamp unto our feet. Aren’t you thankful for that? That’s the source. Last week, we also saw in our study that we have the more sure word of prophecy, and everything is to be compared to that standard of the revealed will of God. That’s why we have to become knowledgeable. We have to, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). As we saw that aspect, and we were looking last week at the need of comprehending and being obedient to the Word of God, we set that more sure Word up as the only standard. Then, we said that that Word was also a source that created revelation of God internally, within ourselves, to our redeemed spirit man. That spirit man has the capacity to assimilate this Word and make it applicable to our everyday situation. This is an eternal truth, but how many of you realize we have to find ways of getting this applied to our everyday lives? It’s not enough to read it as history; it’s not enough to read it as theology. This has to be a guide book to us. We have to be able to get these truths into the everyday functioning in our lives. This is what we are talking about now, as we’re going to relate to the conscience of man.

We said there are three major categories, and we’ll take just a moment in review. We said, of the three major categories of guidance, the first one was [what?] the Word of God. The second one was the inner witness or the inner voice that comes in two different aspects: the voice of the Holy Spirit and also the voice of the recreated spirit man. Then, we said there was a third category, and we touched on it a little bit. We’re going to deal with it later on, and that was what? It was the external revelation. It can come in such forms as dreams, revelations, audible voices, handwriting on the wall… I mean, you can grab revelation from so many external means. With every external revelation, we saw a progression. We said that the external revelation also had to be in conjunction with an inner witness, which has to be in agreement with the revelation of the Word of God. We’ll see how these things will always gravitate back to the Word of God. That is why we have to be knowledgeable of God’s revealed will. As we were leaving off last Wednesday, we learned we are not to have the confidence in—"solely in," I should say—the voices we hear internally. How many of you know that some people hear too many voices? We shared last Wednesday that there are a lot of voices crying out for our attention. How are we going to know if that voice is the voice of the Holy Spirit, if that voice is the inner witness of our spirit agreeing with the Word of God, or if it is a demonic power? Is it the voice of our own will? How many of you know that that voice speaks very loudly within us?

We shared with you that it is historically interesting: the rise in the world today of the Islamic faith. It is on the rise; it’s growing so rapidly. We shared how Muhammad, in his time of meditation, heard these voices that were within him. They began to reveal these principles to him. Muhammad went to a Christian, and he asked him, "I’m hearing these voices. I’m receiving these revelations. What do you think?" The Christian said, "Well, it’s got to be of God. I mean, it’s supernatural." Muhammad asked, "But could it be demonic?" The Christian said, "Oh, it’s God. Go with it!" He did, and a lot of other people have. There is the simplicity of taking what was being revealed to him and applying it to the Word. The Word says, "You don’t add to or take away from this Word." Would it have solved that revelation that this young man was having? Would the fact that Jesus’ revelation, the Word of God says, "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me," (John 14:6), have settled this issue, if the Christian that gave him counsel knew what the Word of God taught? But this Christian was basing things upon experience and upon supernatural phenomenon. He was thinking that everything that was supernatural or everything that came up within us was of God. But God is revealing what His will is to us right here. That is going to save you a lot of heartache, praise God! If you know what this Word teaches, it’s going to save you a lot of heartache from brothers and sisters who have great revelations and those internal witnesses.

We shared last week; we were talking about the fact of having the knowledge of the Word of God. Beloved, you don’t have to pray, or have an inner witness that says, "I believe this is God. I believe God wants me to marry this unsaved person. I just know this is the one for me!" How many of you know that is not the voice of the Spirit of God? The Bible says, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness," (2 Corinthians 6:14). I don’t care how many revelations you receive, how many people prophesy over you, or about dreams, visions, audible voices, and inward voices. The Word of God has already spoken concerning this situation. So let God be true and every other voice a lie. If we’re going to walk purely in the revelation of God and in spiritual guidance, this is the thing we have to understand. As we begin to practically apply the knowledge of God, it’s going to save us the grief that comes from all of these external revelations.

We were sharing last week. We looked again at how we need to build confidence in that inner voice, because God does speak to us purely, and He speaks to us very consistently in the inner man. We read in Proverbs, "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly" (Proverbs 20:27). God is going to illuminate our paths inwardly by the recreated spirit man, so we need to have confidence in Him.

Turn to the book of Ephesians, and let’s take a look at this inner man for just a moment. I want to build off of where we were the other evening, Wednesday evening, and go from there. I want to spend a little more time understanding what is taking place. In John, Chapter 4—I don’t want to get bogged down in this. I just want to spend enough time on it to relate to you the confidence we can have in who He is. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). So we realize that we are also spiritual beings. We are triune in our nature; aren’t we? We are spirit, soul, and body. Spirit and soul are so closely united that nothing can really discern between them, except… What? It is the Word of God. Isn’t that what Hebrews 4 tells us? This is why we have to know the Word of God. Listen to me very closely. This is why we need to know the Word of God and have it hidden in our heart. If the Word of God isn’t in you, then you are not going to know whether it is your spirit or your mind, because you can’t discern it. There are many things that come up, and you assume, "This is the Spirit of God!" It could be your mind. Only one thing can discern whether it is your mind or the Holy Spirit. That is the Word of God. Until we begin to understand that, except for the dissecting through study, we really—they operate so much as one that we really can’t tell the difference between the voice of the mind and the spirit. Some people say, "Well, you know when the spirit speaks. It’s down here." The spirit is not in there. That is your stomach; okay? Most of us are more familiar with that than the spirit. I realize that. We feed that more than we feed the spirit man. But this is not what is in there. Those are internal organs. You have your stomach in there; you have your liver in there. Your heart, the seat of all of your emotions, is your "liver." These are some of the things we realize. In the anatomy, there’s when we talk about—some people say, "I love you with all of my heart." There is really more. I’m getting off course, but more is generated out of the liver that has to do with emotional response, than out of your heart, if you are going to see the chemical responses. Okay; so next time, tell somebody, "I love you with all of my liver."

