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Text: Psa 55:19
- Intro:
- Psa 55:19 says, “Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.”
- The fear of God is one of the most essential things in the Bible.
- Solomon said that to fear God and keep his commandments is the whole duty of man [Ecc 12:13].
- Yet, Paul said that the trouble with men, in general, is that
- “There is no fear of God before their eyes,” [Rom 3:18].
- God wants you to fear him.
- If you are willing to listen and take instruction, he will teach you the fear of the Lord [Psa 34:11].
- He knows that you and I don’t come by his fear naturally.
- The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge [Prov 1:7] and wisdom [Prov 9:10].
- That is, you don’t even begin to know anything worth knowing and you don’t even begin to have proper wisdom until you fear God.
- The fear of God is the starting point.
- The Lord is the one who gives wisdom, and he doesn’t give it to people who don’t fear him [Prov 2:4-7].
- Instead, he makes their wisdom foolish [1 Cor 1:20].
- What David is saying in Psa 55:19 is this.
- Many people don’t fear God because they have no changes.
- When they have met with a setback, they have just kept going on the way they were going… no change.
- When you look back in your life you can see times when things didn’t work out like you expected.
- How did you handle those times?
- Did you stop and consider that God might have been trying to get your attention?
- In Num 22:22-33, God intercepted Balaam along the path he was taking to go to King Balak.
- The first time, the ass he was riding turned aside to a field.
- The second time, the ass thrust herself into the wall and crushed Balaam’s foot.
- The third time, the ass fell down and wouldn’t move.
- Then, miraculously, the ass spoke to Balaam.
- Finally, the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes so he could see that God had been an adversary to him all along the way.
- And Balaam never stopped to realize that God was trying to get his attention.
- God let Balaam go on to the king, because he wanted the king to hear Balaam bless Israel [Num 23-24].
- Even after the three times God blocked Balaam’s progress, and the three blessings, and the prophecy concerning Israel’s future, Balaam never changed.
- He advised King Balak to invite Israel to sacrifice to their gods and to commit fornication with the Moabite women [Num 25:1-3].
- For this, Balaam died when Israel destroyed the Midianites in a later battle [Num 31:8].
- There were seven or eight events that should have convinced Balaam to change his ways and fear God.
- If you are one of God’s children, he is going to chasten you [Heb 12:5-11].
- And when he does, when he changes your plans, you had better fear God and make the changes in your life that he wants you to make.
- I look back on my life and I can see definite times when God blocked my plans, set me up for a huge fall, allowed trouble to come my way, and so forth.
- He was trying to get my attention.
- And he did. God made changes in my plans and, eventually, I made the changes in my life God wanted me to make.
- Look how God changed Naomi’s plans in the book of Ruth.
- Naomi finally got the message.
- It was time to head back to Israel.
- And fortunately, Ruth went with her.
- Ruth feared the God of Israel.
- And look how things turned out for her.
- Naomi’s daughter-in-law ends up marrying Boaz and her first child is in the live of Jesus Christ.
- God’s plans are always better than ours.
- When you consider Peter’s life during the earthly ministry of the Lord, Peter was always impetuous.
- He rebuked the Lord in Matt 16, when Jesus told them he was going to die and rise again.
- Peter should have just listened and kept quiet.
- Later, he swore that he would never be offended and forsake the Lord.
- He would die with him before he would ever do anything like that.
- However, Peter didn’t realize how the Lord was setting him up for a major fall right before the crucifixion.
- In Lk 22:36-38, the Lord told his disciples to get some swords.
- Peter ended up with one of them.
- When Peter used that sword to cut off Malchus’ ear in the garden, the night Jesus was arrested, Jesus rebuked Peter and healed the soldier.
- That offended Peter and Peter ended up denying the Lord.
- Peter never saw that change coming.
- After the denial, when the cock crowed, the Lord looked at Peter and Peter went out and wept bitterly [Lk 22:61-62].
- Peter was never the same after that.
- God changed Peter’s plans and Peter made the changes God wanted him to make.
- Do you know what Peter wrote in his first epistle?
- He learned the important lesson that so many Christians today have never learned.
- God is going to keep changing your plans until one of two things happens.
- You’re either going to fear him and start making the changes in your life that are good for you or he’s going to just back off and let you go.
- And I’m telling you from years of experience in the Bible and in the ministry, you do not want to end up where God just lets you go.
- I have seen untold casualties among God’s children when they refused to fear God.
- In Isa 1:4-7, God said to Israel, in so many words, what’s the use of striking you anymore?
- You’re just going to revolt more and more.
- And so he just let them go.
- In Hos 4:14 he said, “I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom…”.
- In Amos 4:4-13 he said, “Come to Bethel and transgress…”. He just let them go.
- When you get to that place, you are destined for a bad ending.
- Consider the history of Israel after this.
- Consider what they’re going to go through in the Tribulation before they finally get right with God.
- The best thing you can do when you see those unexpected changes occurring in your life is to get on your face before God and see what he’s up to.
- If he’s behind the changes, then you’d better fear him, first and foremost.
- Once you fear him, he can then direct you with his wisdom and knowledge to make the changes in your life that will yield his peaceable fruit of righteousness.
