Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Being In The Way Pt.1

Hallelujah! Just before we get into the teaching, just another good praise report. We shared with you that the Lord had touched Janet here just recently as she had gone in and confirmed -- they wanted to confirm after two different visits over about six months, that the doctor had said -- for those of you who were not aware of that, that if he hadn't been the one treating her, he would never believe that she had had asthma. And this is from having to go on nebulizers and all different kinds of medicines for years and years, and the Lord has totally healed her of the asthma, and we thank God for that. And then another report that has just come in -- many of you have been praying for little Austin Hibbeler. You know, there's been the damage there to the hearing, and we've been prayerful. There was a lot of concern in that and the last report we just got is that he now is perfectly fine, his hearing and we just rejoice in that. Isn't the Lord good to us? Continue to pray, and those that are on the prayer list, we're believing for a continual manifestation of God's will in our midst, and it is His will that by His stripes we're a healed people. Can you say amen to that?

Let's turn for just a second to the book of Psalms. We want to start -- we've been dealing with the subject matter of "What's God Up To, What's He doing in my life?" And we've been talking about the sovereign will of God and how a man's heart devises his way but the Lord directs our paths. He's the one that sets us right. And we talked about how although our intentions are good, many times we get off course, and that our hearts are wicked, desperately wicked, deceitful, and who can really know them? A lot of the time we think we're hearing from God and it's just our own desires. We try to put a little bit of twist to it, and try to somehow make the word, or whatever it is that we're perceiving be what we want to hear, and we can get ourselves into trouble that way. And God, through His mercy directs our paths, or sets us right, and we saw that He does it in a number of ways. He'll do it through a gentle nudge in the Scriptures, He'll do it through reproof and rebuke of brothers and sisters and we hear what the Lord is saying and we change the course. Sometimes He'll do it through chastisement, disciplining us by having to come into adversity. We see with the nation Israel many times God, to set their path right brought them into bondage for years and years on end, whether it was in Egypt or Babylon. But God's will is to get everyone of us conformed to the image of Jesus Christ to be able to finish this course and hear "well done good and faithful servant." And so, whatever it takes for that to be accomplished in our lives, that's what we're open to. And we don't know exactly what it is that God is doing and the methods that He uses so many times we understand in our study are beyond our comprehension because we're serving a sovereign, infinite God. He operates in the eternal realm and we're in the temporal, and we don't know why He's doing what He's doing, but it's for our good and we have that confidence that our God is perfect in love. He's infinite in His wisdom, and He's totally sovereign. And so we rest in those aspects.

Now, we've seen the general picture, the big picture of the sovereignty of God, and that He will direct our paths or He will set us right. We want to talk a little bit more about some of the intricacies. Now hearing the voice of God and being able to be led by the Spirit, the big plan, the sovereign plan, the will of God will not be thwarted. What about now the daily decisions that we make and hearing the voice of God? We pray and we say, "I just want the Lord's will, I want to know what God is leading me to do." And as you've prayed already today, "Lord, what are you wanting for my life? What are you wanting to speak to me this morning in service? Lord, how can you clear my heart and my mind that I might better worship You and honor You, that this is not just ritual and coming to church, bur that I can encounter the living God. I want to leave here different than I came." Those are all ways of just guidance, praying and allowing the Lord to speak to you what to do. "What do I do?" "Well, what I want you to do this morning is I want you to fast breakfast, I want you to get up a little early, I want you to spend a little time in the word before you come to pray, before we come to worship." Well let's not make a ritual out of that. How do you hear, how do you know what it is that God is wanting to do in your life today? Because today is the day of our salvation. He's speaking to us on a continual basis. Then where we get in trouble is, as we're seeking the will of God, we pray and we say, "okay, Lord, speak" and then we wait for that voice. "What is it Lord that I'm supposed to do?" Put some pastries along with the waffles this morning. That will get you ready for service. That sugar rush will get you up. That's not the Lord speaking. So we need to understand what's natural, natural appetites, and what is God's normal method of operation. Any voices that we hear we have to hold up against God's revealed will, or the word of God, and that's what we want to talk about first this morning. We, as we're being led by the Spirit are not a people that are subject to intuitive voices, although that is one of the ways God speaks to us. When I say subject, that is never the final authority. The intuitive voice, "I sense, I believe, I've heard from God." Every voice you hear internally, intuitive, perceptive -- you know, there's a difference. We just kind of intuitively do something, or "I perceive, I'm hearing something." We don't hear audible voices; that's very rare. There are times that you may have heard what you perceived as an audible voice, but it's a very rare biblical experience to hear an audible voice. But we hear spiritual voices many times and they're perceivable, not intuitive, they're perceivable. And what we have to do, whether it be intuitive, perceivable, or audible, it always has to be held up against the revealed will or the word of God.