Anyway, that is not what is in there. The Holy Spirit is dwelling within this temple called the Temple of God. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I don’t know whether it is through spiritual osmosis or what, but we realize that God has come into us somehow. He tabernacles in us, and He dwells in every particle of our being. Aren’t you glad that God lives in every minute, atomic substance within us? God dwells in every little atom. He’s filled them all up; all the neutrons are filled with the Spirit of God. Aren’t you glad? Every little bit of you is filled with the Spirit; God has filled us up as believers in Him. I don’t want you to think somehow that there’s a little compartment in there, the Holy Spirit is living in there, He’s enveloped by a glory cloud, and everything’s cruddy except this one, pure little core inside of you. That’s how many of us visualize the Holy Spirit living in us. God is dwelling within our whole being. In the process He is bringing about, through regeneration, restoration of what we are physically, spiritually, and emotionally into fellowship and cooperation with God.

The regeneration of this body is not going to fully experience the benefits of the redemptive work of Jesus in this lifetime. This body is going to be laid down; it’s going to die. The reason is because sin still dwells within our members, but the good news is this: though sin is tabernacling and dwelling within our members, it no longer dominates the soul or the spirit of a man who is regenerated. I said "dominate." I didn’t say "influence." We are going to go on and take a look at these things as we go on in this study, but look here at Ephesians, Chapter 4. We need to see this, so we can begin to understand where that voice is coming from, who it is that’s speaking, where he is hanging-out in there, what the rest of these voices are that I’m hearing, and where they are they coming from. The voice that speaks from within you, many times, that says, "Call the pizza shop," is probably not the voice of the Holy Spirit, but it comes from within you. Around noon, it speaks up. It says, "Feed me." Very likely, that is your body and not your spirit. As we begin to discern, how many of you are aware of that voice? How many of you know that it speaks very clearly? As we become familiar with that, we have to understand that, if the voice is that clear and that precise, it will also speak concerning other matters of our flesh. We have to begin to realize that there is a voice of the flesh and of self-will. We are going to have to discern where that voice is coming from and what source it is originating from. It is not originating or generating from the new man.

If you would, look with me in Ephesians 4, verse 22. "That ye put off concerning [that old life style] the former conversation [your former way of living] the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." What do we do with the old man? We put him off, like you put off other things you like to do or that you should be doing. I should not say, "That you like to do…" You put things off. We will put off the old man. You will see. He’ll want to put in his "two cents’ worth." Just put him off and say, "We’ll deal with you later. I’m going to put you off a little bit."

"That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt [this man is corrupt; the old man is corrupt] according to the deceitful lust" (Ephesians 4:22). We have the old man being corrupt and being generated by deceitfulness and lusts within him. "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind" (Ephesians 4:23). We find a former man who operates through deceitfulness in the lusts of the natural man, the flesh. But he says, "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:23-24). I want you to get that down in your notes. How is the new man created? He is created in righteousness and true holiness. Grab a hold of this, and I want you to see that is what takes place in the new birth. It is the creation of this new man. The inner man is righteous and walking in true holiness with God. Wouldn’t it be great if, once that took place in our lives, it would be perpetuated, and we would never have to do anything else about this thing? We were recreated. There is a new man in us. Old things have passed away, and all things are new. I will never have another defeat in all my life. How many of you would like that kind of a redemption? How many of you know that it doesn’t work that way? We see that the new man has been created into this likeness of God and in righteousness. Righteousness means what? It means "right standing with God" and "true holiness." If we study the Scripture beyond one verse, we see, although we are created and initiated in that way, it has to be perpetuated through obedience, a continual cleansing and purging of the blood of Jesus, and the washing of the water of the Word. Although the inner man is created in righteousness and true holiness, he can become defiled. When you are first born-again—isn’t it amazing how, when you are first born again, you can hear the voice of God so clearly? Have you ever wondered, as you get older in the Lord, that you seem to get duller in hearing? How many of you heard people give those types of testimonies? "I used to hear from God all the time. When I was first born again, I could hear from God. Now, I’ve been saved for five years, and it’s harder to hear." What have you been doing with the inner man? When he was first created, he was created righteous, holy, pure, and true with God in true holiness. That voice was very clear to that newly created man. But, over the years, some crust has come over him and in many of the lives of individuals. It is because we’ve failed to renew the mind and cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.