- His ways are so much better than ours!!
- Introduction:
- God knows everything about us, and there is no need to hide anything from God.
- In today’s lesson, we want to see some things that God knows about us that often times we forget or try to hide from God.
- The purpose of this lesson is to remind us that God knows everything, and God is on our side, ready to help us, when we do our part.
- God knows the:
- Secrets of the Heart– Psalm 44:21 “Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart”.
- (to justify in a moral sense- upright, honest, having principles of rectitude, righteous, religious, living in exact conformity to the divine will).
- Do you have a secret of the heart?
- Luke 16:14-17 “Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts”.
- Jeremiah 17:10 “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings”.
- Because God knows the secrets of the heart, we can’t hide anything from God.
- Confess it and get rid of it.
- Don’t loose out on the blessings that God has for you by keeping a secret sin in the heart.
- People may not know it, but God does.
- If you’re Trusting in Him– Nahum 1:7 “The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him”.
- We may be able to fool someone by telling them that we are trusting in God for a certain outcome, result, situation, answer, direction, open door, etc., but if we are not doing that, He knows it is so.
- God knows if you are truly trusting in Him. Let go of any doubt, fear, advantage, manipulation, pull, etc., and trust in Him completely.
- Promise of Trusting in God- Jeremiah 17:7-8 “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD”.
- This tree is always productive, always bearing fruit. The same is a man that trust in God.
- Frailty of Our Body– Psalm 103:14 “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust”.
- We don’t have to hide from God that we are weak, tired, hungry, sleepy, etc.,
- He knows our physical, spiritual, and emotional, frailty.
- God know exactly how much we can take at work, at home, with kids, in ministry, etc.
- Solution- Matthew 11:28-30 “Take my yoke upon you… and ye shall find res unto your souls”.
- Yoke- to couple, to join with another.
- Temptations of Life– II Peter 2:9 “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation”
- God knows the temptations that may trip us up, and He also knows how to deliver us from those temptations.
- Instead of figuring it out for ourselves, we should look for His direction when we see the temptation coming our way.
- It’s like a corn maze, He’s the one on top and knows the way to get us out of the corn maze and into safety.
- God knows our temptation by lust, riches, wants, the eyes, the mind, etc., and He knows how to deliver us from such temptations.
- Look for the way out- I Corinthians 10:13 “but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (the temptation).
- Conclusion:
- Because God knows the secrets of the heart, we have to keep it clean as often as possible.
- Regarding trust, we either are trusting in God or in something or someone else.
- God knows our body, get yoked up with God. Lastly, temptation will come, but knowing the way of escape will help us tremendously, if we know what the escape is.
Text: Prov 4:23
- Intro:
- To be a good person, once we are saved, we must have a good heart. Prov 4:23 says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
- We don’t come naturally equipped with a good heart, though.
- We must realize there is evil in our heart and we must keep it in subjection [Mk 7:21-23].
- We must be careful with following our heart because it is deceitful and desperately wicked [Jer 17:9-10].
- Instead of trusting our heart, we should let the word of God discern the thoughts and intents of our heart [Heb 4:12] and believe what the Bible tells us when it discloses something in us that must change.
- We must protect our heart from other evil influences.
- We are to put things into our heart that are beneficial.
- Like the psalmist said, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word… Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee,” [Psa 119:9,11].
- For the word to root down in our heart and produce good fruit, we must have an honest and good heart [Lk 8:15].
- A good heart is a:
- Loving heart – Deut 6:4-5 –
- Love God with all your heart. We love so many things that compete with our love for God.
- Some love sports, some love recreation, some love money, and so forth.
- To have a good heart, you must love God with all your heart.
- Godly heart – Acts 13:22 –
- David was a man after God’s own heart.
- David had a heart for God and God’s words.
- Nothing works better to make your heart godly than the word of God read, taught, preached, believed and studied.
- Clean heart – Psa 51:10 –
- David said, “Create in me a clean heart. O God.”
- David wasn’t a perfect man and he really messed up with Bathsheba.
- So, he repented and cried out to God to create in him a clean heart.
- And God did. You may have really messed up in your life. Ask God to clean your heart, as well.
- Pure Heart – 1 Tim 1:5 –
- Paul told Timothy, “the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart…”
- You don’t want to vacillate each week between a clean heart and a dirty heart, always cleaning up by confessing your sins and then returning to the pig sty for more of the same sin.
- You want God to not only clean your heart when you sin, but you want him to purify it so that you can stop this foolishness.
- We understand that we will never be sinless and perfect until we are glorified.
- But we can certainly be pure.
- Wise heart – Exodus 31:6 –
- Those who helped Bezaleel build the tabernacle and its contents were “wise hearted.”
- God has put something inside each of us that he wants to use for his glory.
- It is his wisdom. God has used my banking experience to help other churches with financial decisions.
- Willing heart – Exodus 35:5, 21-22 –
- Those who gave for the tabernacle and its contents were “willing hearted.”
- God wants us to be willing to do whatever he wants with our lives and our assets.
- Conclusion:
- That’s the heart that the Holy Spirit wants to develop in you.