So let's go ahead and look at the Scripture, Psalms 119, and then we're going to go over to 2 Peter for just a moment. But in the 119th Psalm, we all know what this 119th Psalm is about. We have some people here in our midst that have memorized it, and I think that's a fabulous thing to do. As you look at this 119th Psalm, it's a psalm that primarily is about the affects of the word of God in our lives. It's a psalm about the awesomeness of the word of God and its power. It's a psalm about the illumination of the word of God and it's enlightenment. It's a psalm about the cleansing that comes from the word of God. It's a psalm that tells us that there is no other power or vehicle by which we can know the presence of God, but His revealed word. And as you read through this 119th psalm you know how it affects you. You can't read the psalm and not be encouraged and strengthened, and the psalm itself evidences what it's revealing, that this word is alive and powerful and that this word is able to bring to you and I a cleansing. That it divides asunder between soul and spirit, it let's you know what's of the earth and of the natural and the supernatural. And then it's a discerner of the thoughts and the intentions of our hearts. And only this word can reveal those things. Only this word can cut between and discern the difference as Hebrews tells us. And Psalms 119 reveals that to us. In the 133rd verse, we read these words; it becomes foundational for this study that we're going to be doing. We're wanting the will of God; we're wanting to be led by the Spirit. How am I really going to be a person that on a daily basis knows that I'm being led by the Spirit of God? Look at the 133rd verse, "Order my steps [how?] in thy word; and let not any iniquity have dominion over me." And so we begin to see here that our steps are to be ordered by the word. Now, a lot of people, of course, we've laughed at it, but it's really true, I've seen people do it, I've seen people sit down at the table, get their Bible, open it, and get a word from the Lord. "Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name sake. Let the Lord be glorified that He shall appear to your glory, and they shall be ashamed." Whew glory! How many of you will take that one this morning? That's a good one.

Every once in awhile, you know, and that was an actual attempt here, but every once in a while you throw it open and you point to it and it says, "And Judas went out and hanged himself." And you go, "oh man, that can't be the Lord," and you open it again, and "what thou doest do quickly." And people actually have let their lives be led by that. There's people that "Our Daily Bread" little devotional things, they'll grab those and it's just like reading a horoscope and "that's the word of the Lord to me today." We do not seek the mind of God in the same way that people read their horoscopes. It's not just whatever the daily devotional is saying to you, sometimes it hits and sometimes it doesn't. The times it hits we go, "that's God!" If it was God it would be effective every time. So that method is out. What we do is hide the word of God in our hearts so that we won't sin against Him. We know the will of God. We read, and study, and memorize, and do the word of God so that when we're faced with circumstances in life the principles that have become our strength and our peace are easily then -- listen to me -- pursued. And we go to the word of the Lord saying, "I know what God has to say on this subject, I'm going to refresh myself with that and He will now speak a word to my heart." And so it's very important, beloved, that we understand these principles.