Let me share a couple of things with you. Many people have trouble with the fact that their spirit can get dirty. People have trouble with that. We have to be very careful that we don’t enter into Dualism or Gnosticism. These were very strong forces that opposed the Word of God in the First Century, and they do today. The Gnostic voice was one that spoke along these lines—I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it. I’ve shared some with you before. Most of you have a basic knowledge of this anyway. But the Gnostic thought was primarily saying this: all matter is evil, and everything that is spiritual, the spiritual realm of light, is purity. When man is born again, and that spirit is regenerated within him, that spirit is pure, regardless of anything the flesh does. The flesh could murder, commit adultery, or do whatever it wants. Still, that individual is pure in his heart, and that spirit will go on and be in fellowship with God. How many of you know that teaching goes on today? We’ve put another theological label on it. We call it "eternal security." Once a man is really regenerated, he can’t really lose that because the spiritual work is done. That spirit has come back to life; therefore, that spirit is in relationship with God. Even though the flesh is running rampant and doing all of these things, that man is still right with God. Well, the whole first epistle of John was written to combat this teaching of Gnosticism. In that first epistle, John says, "…He that doeth righteousness is righteous…" (1 John 3:7).

As we read in this passage, we’re going to see there has to be a discerning of the working of spirit and flesh together, and regeneration brings a dormant spirit. Listen to this: regeneration brings a dormant spirit into a dominant spirit. The spirit man was always alive in there. When we talk about being spiritually dead, it doesn’t mean that the spirit is nonexistent. It means it is out of fellowship with God. Isn’t that what spiritual death is? Since it’s out of fellowship with God, it doesn’t have the power of God. It is being dominated by a new god: the god in Corinthians, Chapter 2, and the god of this world. The sin members are dominating that spirit man. Once regeneration takes place, it becomes dominant because of the Holy Spirit. The spirit man now has the capacity to dominate sin that’s at work within our members. This is really what regeneration is all about. When you are born again, that spirit man comes back into fellowship with God and now has the capacity to rule in your triune nature. This is really what this whole work of redemption is all about. In Gnosticism they saw no hope for the flesh ever being dominated. It was going to do its thing. It is innately evil, and there’s no way to control it. Just let it do whatever it wants, and your heart is going to be right with God.

Dualism tells us we are born again and come to fellowship with God at regeneration, but there is still a sin nature within us, and the spirit of man is not capable of dominating sin. In fact, it still has the natural tendency to sin—that’s the wrong word. It is the natural desire to sin. As we’re looking here at that desire to sin, which would be natural, we find in Dualism that we have a schizophrenic spirit that doesn’t know if it’s really righteous and holy, or not. That’s not what we’re talking about when we’re talking about the spirit becoming filthy. Listen; the spirit can become filthy from externals, but it is not innately filthy from within. Do you understand what I’m saying? How many of you know what I’m talking about? How many of you can understand where I’m coming from? I don’t want to overemphasize this. But I want to set this picture for us because, if I don’t, you’re going to misunderstand a major part of hearing from God. I don’t want any of you thinking the spirit man has an innate ability within him to do wrong or to be evil. Once you are regenerated, the spirit man has to be allowed to be corrupted; it’s not internal. It says, "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created [I should say "recreated;" if we’re going to take a look at what takes place in Corinthians, recreation and regeneration, old things pass away, and all things becoming new] in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:24). We are truly set apart for God.

Turn over to Colossians, Chapter 3, for just a second. Let me just show you. Who is this written to? It’s the church; these are believers. He says to the believers, "I want you to understand that if you do those things that I mentioned just prior to this…" "For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; [and he gives us another list] anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge [it is epignosis, the Greek for the full revelation and understanding of God’s will for your life] after the image [the icon, exact likeness] of him that created him" (Colossians 3:6-10). That’s what that new man is all about. This will give you a little bit of appreciation for what happens at regeneration. I mean, when you are born again, that man is pure; he’s holy. He is in relationship and knows God. Are you glad for that? Therefore, the smallest, youngest baby in Jesus Christ can hear the voice of the Lord, can walk in the knowledge of God, and can be victorious. In fact many times, they are apparently more so than some of those that are more mature. What happens that causes this diluting of this spirit man? Are you all understanding? How many of you felt, when you were first born again, purer than you do right now? Let me see your hands. Come on; I want to see your hands. Did you sense that you were purer in your relationship? How many of you felt that God answered your prayers much more rapidly then, than He does right now? At that time, how many of you sensed you could hear the voice of the Spirit, and there was communion with Father, even more than what you sense right now? Let me see your hands. So we have about twenty-five percent that were walking in this capacity. In that twenty-five percent, what we’re dealing with is the issue that we’re talking about this morning. It is in that maturation process where we are trying to figure out what has happened from then until now. Why am I not purer, feeling purer, or hearing more clearly now?

Let’s find out how this thing works and how people get into this predicament. Turn over to Corinthians, the second chapter. Let me show you something again about this spirit man. We see the state that he was in at regeneration in Colossians. He was created in righteousness and true holiness; he was created after the knowledge and the very image of Him that created him. Here we have this perfect, holy, and pure spirit man who has the knowledge of God and is in relationship with Him. He is in righteous relationship, and he has access through the blood of Jesus. He is in true holiness, being set apart. I want you to see that true holiness is not necessarily mature holiness. It can be true but not complete. This is what Corinthians 2 is talking about, in Chapter 7. He comes out of the sixth chapter talking about your bodies being the temple of the Holy Ghost. He gives us the mandate in verse 17. He says, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and [then what will happen?] I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 6:17-18, 7:1). Check this out; which promises is He talking about? He is talking about the promise of His Fatherhood, the promise of His indwelling us as the temple, and Him taking up residence within us. These are the promises of verses 6 and 7.