- He uses the word of God to do it.
- And so, you must receive the word of God with a believing heart [unlike Lk 8:12, Lk 24:25] and let it work in your heart to make it good.
Text: Phil 4:8
- Intro:
- After you are saved, you must develop good thoughts.
- Even if you are careful about what you are doing, or at least what other people see you doing, and you are yielded to the Holy Spirit so that he can conform you to the image of Jesus Christ, you must be careful with your thoughts.
- Christians who don’t have good thoughts are hampered in their growth.
- Good thoughts are essential to a good life because they mold you.
- What you think about is what you become.
- According to Phil 4:8, good thoughts are:
- True –
- Well then, meditation on the word of God is going to yield true thoughts because the word of God is true [Psa 119:160; John 17:17].
- True thoughts are certain, they are in accordance with fact.
- So here are some problems we face.
- First, finding facts and being certain today can be very difficult since most “news” is speculative and narrative [Deut 17:4].
- Second, our thoughts are based on expectations and not facts [2 Kings 5:11, for example].
- Third, our thoughts are ours and not the Lord’s [Isa 55:8-9].
- Thus, Job’s friends’ thoughts about him were wrong [Job 32:3].
- And all their thoughts about God were wrong [Job 38:2].
- God had to straighten out their thinking.
- They knew what was true after God was through with them.
- If you want to be a true person, then you must have true thoughts.
- Honest –
- Thoughts are honest when they are what they seem.
- The Pharisees were not honest.
- They thought they were better than Jesus.
- The fact is that they were covering evil thoughts with their outward appearance [Mk 7:21].
- Since Solomon said, “As he thinketh in his heart so is he,” [Prov 23:7], their wickedness became apparent when they killed Jesus.
- Likewise, you are a hypocrite if you think you are better than you are.
- People who think they are better than they are don’t usually get saved because they don’t think they need Jesus.
- A hypocrite thinks he is what he is portraying to others.
- His trouble is that his thoughts aren’t honest.
- Many problems in relationships develop from thoughts that are not honest.
- Embellished, exaggerated and emotionally charged thoughts are rarely honest.
- People rarely have honest thoughts about themselves.
- They tend to blame others rather than take responsibility for their actions.
- They generally criticize in others things with which they are having trouble themselves.
- These tendencies stem from dishonest thoughts.
- To be an honest person, you must have honest thoughts.
- Just –
- Just thoughts are thoughts that can pass judgment with God.
- Like Prov 12:5 says, “The thoughts of the righteous are right.”
- For a lost man to think that he is right with God is not just.
- Solomon said, “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin,” [Prov 20:9]?
- No one. Only God can cleanse the sinner from sin.
- No man is justified by the law [Gal 2:16].
- In our country today, where men call evil good and good evil, people have lots of trouble with just thoughts.
- They don’t understand judgment and equity.
- Merely because a thing is legal doesn’t mean it is just.
- Merely because “everyone else is doing it” doesn’t mean it’s just.
- Merely because you thought it or did it doesn’t make it just.
- Merely because you read an article about it or saw a blog on the internet about it doesn’t mean it’s just.
- Just thoughts are thoughts in which, weighed against all the evidence that can be presented, you judge the way God judges.
- To be a just person, you must have just thoughts.
- Pure –
- Pure thoughts derive from saturating your heart, mind and spirit with the words of God.
- Pure thoughts are preserved when you immediately cut off wicked thoughts.
- Pure thoughts are tough to maintain in a society where there are so many defiling influences.
- So, cut off everything that stimulates impure thoughts and fortify your mind and heart with everything that cultivates pure thoughts.
- According to Titus 1:15, “Unto the pure all things are pure…”
- As your thoughts clean up, so will your life.
- Pure thoughts will make you a pure person.
- Lovely –
- Lovely thoughts are thoughts having those qualities that inspire love, affection or admiration.
- People spend so little time thinking about God, Jesus Christ and heaven.
- They are consumed with temporal thoughts and worries.
- But Paul said, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth,” [Col 3:2].
- Lovely thoughts about God and the Lord Jesus should fill your mind and heart throughout the day.
- Lovely thoughts about your loved ones should come to mind frequently.
- Those thoughts will inspire love, affection and admiration for those things and people that you should love.
- Lovely thoughts will make you a lovely person.
- Of Good Report –
- A good report is equivalent to a good reputation.
- So, think about things that are of good report.
- “He that covereth a transgression seeketh love,” [Prov 17:9].
- You can always dig up dirt on people, particularly these days, with social media and the internet [Prov 26:23-28].
- And you can consume your mind with thoughts of their imperfections, sins and failings.
- Or you can think on those things in their lives that are of good report.
- We’re not suggesting that you condone sin in their lives or that you overlook things that would be harmful to others in your church.
- But you don’t have to nitpick their faults.
- Think on the qualities in their lives that God uses, not on those flaws which God must endure.
- Thoughts of good report will help you have a good report.
- Conclusion:
- And when your thoughts don’t line up with one of these six qualities, then change your thoughts to good thoughts.
- When you do, you will find the virtue and praise about which Paul wrote.