Look over, if you would, at verse 105 in this psalm and we'll lay down a little more of the foundation here for the study. Verse 104 says, "Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way." Now this is important for us to be led by the Spirit. It's not enough just to go to the scriptures -- and you'll see as we go on here in the study, we're going to emphasize this point -- there needs to be a hatred for the natural wisdom. Look what the psalmist says, I get understanding through your word because I recognize it as the only source, the only authority, the only truth. You're never going to hear the word clearly when you still think there's truth in the world's methods. If you're still trusting in science, sociology, psychology, all that men are trying to promote today, the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden. Man having been illuminated and his eyes opened that he might know good from evil. He's become as a god unto himself as we've emphasized over these last months. And as long as there's some kind of trust in your natural ability you're never going to fully be able to receive the revelation, the truth, and the wisdom of God. You're always going to be second-guessing it, there's always going to be mingled seed in your wisdom. And you'll find yourself only applying the word when it's comfortable for you and those around you; when it doesn't really cost you anything. But I want you to see what God says our attitude toward the natural wisdom is to be. He says, "I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (Psalm 119:104, 105). I'm not looking for anything else, there's nothing else that satisfies me. Turn over for just a second to the 31st Psalm. I want you to see something. When I talked about the hating of every false way. We need to see the power of God's distinction here between His wisdom and the world's. Psalm 31 verses 3 - 8, you can read down through there, "For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they've laid privily for me: for thou art my strength. Into thine hand I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. I have hated them that regard lying vanities but I trust in the LORD. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy; for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities; And has not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room." And so the psalmist here is rejoicing, but notice what he says. He said, "not only have you set my feet upon a rock, but he said, I want you to understand something, I hate them that regard lying vanities." Pretty powerful statement. Them who? Dr. Spock, of the past generation that introduced a psychology that destroyed a generation. "Let your children express themselves." The great author of time out instead of foolishness out. The rod drives foolishness far from the child. I'll give you time out, between swats. Because God's word is truth and His methods are immutable, and the fact that we're in the 21st century doesn't change the wisdom of God. The advance of science does not change the wisdom or the methods of God.

Look at the 25th Psalm for just a second and in verses 5 - 9 you see again the contrast. "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day." (Psalm 25:5). And so as the psalmist is speaking to us here, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, "lead me into thy truth." We know that in John 17, Jesus speaking, He said, "...thy word is [what?] truth" (John 17:17). And so what we're looking for here is not some abstract truth, we're looking for absolute truth. We're looking for the fact that there is an absolute truth. What does the world tell us today? There are no absolute truths, everything is relative. They take children today in our schools and they put them under the pressure of situational ethics and cause them to believe that truth is what's good for you at the moment, what personally benefits you. Truth is centered on you. Biblical truth is centered on the glory of God and the purpose of God. You'll find out that as we learn to be led by the Spirit of God its going to go so contrary to natural man, because natural man is looking for guidance that makes life easy on him, that benefits him. The Christian walks in the philosophy that says, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the [power, the ability] the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). It's not about me, it's about the glory of God, it's about the purpose of God. Most of our pulpits today, in our churches, when you hear the messages that are being preached, you don't know if you're in some type of an Amway meeting, or a Psyche 1 class, or some kind of a rock festival. And regardless of which one of those avenues you want to pursue, and I'm not going to pursue any of them right now, the only thing I'm saying is this: everyone of them points toward what appeals to man because there's no longer confidence that God's word works. Teaching the pure word of God won't work, it won't attract people. People are not interested in just Bible teaching, they need to be entertained, they need to walk out with some kind of new self worth. I want to tell you something, I'll tell you what you're worth. You're worth going to hell, that's what you're worth, but Jesus loved you and died for you. What we deserve is hell, what we get is grace, and mercy, and love. You don't need to feel better about yourself, you need to feel better about God.