If you go back—we won’t spend any time in amplifying this—he talks about the relationship we have with Him by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, and by unfeigned love, praise God! That’s quite a mouthful, isn’t it? It is by the word of truth, by the power of God, and by the armor of righteousness. I will tell you what. If you can get ahold of what he’s saying in verses 6 and 7, you’re going to walk free from the power of sin, over principalities and powers. But in Chapter 7, verse 1, he says, "Having therefore these promises…" We understand how they work and affect your life. It says, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved…" Look at what he just said. We possess. In this seventh chapter, he says that, even though you’ve received these promises, they are conditional. He continues, "…let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1). This is an interesting passage, as we begin to meditate upon these things. The word "perfecting" means "bringing to completion" here. Holiness means "being set apart." It is a continual process. How many of you know that the tense, as we look at many of these things, is "be ye being"? Whether it’s holiness or perfection, it’s a continuation; it’s a process that’s being worked in us.

We don’t become instantaneously perfect. We are perfect. Listen to me. We are legally and progressively growing into that perfection. When will we finally be like Him? When we see Him, we will be like Him, praise God! Perfection is going to be completed when we see Him. Every man that has that hope of seeing Him will do something. He will begin to purify himself even as He is pure. What is going to make me perfect is my desire to be perfect, the desire to see Him. I’m working toward perfection. My heart’s desire is to be perfect. I’m continually cleansing myself, and when I see Him, I’ll be like Him. That’s exciting, isn’t it? But we’re not necessarily going to experience it in the pursuit. It will be progressive. He says, "[Continually] cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit…" (2 Corinthians 7:1). Do you mean our spirit can get dirty? That’s what he’s saying. If the spirit man can get dirty, then isn’t it obvious that we have to be aware? If he can be defiled—now when I say "defiled," I’m not talking about sin nature. I’m not talking about broken fellowship with God. I am talking about getting worldly crust over us, slothfulness, and many of those things that dull our hearing and influence the voice so the spirit man is not hearing or purely transmitting the Word of God to us, which can allow you and me to get into deception.

Do you want to know the ultimate deception that can happen in the spirit realm? It is that spirit of Gnosticism that we were talking about. I don’t want to get off on it right now, but I’ll just relate to it in the Scripture. That is why Jesus says, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). What is that word "try"? It is believing whether Jesus is come in the flesh. I’ve heard people get into demonology; they’re dealing with somebody demon-possessed, and they are getting ready to pray deliverance over them. They look at them, and they say, "Do you believe Jesus came in the flesh?" And they say, "Yeah." And they reply, "This guy can’t be demonic then." Well, first of all, demons lie. "Tell me the truth, you lying spirit!" I’ve heard people say that. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve seen and heard in the area of people trying to deal with demonic powers. Have you ever tried to convince a deceived person that they weren’t deceived? How is it working? How is it discerned? How do we know these voices; how do we know, when that demonic voice is saying, "I don’t believe Jesus has come in the flesh"? Read the book of 1 John, and you’ll know the voice of demonic spirits, as it pertains to the incarnation. The demonic forces will always deny that Jesus came in the flesh; it is for the purpose of saying the flesh cannot be dominated. It must be allowed to sin. You can still be right with God, and you know your flesh is out of control. That’s the spirit of demonic power that denies the incarnation. This is the whole lie of demonic power against regeneration: the fact that man can be in right relationship with God and still have his flesh in subjection. It comes in many forms. That is not what we’re teaching on this morning, but it does come in many packages. Most Christians buy that bill of goods. They fellowship, eat at the tables of demons, and sit down this morning in churches all over this nation and around this world. They may be "Christian" churches, cult, or occult gatherings, and they receive these damnable lies that tell us the blood of Jesus is not adequate to deliver us from sin’s power. They wrap it in a lot of different ways. "In addition to Jesus, you have to add…" It may be Islam, the Mormons, or the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They always want to add to the redemptive work of Jesus and the regeneration that’s taken place in the lives of individuals. They deny the fact that He became flesh, and dwelt among us, and He lived in perfection, and that flesh bore upon itself—pure sinless flesh bore upon itself—the sins of the world. He laid it down, guiltless, and by the laying down, He made a show of Satan openly. By dying, He killed death. He made captivity captive, made a show of them openly, triumphed over them, was raised from the dead physically, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father in an absolutely transformed body today. It was a body, not a pure spirit or separate being. It was regenerated, revitalized, and spiritually energized. I don’t know exactly how it operates, but He has a body, and that body is perfect today. We are members of it, living stones that have been placed into it. We have the hope of the bodily resurrection that He’s given us. In the whole process, we see regeneration being for the spirit, soul, and body of man; it is not just for man’s soul or conscious existence. Someday, maybe we will spend time looking at that. That is not what we’re dealing with right now. We are talking about the inner man, the inner witness, and what’s happening by this man.

Look at 2 Corinthians, Chapter 4—I’m getting off course and I want to get back. Look down about verse 16, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish [what happens to the inward man?], yet the inward man is renewed day by day." If we have the false premise that, once we are regenerated according to Ephesians and take on righteousness and true holiness, the new man can never be defiled, and 2 Corinthians, Chapter 7 must be saying something else, then why does he tell us here that the outward man is perishing, but the inward man is being renewed on a daily basis? It kind of reminds you of what is being said in Romans 12, doesn’t it? "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" (Romans 12:2). Here again is the renewing process. When does [the book of] Corinthians say this is to take place? It is on a daily basis; we are being renewed day by day. In Psalm 51, David cried out, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me" (Psalms 51:10-11). Listen: his spirit wasn’t right, but the Holy Spirit hadn’t left him. Renew my spirit so that I don’t progressively lose the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within me. The Holy Spirit remains in there until we deal with what we shared Wednesday night; there is a searing of the conscience. At the time that the conscience is seared, and we no longer receive or hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, He will leave us. According to Hebrews 4, the Word within us, the living Jesus and the written Word that we’ve hidden in our hearts, is discerning the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. He knows what your heart is. The Spirit will continue to woo you and deal with you as long as He knows there’s that possibility of you coming back. But, once that conscience is seared, you’ve tread the blood of Jesus beneath your feet. The Holy Spirit will leave you. There is no more and no more capacity of redemption in the individual who denies the blood of Jesus Christ, or who is looking for another method of regeneration than the blood of Jesus Christ.

