2020 12 31
In June, I asked you the following questions
1. Define trust
2. Define faith
3. Five reasons for trusting why you believe what you believe.
4. Five evidence of hope in you because of your faith
• A lost Helicopter pilot example
• Technically and theologically correct, but totally unhelpful in bringing about a change in you,
• Judge a tree by its fruit
• The answers you gave were revealing, to say the least.
• Each one answered according to your faith
• Some tried to guess the expected/right answer
• What I wanted was for you to be honest to yourself
• What I wanted was for your faith to be real
Psalm 51:6 (NKJV) Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
Psalm 139:13-18 (NKJV) 13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.
• God made you
• He knows you
• He wants honesty, truth
• He wants you to be authentic, genuine with Him
Job 38:36 (NKJV) Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart?
Job 28:27-28 (NKJV) 27 Then He saw wisdom and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out. 28 And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”
• Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts The word rendered “desirest,” means to have pleasure in; to delight in; and the idea is that this only is agreeable to God, or this only accords with his own nature.
• The word rendered “inward parts,” means properly the reins, and is usually employed to denote the seat of the mind, the feelings, the intellect.
• The idea is, that God could be satisfied with nothing “but” purity in the soul.
• And in the hidden part In the secret part; the heart; the depths of the soul. The cleansing was to begin in that which was hidden from the eye of man; in the soul itself.
• Wisdom, heavenly, saving wisdom, was to have its seat there; the cleansing needed was not any mere outward purification, it was the purification of the soul itself, and that is possible only with a born again spirit
• Thou shalt make me to know wisdom Thou only canst enable me to understand what is truly wise. This wisdom, this cleansing, this knowledge of the way in which a guilty man can be restored to favor, can be imparted only by God; and “thou wilt do it.”
• There is here, therefore, at the same time a recognition of the truth that this “must” come from God, and an act of faith, or a strong assurance that he “would” impart this.
• Only if you have purity in your soul, we God reveal Himself to you.
• Only if you are authentic, genuine with Him, can He impart His plans, His Wisdom to you.
• Only then you will be capable, spiritual
James 1:12-25 (NKJV) 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
• James 1:12-25 (NKJV) 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
o Endure Temptation
o Approved by God
• 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
o Temptation = own desires, not God
o Sin will always take you further into its snare than you initially thought it would.
• 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. 19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
o God gives good gift and every perfect gift
o There is no variation or shadow of turning
o we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures
o slow to speak, slow to wrath,
o produce the righteousness of God.
o Bear fruit
• 21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
1. Therefore meaning for that reason; consequently, as a result; because of that
2. lay aside all filthiness and
3. overflow of wickedness, and
4. receive with meekness
5. the implanted word,
6. which is able
7. to save your souls.
• The choice is yours
• 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
• 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
• 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
1. Define trust
2. Define faith
3. Five reasons for trusting why you believe what you believe.
4. Five evidence of hope in you because of your faith
So I’m not going to answer them now, this year
Only Word – dry up, Only Spirit – blow up
Hopefully, by this time next year, I will not have to.