But listen to what's being taught, listen to what the emphasis is today. People can't come and just be taught the word of God they need to be entertained. And some churches have gone as far as Top 40 tunes, and others have gone to appeal to the youth, and to appeal to the youth you have to dress all freaky looking, and make a bunch of noise, and play music that defies melody. That will appeal. Yes, it will appeal to the flesh. But I want you to understand something: the word of God is alive and it's powerful. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation" (Romans 1:16). All the others do is leave you in bondage and feeling better about yourself. The word will set you free, praise God. And so if we're going to be led by the Spirit, everyone of us in doctrine would say amen to what I've just said; but what about in practice? And so as we look at the psalmist and he speaks to us here, and he tells us that his cry is "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day" (Psalm 25:5). Now we're starting to see a little bit here. "On thee do I wait all the day." How patient are you, how persistent are you, how zealous and diligent are you in pursuing this truth? It's not going to just come first thing. "Lord okay, what do you want today? Oh, okay, here, man, got the whole day laid out. First thirty seconds of my devotions, I'm on my way. The map has been drawn, here we go." On you do I wait all the day, for every decision. Do I turn right, do I turn left? I don't mean stop in the middle of the intersection. "Oh Jesus..." But you understand that the steps of the good man are being ordered by the Lord and the fact that He is leading us. I'm aware that God is directing my path. And so I'm waiting, and there's never a moment in the day when I don't have to depend upon God and don't seek His word and His wisdom for every situation in life. How many times do we just get confident in our own...? "Oh, I know how to do this, this is my job. I know how to do this, I'm an expert at this." Now I'm not talking about asking God how you can do your job better, I'm talking about being aware of how you can do His job better on the job. God is not interested in a better mousetrap. God wants to deliver rats and turn them into princes. And it's important for us to understand this principle.

Look as it goes on, it's kind of interesting. "Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness sake, O LORD. Good and upright is the LORD; therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment [and we're going to talk about that a little more as we go on, and understand the character aspects of guidance, because God doesn't hear sinners. There needs to be the building of character in our lives, and purpose, and it says,] The meek will he guide with judgment and the meek will he teach his ways. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies" (Psalm 25:6-10). And so we begin to see then that God is looking to order our steps. And the psalmist makes it very clear to us. Go back to the 119th Psalm and verse 130 says, "The entrance of thy words give light; it giveth understanding unto the simple." And so we realize then that His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, that the entrance of His words give illumination to us, understanding to the simple ones. Well, one of the things we have to do then if we're going to hear the word of the Lord is to identify ourselves as simple. That's not always easy to do, is it? Do you need wisdom this morning? Let me ask you: do you need guidance this morning? Or do we pray for guidance the same way we thank God for our food? The Lord tells us to pray, "give us this day our daily bread." We have three months laid up. "Lord, I just want to thank You for what You've provided us with today." And there is a thankfulness, I'm not saying that we're not thankful and that we're not aware of God as being the source. But I know human nature, and I know that if there were nothing in the cabinets, and there was no understanding of where the next morsel was coming from it would be a different prayer. And when we pray for wisdom are we really undone, or do we think we have it covered? You know, "Lord, speak Lord, I need Your direction, but if You don't, I've got it covered." Without Him we can do nothing, the Scripture says. In other words, without Him we can do nothing that is accepted of Him. We can do a lot of stuff, we understand that, but as the psalmist is revealing this to us, he's saying, how much confidence, and how much emphasis are you putting on the word of God in your daily life on a daily basis in your decision-making? Let me ask you something: do you know how to pray? Let me ask you something: do you know how to be a husband? Do you know how to be a wife? Do you know how to find a wife? You'd better find out the biblical method or you'll wish you hadn't! You'll never find the handle to that faucet. You better know how to find a wife, and it's not the way the world does it. It's not just by scoping the structure. It's not by just listening to words and doctrine, you'd better see some fruit. You'd better see humility, you better see a submission to the lordship of Jesus because I'm going to guarantee you something, man, if that person will not submit to Jesus they're sure not going to submit to you. So what do we use as our standard, where is our wisdom? How are we led, or do we think we know? And how often we parrot the word of God and promote our own will. And so "the entrance of the word gives light, it gives understanding to the simple." So we then have to come to grips with that. You know, we're not really quite as sharp as we think we are.