Watch what’s happening here. "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalms 51:10). The heart needs to be cleaned; it was defiled. I should hope so! There is murder, adultery… How many of you think that those could possibly cloud-up your spirit a little bit? If he remained in the state of self-justification, can he be lost? Yes! Will he be lost? Yes! But watch what happens with using David as a type—we’ll come over and use a New Testament principle and show you in just a moment. Even though he had entered into the sin, the Holy Spirit’s still dealing with him. In his repentance, we find out where his heart really is. He says, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest" (Psalms 51:4). That is true repentance. We know there were natural consequences to David’s sin. I’m not going to get off on that. But his heart was grieved here. God began to deal with him. As he cried out, he knew he was out of fellowship with God. He said, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned…" Therefore, his cry was, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me" (Psalms 51:10-11). We see a progression there.

The Holy Spirit was still available to him to speak and to guide, but it’s very obvious that this thing was being tarnished in that relationship. It was being broken. Until repentance came, he wasn’t going to be hearing any more of that voice. The fact that that voice wouldn’t speak to him anymore is what stirred him to his spirit, and to say, "I can’t live without the presence of God and the voice of the Spirit of God speaking to me." Is your relationship with the Lord to that degree? Do you understand? Or can you just go through the day and say, "Uh, you know... I haven’t heard from God for two or three weeks. It doesn’t bother me. I’m busy. I’ve got a tight schedule." We have people running around with car phones and portable phones; you go out, and men are walking around the street with telephones and all. They want to hear input from everybody but the Holy Ghost. "I’ve got to run home!" We have message machines there. I don’t have one. I’d like to have one for the Holy Ghost, just in case I’ve missed a message that was important, wouldn’t you? "There’s a special line over there. Are there any other messages? I missed them; I missed them!" It doesn’t bother me. I’m one of those men who… My daughter is the worst; my wife is probably second. Star has taken after his dad. I can sit there, and the phone can ring. I’ll just sit there right next to it. Just because that thing rings, it does not mean you have to pick it up. It doesn’t bother me at all. If I don’t feel like picking it up, I’m not picking it up. The thing could ring all day. It could be a man calling up to say, "Your house is on fire!" I don’t care. If I don’t feel like picking that thing up, I’ll find that out eventually. But I don’t want to miss any calls from the Holy Ghost; amen? I want to hear the voice of the Lord when He speaks. I don’t want to miss that.

Yet man is taking all of these precautions to get all of these messages that are not important, and what have we done to hear that voice, that still small voice? What preparations have we made to make sure we are hearing the voice of God? It has to be done through the renewing of our mind and programming our mind with the Word of God. As we saw last week, Hebrews, Chapter 9, verse 14 says, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" You purge your mind with the blood of Jesus. Wednesday, we talked about our conscience being our guide, and we said that’s an interesting statement. As little kids, how many of you had parents that told you that? I did. Let your conscience be your guide. Well, I did. I just had a bad conscience; that was all. "Well, how could you do those things?" "I felt like it." "Didn’t you know what the consequences were going to be?" "Yeah, but there was just a stronger voice speaking in me saying, ‘this is the way…’" We realize that this working has to take place. Turn over to Corinthians; let me show you what I’m talking about.

We see that the spirit is created as perfect, but it can be defiled by a lack of daily renewing. Hebrews 9 says, "A renewing of the blood of Jesus." First John tells us that walking in the light causes us to have fellowship with Him, and His blood continually cleanses us from all sin. Ephesians tells us that we are to be washed in regeneration and washed by the Word of God. That spirit is continually being cleansed by the blood, by the Word. That spirit man, and that voice that speaks from him, the conscience… Remember that we gave you the definition of what "conscience" was. The actual word in the Greek means "a knowing along with, or a knowing within oneself." It is that intuitive knowledge of truth based upon the source of truth. I want you to get ahold of that. The fact that the conscience can be defiled means there is another god, another input for truth. It is the god of this world blinding the eyes of those with a message of truth, with a message of prosperity and life lest they should believe.

The propagation of it came out of the Garden of Eden, when the serpent came, and said, "Eat of this fruit. It is the knowledge of good and evil; it will make you as gods." That’s what that other voice is. Believe it or not, you’re going to find out that that spiritual force affects man’s conscience and can speak internally to your spirit. Now watch; he makes a statement in the eighth chapter of 1 Corinthians. He is talking about idols, the vanity of idols. Starting in the sixth verse, he says, "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge [grab ahold of this; not every man has that knowledge]: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled" (1 Corinthians 8:6-7). What made their conscience weak? Look at the first phrase; it was lack of knowledge. The Word of God was not the source of input into their conscience. Because they didn’t have true biblical revelation, their conscience was defiled and weak. Here, it was receiving input based upon tradition and supernatural phenomenon. "This is a god. I mean, we saw the stone speak! We saw the statue; the hands bled! We saw all these things!" "Well, whoop-de-doo! What does the Word of God have to say?" We have people today worshipping trees. We have people worshipping rocks and worshipping statues, who are experiencing natural and supernatural phenomenon. Whatever it is, their conscience is speaking to them saying, "This has got to be God! This has got to be right!" Or it says, "This has got to be wrong, because we receive the revelation from this idol." Whatever the idol is, it may be a stone, or a man, or a doctrine. An idol is just a god, a deity, that is opposing the true God. It can be religion or religious organizations; it can be men. It can be a rock. You could worship that pole!