Proverbs 4 speaks towards this, turn over there for just a second. And in the 4th chapter of Proverbs, you all know what that's about; we love the 4th chapter of Proverbs. It's all about the word again, and wisdom, and how it affects us. "Wisdom of is the principal thing: therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting get understanding," verse 7 says. How many methods have you used to try to come to peace in your life, to try to achieve your life's goals and you're still frustrated? I want to tell you something, Chapter 4 tells you right here how you can be totally content, blessed of God beyond your comprehension with His peace reigning, and it doesn't get any better than that. To know that everything you have God's given you and every step you've taken was ordered of the Lord. And as the utterance came forth this morning, to know that "I always do those things that please my father." You read through this 4th Proverb and it's fabulous. He said, verse 2 "I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law." You know, that's the problem really today, is that doctrine is no longer emphasized in our churches. What's emphasized again, is this personal feel good doctrine. We want to feel good about ourselves because we are a dysfunctional society. We call today dysfunctional or disease what the Bible calls sin. Every time you hear somebody use the word disease put sin there. Every time you hear somebody use the word dysfunctional put rebellion or sinner and you'll really understand then the contrast between now where the world is and where the kingdom operates.

And so as the word begins to reveal itself to us he said, "I give you good doctrine." The doctrine of the 21st century church in America is a doctrine that says the same thing as the world. We need to tolerate all that's going on around us and accept the diversity of truths and methods, and in some cases, gods. Tolerance. As you study out you're going to find out that there's zero tolerance for sin as it's revealed in the will of God. The mistake that most of us make is that we have zero tolerance for sin in other people's lives and total tolerance in our own. But he said, "I give you some good doctrine, forsake not my law." It doesn't get much better than that. I'm going to give you some good doctrine, do the word. Good doctrine! Whether it's here in America or even over in Africa as we've been getting the responses back and God is doing some tremendous things as we're getting ready to go here in the next couple of weeks, and the reports are coming in that doors are just continually opening. And the thing that I feared I think has come upon me, as Ron shared with me yesterday that the President wants to meet with me and wants me to speak into his life. He may not. And it's very important for us to understand the simplicity of this. Good doctrine is doing the word. It's not just being able to somehow apply proper exegesis. It's nothing that has to do with scholarship. It's not just being able to understand the truth, but it's to do the word of God. Because if we're hearers, understanders, and not doers we've deceived ourselves, and if our light is darkness how great is that darkness? I want to tell you something beloved, there's nothing more dangerous than to sit in a fellowship like this, people all around this nation fellowships like this where the word of God is emphasized and taught and people that sit in these meetings because they say "yes, I want to be in a church where the word of God is the standard, but I just choose not to do it." You're in the greatest danger of anybody. How great is that darkness. Because as the truth continues to come and we continue to hold those little areas of our lives separate, that we won't let the word of God come into -- "You can have everything but not that." That hardening of the heart process beloved will bring us to the place eventually where there is no remedy. Oh, it takes a long time to get there, God is merciful. What we're asking this morning as we're looking for spiritual guidance is this: why should God tell you what to do if you're not going to do it? We've responded to some of you in this very room that way in recent months. People have come in, the deacons have come in and said, "it's so and so again, and what should I tell them?" I said, "don't tell them anything, we're not giving any more counsel, they haven't done anything we've said. I have nothing else to say until you do one of the things you were told to do." We all realize that those tablets that Moses came down off the mountain with were not the ten suggestions, right? For consideration, good until the 21st Century.

Once we understand what good doctrine is, the pursuit of and not the forsaking of the wisdom of the word of God, we're on the right course. He said in verse 4, "Let thine heart retain my words, keep my commandments and live. Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee; love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing: therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her and she shall promote thee; she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace; a crown of glory she shall deliver to thee" (Proverbs 4:4-9). As you read through and understand these principles, verse 11 then becomes the emphasis, "I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths." You see when you honor the word the consequence of that is going to be guidance. "I know what to do, I don't have to make any decisions, I don't even have to pray about this." You know, it amazes me every time someone says, "well, I'll pray about it." Pray about what? It's obvious what to do, what are you going to pray about? The moment the will of God is obvious and you pray about it, you're asking to be deceived, you're asking to hear another voice. You've already had the voice of God speak, what else are you looking for? "Well, I want to confirm the word with my intuitive feelings." Wrong choice. Turn over to Peter for just a second and let's see whether or not that's backwards. Now we wouldn't say that, but how many of you think you've done that before? "I just want to confirm the word. I know what the word says, I just want to feel right about it. I need to pray so that I can confirm [you wouldn't say this] but I want to pray so that I can confirm the word, because if I can feel good about it then I'll know it's God. I want to be able to confirm the eternal, revealed will of God. Heaven and earth will pass, the word will not pass away, but I want to confirm that with my intuitive voice." Sounds kind of foolish doesn't it? But how many of us do that? You don't pray about the word of God, you do it.

A classic example, and we've used it so many times, "Pastor, I just want you to know that I really believe that on the job God has led me into an acquaintance with this woman, and we've hit it off, and we have so much in common, and it's just, this is really something that I believe God is doing in my life. I've prayed and I just really -- I'm at peace with this." How great is that darkness. The moment you feed that kind of a lifestyle, philosophy, you're just going to continually go into deeper deception. Then you'll begin to despise those that have loved you and give you counsel. You're going to despise those that are trying to control your life, dominate your individual relationship with God that you can hear from God and know the voice of the Lord. Of course we hear from God as individuals, and there is no cookie cutter will or method to walk in the spirit, but there is the infallible, inherent, eternal truth of God's word that is the only standard that everything else has to be measured by. 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 16: "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty." The Apostle Peter here speaking of all that he saw with his own eyes. Not only as he gives testimony of the great encounter on the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus was transformed before them and they were awed by the power of God and the glory of the Lord shone so brightly from within Jesus that it actually radiated through His skin and His clothes. And their response of course, to that was, "it is good for us to be here, and let us build three tabernacles," as the visitors had come to the mountain, Moses and Elijah. The voice of the Father spoke and said, "You did it again. Good old Peter." You know, it's a good thing that the Bible teaches foot washings because Peter sure stuck his foot in his mouth a lot. "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, hear him." And Peter is referring back to that. He's also in the midst of this not only talking about the revealing of the majesty of God on the Mount of Transfiguration, but he had seen the resurrected, glorified Jesus. And he's telling us and all of the generations that preceded and might follow, that these words that are being shared with us are not cunningly devised fables. We received it from God, verse 17. And there was the voice that came forth from the excellent Glory, verse 17 says. "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophesy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:17-21). And so we realize then that we have this more sure word of which everything else has to be held up against.

Turn over to Matthew chapter 5 verse 19 for just a second. And in Matthew the 5th chapter, 19th verse, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." And so we realize that there is no greater witness of the glory and the majesty of God than someone that will do the word and teach others to do it. It starts with our children, doesn't it? And so as we're talking about being led by the Holy Spirit, we need to ask ourselves a question: what do we do in example, what do we do in showing our children how to choose the will of God as opposed to their own appetites and their own understanding? I want to tell you something the greatest teachings that you'll ever be able to give your children are the ones that will hurt the most. And what I mean by hurt the most is having to put to death those natural appetites. "I really want to, I really, I, I, I..." "It's not the wisdom of God, here's God's method and we're going to do it that way period; and we're all going to have to die in the process." "You mean Dad, what you're saying is that we don't just talk about the word at church, we really do it, even when it hurts?" Now we have a more sure word, it's the standard by which everything else is measured. Now if that's going to be the case then you're going to have to know what it says, you're going to have to study to show yourselves approved unto God, workmen that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Cutting straight through is what that word rightly divided means, getting to the truth of the thing, man, not being swayed by the left hand or the right, but in all of your ways acknowledging God and knowing that He's directing our paths.