Here we are. We are finding out that people are responding to these idols in direct correlation to their knowledge of God. What Paul is saying is this: "Look man, we know God. We know the Father" "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him" (1 Corinthians 8:6). He is our only source of input not all of these traditions. The fact that you are having trouble is because this meat’s been offered up to this pole. You can’t eat it now, because it’s been offered up to that pole. Paul says, "I’m going to eat that meat, Jack. That pole is nothing! I’m not impressed by these dumb idols. Listen; it speaks!" And he clangs the pole with an object! Here we are, and Paul says, "I’m not influenced by these things; they don’t bother me." He adds, "These folks have weak consciences." You can read through and see what he is dealing with. He goes on and brings up some other truths. He says, "I’m not going to cause weaker people to stumble with my liberty. At the same time, I’m not going to leave them ignorant either." "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats [they are both of God]: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body" (1 Corinthians 6:13). So we realize that He’s coming.

The principle we’re drawing off this morning is this: the weak conscience of men comes from a lack of knowledge. The ability to be deceived or defiled in your conscience is because you don’t know what the Word of God has to say. Therefore, we come up with people who say, "Hey, man. I will tell you what…"—I’m trying to think of something we could identify with. People say, "My conscience won’t allow me to do that." Well, you can go back into Colossians, and we can deal with it from the religious standpoint. We can talk about new moons, Sabbaths, and all of these different things that people, for sake of conscience, want to keep all the Sabbath laws and the Pharisaical observations of the Sabbath laws. They want to keep the new moons and to keep all of the ancient traditions. Paul says, "It’s not necessary. Jesus has fulfilled all of those things. Just walk with Him and fellowship with Him. Understand that Jesus is that Sabbath." Amen? You’ll find that there are segments that have to keep the Sabbath. Even today, some people misunderstand that Sunday is the Sabbath. There are Christians who say, "We’ve got to keep the Sabbath!" Well, if you’re going to keep the Sabbath, at least you should keep the Sabbath. It is Saturday, not Sunday. Sunday is not the Sabbath. It is the first day of the week. Saints gathered on that first day. They worshipped and laid up offerings on the first day of the week. They had meetings on Sunday. That is how we happen to meet on Sunday. But there is nothing special about Sunday. The church is supposed to meet every day. That’s what the Bible teaches. It says they met daily, and we do also. We are up here every day praying, seeking God, and fellowshipping with the Lord; we meet daily. One day is no better than the other. There are people who traditionally—I’ll show you. On Sundays, for sake of conscience, they come to church, they go home, and they sit there. They won’t shop on Sunday. They won’t play football on Sunday. They won’t go out and mow the lawn on Sunday. They won’t go out and do anything. They are keeping the Sabbath for sake of their conscience. They’ve been taught that, and they believe that. But it’s wrong! That voice they are listening to is a defiled voice, because you can’t treat Sunday any different than you treat Monday or Tuesday. Every day, we’re to walk the same in the Lord. Amen?

What is it about the Sabbath? We are to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Jesus is the Sabbath; keep it holy. Keep your relationship with Him holy. Have your life set apart in holiness to serve Him on a daily basis. We ought to daily worship Him and have our lives set apart for God. Once we come to this reality, Paul says, that’s where the liberty is. That’s where the strength is. For the weaker brethren, he says, we’ll give them a break and try to bring them along; we don’t want to offend them. Paul would not have taken this brother and gone out to play football with him on Sunday afternoon, but he would have gone and played with the other guy. We realize that the conscience is fed by knowledge. Therefore, we have to make the knowledge pure, or the conscience won’t be pure.

We will end with this passage in Romans for this morning. We are already spending too much time on this. I’m going to deal with the voice of the Holy Spirit tonight, even though we are not finished. Go to Romans with me, and let me make one other statement here that deals with what I just said. In the second chapter of Romans, he speaks on the natural, intuitive knowing. Verse 14 says, "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law…" Remember, we are talking here about morality, not ecclesiology. These people did not keep the Sabbath by nature. They didn’t kill. They knew killing was wrong. They knew adultery was wrong. It was moral aspects, not ecclesiastical. When did the keeping of the Sabbath come to the knowledge of man? It was with the law. Yet God related to men prior to the law, didn’t He? The law came for the purpose of bringing knowledge to that spirit, but prior to that, there was a knowing within man. The law, the knowledge, and the revelation came to strengthen that conscience and give it illumination. Do you understand that? Here we are, and we realize in the second chapter he says, "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves" (Romans 2:14). In other words, there is an innate knowledge of truth and morality. The will of God is within us all. He makes that statement very clearly. He says, "Therefore, man is without excuse." Isn’t that what the first chapter, the twentieth verse tells us?