What's the word -- just cut to the chase, man. What does the word say, do it? Once that becomes the way you operate, your home counsel is simple. Now we're not looking for ways of how we can sugar coat it. "How can I say this in a way that is more palatable to everybody?" I want to tell you something, if you have a heart for God there's no problem in taking truth. "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart" (Jeremiah 15:16). I've tasted God and its good! If this word that you're bringing needs sugar coating, then I want to you to understand something, you have people that are saying to you, "prophesy to us smooth things." And so we don't have to apologize for the word of God and its application. How can we make this more palatable? That's one of the main philosophies in the 21st century church in America. How can we make the word palatable; how can we appeal to the masses? Well, if you read the word is says of itself that its going to offend the masses and few there's going to be that find it. If you try to make it appeal to the masses it's no longer the word of God. Let me ask you a question: what's the difference between the masses flesh and your flesh? There isn't any difference. What am I saying? Your flesh isn't going to like it either. And so when you read it, and you go, "oh man," then you choose death to self, you choose to humble yourself and let God exalt you and that is the method of guidance that the Spirit of God is wanting to affect in our lives.

As we get ready to shut down for this morning's session I think it's so important for us to see these principles. You know, it's interesting -- go to Timothy for just a moment, and in 2 Timothy, chapter 3 -- we'll finish with this for this morning's session. Verse 12, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." Now why is that? It's very obvious, because if you're a doer of the word, it's heaping coals of fire upon those that are around you. It says concerning the ministry of Jesus Himself, that the reason they hated Him was not because like the Pharisees He stood up to proclaim the word of God, but He did the word of God which was judgment against them for their disobedience and rebellion. So every time somebody chooses to do the word of God it shows that it can be done and the rest, the masses man, don't want -- it's like the kid at school that always studied and got good grades and every body hated him. How many of you were that person? Okay, a couple. How many of you hated him? Yeah, okay. We've proven our point. And it's the same thing in the spiritual world. So what happens is the majority stands back and says, "you know what's wrong? Those people - you know, they just don't have balanced lives. Those people are extreme, they're fanatics." No, they're Christians, and they're pursuing the word of God, and they're doing the word of God and I'm not doing it and it makes me mad that they're showing me up and showing that it can be done because my doctrine says you can't do it. They're doing it, and now I have to deal with that. There's the hatred that arises because of the obedience. And so, when you live godly you're going to suffer persecution. People are going to try to put out your light, man. To make a choice to move into this kind of a holiness, and this kind of a walk in the spirit, there's going to have to be a house cleaning; and we're going to talk about -- in one of the sessions about Josiah and how the cleaning started taking place as they found the book of the Lord in the temple and the next thing you know, if you want to read that story, it's kind of interesting. You can maybe even read it this afternoon, but it's kind of interesting that the task was bigger than they had anticipated. You'd think, "Praise God! We just got the word, we found the word, it's been lost in the house of the Lord, and we've finally now recovered it." Let me restate that statement that's a powerful statement, the word of God was lost in the house of God. And as this king begins to move toward restoration of the nation, and the rebuilding of the temple, and they find the word of God and they begin to read it, and they said, "whoa! No wonder we're such a mess, look at the judgments of God that have come against us because of our rebellion. We need to change things." They began to make the changes, and you know, once you head in that direction it's worse than you thought.