We look, and we see that their consciences, verse 15, "Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness [that is interesting, isn’t it?], and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another" (Romans 2:15). By nature, they were doing what God purposed for man, or, I should say, they were aware of what God’s purpose was for man. They lived out a spiritual law that was written in their heart and their conscience. That inner voice was causing them to walk in that basic morality. Today, you can go into all the cultures of the world and find the same basic principles of adultery, murder, and the things that are written in the law. Man has had these written in his heart by the Spirit of God. Men know innately and intuitively that those things are wrong. They know they shouldn’t worship any other gods. When they choose these idols, they know that it’s contrary to the Creator who made them. The book of Romans tells us that. They know this, but they willfully choose to worship this creature and not the Creator.

Once we understand what is within man, that voice within man, and that the conscience is based upon the knowledge of God, we are going to have to build up more of a working knowledge of God through the Word and through obedience to the Word, so that spirit man can become strengthened, and we’re not deceived by the voice of idols and the lying vanities around us. There is the perception factor. I’ll deal with that tonight. We’re going to talk about the voice of the Holy Spirit tonight. We are going to talk about how to know the voice of the Holy Spirit, as opposed to the voice of a weak conscience that might be speaking up within us. There are many brothers and sisters who are taking for the Holy Spirit what is actually their own, weak conscience. They think they are really walking lives that are pure, separate, and pleasing to God, when in fact, they are bound by their own fears and bound by their own lusts. They can’t know the voice of the Holy Spirit because of deception and a preconceived knowledge of what God is expecting of us, rather than what God has commanded us to do in His Spirit. I’m trying to think if there is—if it’s important, it will come back. Hallelujah!

Father, thank You for Your Word and what You are doing in Your church. Father, we thank You that You are preparing a people to hear the voice of the Lord. Why is the understanding of these things important in our day? It’s because You said, "In the last days let him who has ears, hear what the Spirit is saying to the church." That’s what I was going to share. As you look at the Revelation of Jesus and the letters written to the churches, He had something to communicate. He said, "Every one of you churches, you think you’re all right. Yet, you are missing something." It’s amazing how, if we are not careful, we can look at the few things we are doing right, and we get all caught up and proud of how well we’re doing. We fail to realize He has more to say to us. We just say, "I’m doing well. I’m doing okay. I’m doing better than I’ve ever done." Well, amen. He commends us for that; He doesn’t belittle that, thank God! We’re to be commended for where we are in our own personal lives right now; thank God for where He’s brought us. But, beloved, He’s not through speaking yet. He has some more to say to the church. He says, "Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the church." If we’re not careful, we’re going to begin to believe doctrines of devils and lies that are coming in hypocrisies. It is deceiving and being deceived, Paul said to Timothy. I believe we’re living in that day when Christians are deceiving one another and being deceived of one another. You reap what you sow. We are deceiving and being deceived, believing doctrines of devils, speaking lies, speaking hypocrisy, having itching ears, and raising up to ourselves teachers who are prophesying to us the smooth things that our flesh wants to hear. They are telling us that we are right with God, when in fact, our lifestyle is not. That is the spirit of antichrist. That is the denial that Jesus has come in the flesh. The Holy Spirit is trying to speak. He says," You are doing some things right, but I have this against you. It’s time to return to your first love. It’s time to return to your first love." We say, "Look. We’re so blessed; it has to be the hand of God! We’re so rich and prosperous today." You don’t know that you can’t see, do you? You are poor beggars, defiled, and you lost sight of the knowledge of God. It’s time to come back to your first love and to that pure conscience. This will lead you to what we’re going to share with you tonight on the voice of the Holy Ghost. That pure conscience, the voice of God, will always have contained within it this message. No matter what it is, whether it is direction for a spouse, a business, or whatever it is, within that will always be the spirit of this: what you do will glorify Jesus, not you, and not yours. Whatever God ordains lifts up Jesus. That has to become the focal point of all the voices we hear.

Father, thank You for Your Word and the understanding that You desire to reveal Yourself to us. We thank You that the inner man has been created in righteousness and true holiness after the knowledge of Him, the very image of Him that created us. We’ve been made in Your likeness. We have the capacity of fellowshipping with Almighty God. We have the capacity of being like You, and that’s what we want to do, Lord. We want to be like You, and remain in that state of purity and holiness. Therefore, Father, we don’t want to get caught up with the lies of this world, all of the philosophies of men, and all the rudiments of this world that are the vain, vain thoughts of man’s philosophy as the book of Colossians says. Set us free from it, Father, so we can walk in the Spirit and walk in truth in the knowledge of our God. Father, we want to hear no other voice but the voice of the Holy Spirit. We want to have no other input but the eternal Word of God and the truth that sets men free. Father, all of the propaganda that’s gone around throughout Christendom and throughout the organized church, has deified, and glorified, and emphasized man. Father, let them be pulled down. Let Jesus become all in all in our lives. We pray that we would seek first the kingdom of God and Your righteousness, Father. We thank You that all of the necessities of life will be added unto us. Father, as You become the focal point and are lifted up, we don’t take care for any of these other things, for we know that the blessings of God will overtake us. We thank You, Father, that You will open the windows of Heaven and pour out upon us that which cannot be contained to Your glory. In the name of Jesus, in the power and authority of that name, Father, we come and receive it done. Thank You for it. Amen.

Let’s stand before the Lord and thank Him for what He’s doing in our lives. We thank Him for the recreated spirit man that has the capacity to hear the voice of God. Just ask Him right now, "Speak to me, Father. Speak to me. If I’m missing something, speak to me. I want to know what it is that’s missing in my life. I want to hear the Word of the Lord. I have ears to hear. I choose to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. I choose to have my conscience purged! Oh, clean me up, Lord. Clean me up, Lord, that I could hear and walk. Renew me day by day, Father. Cleanse me from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, that I could hear that still small voice that says, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’" This is the way; walk in it. Father, we are not all walking in that way. Some of us have heard other voices that have had Your name attached to it. Some of us have heard other philosophies; we’ve been caught up in the rudiments of this world. Some have been deceived by riches. Some have been entangled by the lusts of other things. Some have heard doctrines of devils: touch not, taste not. There are voices, Father, that have come from every side. There are many teachers teaching many things, but Paul said to us, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). He didn’t say just listen to what other people have to say. He said, "Study, and you come to know God. You know what the Word of God says about this situation. You have your conscience purified by the presence of the Holy Spirit and by the revelation of the Word of God, so no man can deceive you." That’s the mandate of the Lord to us this morning. You take responsibility for your own heart, to know that that voice that’s speaking in you is purely the Word of God, and then, we’re responsible to do it. We ask in Jesus’ name, Father. Make it real to us.

If you’re here this morning, and you have a need in your life, the Spirit of God is here to minister to you. We want to minister and love you in the name of Jesus. This afternoon, I believe that we’re going to be able to spend some time and meditate upon what the Spirit of the Lord has shared with us today. Go home and spend some time, study the Word of God, search out these principles, and then purpose to apply them. You’ll hear the voice of the Lord. Prepare to come back tonight to worship and honor the Lord. If you are not here tonight, I guarantee that you’ve missed the voice of the Lord. Take just one minute and ask, "Father, do you want me to fellowship in Your house tonight and with Your people?" You will not hear, "No." If you’ll bother to ask, you will not hear, "No. No, I want you to stay home and watch television tonight." That is not the voice of the Holy Spirit. "I want you to stay home and cater to your flesh tonight, lay him on the sofa, and just make sure you take real good care of him. After all, that’s your most prized possession." That is not the voice of the Holy Spirit. So pray and ask God. When you come, come having heard what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the church. Come ready to minister to brothers and sisters. Come ready to hear what the Spirit of God has to say to us. When our minds are set to hear and purpose to hear, that’s when we’ll begin to hear the voice of God. But if you’ve already made up your mind, if tradition dominates, and if habit dominates, you’re not going to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. Some will need to pray, "Father, break that off of me. Break habit. Break tradition. Break lust. Break fear. Break all of this slothfulness off of me. Father, break off these things that have caused me to deny the voice of the Holy Spirit, so I can hear clearly and precisely what the Spirit of God is saying to me." That needs to be the prayer of many of our hearts.

Others are here this morning, and you need ministry in the physical man. You need healing. Some are emotionally under pressure and under burdens. We’re going to pray and believe God to break that oppression off of you. There are financial needs, whatever they might be; the Spirit of God is here to meet your need. Prepare your heart to receive right now. Gary, play whatever the Spirit has put on your heart. Let’s begin to worship the Lord. If you have a need, whatever it might be, you come right now, and God’s Spirit is present to minister to you. He said, "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24). Whatever you desire—you may desire healing, or deliverance from oppression, deliverance from those lying vanities that have kept you bound from doing the revealed will of God. Some of you need to set free from that spirit of slothfulness that keeps you from worshipping the way you know you should and being consistent to the house of God. I’m only saying that for your good. We are not trying to gather a few more people here tonight. I don’t know of any church around that has any better percentage of attendance than we do. We have eighty-five percent attend on Sunday night than what we have on Sunday morning. We’re not looking for one or two more people to put in a seat. You need to be free. You need to learn to be obedient to the Word of God. You need to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. That is the whole purpose. It grieves me. If you have one hundred percent Christians in the morning, then you ought to have one-hundred percent. We don’t need eighty percent Christians. I am talking about habitual lifestyle. I’m not talking about the fact that certain things come up periodically. I’m talking about a life pattern that needs to be broken. God’s Spirit is here to set you free in the name of Jesus. I’m talking about willfully choosing yourself over brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, and obedience to the Word of God.

You need healing, you come. Whatever it is, the power of God is present. Brethren, come. We’re going to worship the Lord. We’re going to minister to the needs of His people, and Jesus is going to be glorified here as the captives are set free. The rest of you, just extend your hands toward these who have come right now, and prayerfully, let’s bring down principalities and powers in the name of Jesus. Exalt His name. Exalt the name of the Lord, and watch the principalities and powers come down in Jesus’ name, as the captives are set free. Brethren, let’s pray; let’s lay hands on these. Jesus, be exalted here this morning. Jesus, be exalted here this morning. Lord, be glorified in Your church.

Hallelujah! That is our heart’s desire, Lord, just to be like You. We just yield ourselves up, right now, as clay in Your hands. Lord, You said for every man that had this desire, You would make us vessels to honor. So now, Holy Spirit, search every heart. There’s not one man or woman here that desires to be like You that will not be made a vessel unto honor. Read our hearts; change us. Be exalted in us. Let everything that’s done in Word and deed, be done in Your name and for Your glory. We give You the praise for it, Father, in Jesus’ name.

Well, turn to somebody next to you, and say, "I’ve got a clean conscience, praise God!" Amen! Go in peace, God’s love go with you in the name of Jesus.

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