It's interesting as you read that story. They had priests that were operating within the house of God to Baal-Chemosh. They had Sodomites that were living within the confines and wondering why they were under the judgment of God. And all of a sudden we find the word of the Lord. You know one of the things I'm going to come up against in Africa is this: we're going to go over there, they practice polygamy and it's a big problem throughout the nation. I want to tell you something: there's not going to be polygamy in any of our churches. "Yeah, but what are you going to do man, the guy's got like six wives, what are you going to do?" You choose one. "What are you going to do with the other five?" Let me tell you, read the book of Malachi. Send them and their kids away. How many of you think that's going to be popular? I don't see anywhere in the Scriptures where Africans are an exception to the fact that these men of God are to be the husbands of one wife, having their children in subjection. How many of you know that when you study the Scriptures one means one? I didn't say it was easy, I said you do it. The deeper you look into your own life the more groves you find and the more false priests abiding within your tabernacle. And only the word of God can set us free as we study, and we read, and we do. You're going to suffer persecution, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. [Okay, you're living godly; you're going to be persecuted. You're going to be persecuted by these deceivers,] But continue thou [Timothy] in the things which thou hast [have what?] learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3; 14 - 15). The Scriptures run contrary to so many things in the natural in our society, in natural relations. It goes against everything that is naturally within us. To think about taking our child to the gate and stoning them to death in their rebellion, but beloved, there's a higher calling and pursuit. It's not about the natural affection I have for my child it's about the glory of God. Are you jealous for the glory of God? We can never be led by the spirit until the glory of God is all that we're consumed with and fulfilling the purpose of God and representing the person of our God. Whenever there's these other little idols we're never going to hear it clearly. If you can't take them to the gates and kill them you're going to hear it clearly. If you can't take those, whether its relatives or best friends that try to seduce you and remove the word of God from your midst, and you be the first one to put your hands on them and kill them, it's not going to be available to you; but in fact, what's going to happen is these evil men, these seducers are going to bring you a palatable doctrine but you continue in what you've learned and heard. That which is able to make you wise unto salvation, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

So as we end for this morning the question is this: in the balances, where are you today? Have you become -- sound doctrine, you say amen to all of it, but have you become a hearer or a doer? Where does the word of God rank as it relates to obedience, to the pursuit of His truth? Then and only then, can we hear, "this is the way, walk in it."

Father, we thank you for the word of God, and we're hungry for Your truth and for Your word to be evidenced in our lives. Father, there's a very real threat to all men, and that's the temptation to judge ourselves by ourselves. Either the philosophy that says, "Well, everybody else is doing it, so it must be acceptable," or that which says, "I'm doing better than the majority, so I'm okay." Can we say like our master, I do always those things that please the Father? Is this word more valuable to us than rubies? Is there nothing else that can be compared to it? Do we hate all other philosophies that would exalt themselves against the knowledge of God? I hate every false way. Not, I don't agree with it, I don't accept it, I don't practice it, I hate it. It's an evil that opposes the wisdom and the holiness of God.

Father, help us to understand this morning that being led by the spirit is more than just praying a simple prayer, "Lord show me Your will, Lord tell me what to do." Are our hearts prepared to hear? You're not some resource we can bring up on the Internet for more input. Your word is truth. Your glory, pre-eminent. It's not a thing of coming and praying, "Father, you know, I'm really off course, and messed up, and confused. Could you give me a little bit of light this one time?" We should have the confidence that we're in the paths of righteousness that our steps are ordered of You. And so we're not as concerned with finding the will as we are continuing in the will. Make it real, Father, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord this morning. As Gary plays for us, we'll allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us. These moments after the teaching, beloved, as we take this time as he plays, these are the life changing moments right now. The word has come forth. The reason we do it this way is for this very purpose. I'm not just following some kind of a tradition here. Let God speak to you at this moment. This is what it's all about. You've heard, now respond. What are you going to do about it? "I've heard Your word, Lord, I see some things and I purpose in my heart to do it." As Josiah stood by the pillar to make the covenant with God as the word was coming forth, that's what you need to do right now, you just stand over against the pillars of sound doctrine and say, "I choose to do it in the name of Jesus. I make a covenant in my heart to do the will of God." Are you guilty this morning of trying to find proof texts to agree with what you've already purposed to do or are you wanting to do the will of God? Give us ears, Father, and give us hearts to obey, the grace necessary, for it's not in us, but You're in us, and we accept Your lordship to direct us into truth, and that we rejoice in. Let's sing it together and delight in His presence this morning. Hallelujah! "Jesus Draw Me Close." Hallelujah! Sing it one more time; make it your heart's cry. Hallelujah! Father, it's our hearts cry this morning that we would walk in obedience, that You would supply the grace and the strength, Father, and that You might be glorified in it. Your word is a lamp unto our path and we thank You for that illumination. In Jesus' name, amen. Hallelujah! Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Walk in the light." Praise God. Go in peace, God's love go with you.

Back to Top | Audio   |   Purchase Audio   |   Bible Teachings   |   Print