Examining Popular Ways to Know And Do God's Will

All right, everybody. I'm glad you had a good meal. And I know you did. I was there. So we're going to get started for the afternoon. And remember, tomorrow morning, our morning service is the end of that.

And then we're going to have dinner together, like we used to do all the time. but we'll be doing that tomorrow and asking Stuart to kind of give us his testimony tomorrow afternoon. So, I don't know, I've just really enjoyed this today. I hope you have too. Not that enjoying it is the standard. However, it is nice when you're saying, yeah, that's God's truth.

I really appreciate that. So, Stuart, everybody's ready to go. All right. Ready to go to sleep? I know. All right.

Yeah, this is the hour I don't like teaching at school. Around the school we call it the hour of death. So if you are in your notes, I think on page four, we're looking at popular ways people use to, quote, find out what God's will is. And some of these just avoid altogether, and some will be very clear, don't do them. Most of the others, just be so cautious with utilizing some of these other means because they're not infallible.

You can really stack the deck so that you get what you want rather than really looking at commands and principles and following that. So let me just open in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for this time today. Lord, we know that this is a spiritual battle going on today. You're wanting to grow us, your children, to be more like Jesus, to follow your word more.

And we realize that our enemy does not want us to do this, does not want us to know how to make decisions in a way that pleases you and to do whatever our flesh wants to do. So we realize this is not just a battle here of flesh and blood but there really a spiritual battle going on So Lord help us to listen We pray for added grace We know some are really tired They've been working various shifts. They've been working on emergency crisis situations.

Or they didn't sleep well last night, or other cares or concerns are weighing heavy on them. Lord we do ask for your special grace just strengthening grace to be sober, to be alert in our minds listening intently with the the final product of actually walking in obedience to your word for your glory Lord we pray this in Jesus name, Amen just a couple of comments here before we open up to second peter chapter one all these methods and you see those on the page there on page four there are quite a few of them and you probably could come up with more that those are the ones that i'm mostly familiar with and as i talked with other people as well as i've tried to rely on myself so we've all used these various methods to one one degree or another and so we want to be sensitive i want to be sensitive to you if you go well i've been relying pretty heavy on this one and now i'm finding out it's not that reliable i really need to think more about what the commands and principles are in scripture we want to be really sensitive to each other we often gauge our spirituality by these or lack of these i mean if you're in a conference and someone tells you that the Lord talked to them this morning, personally, you probably are thinking, wow, that person is like Moses. I mean, like they walk with God or something.

No, they don't, and they're not. But it's amazing how we gauge our spirituality to some of these. We can't deal with all of these exhaustively, so I'm going to be skimming across some of them. But I'll give you some passages of Scripture, some examples of them, and why to be careful with them. And then we move on But this is sort of how not to do it And our authority is in God Word not our experiences And so that why I want to take you to 2 Peter chapter 1 So if you'll turn there.

2 Peter chapter 1, verse 16. And the whole section here is on knowing Christ and knowing Him through the Word. the promises and the word is how we get to know Jesus. In verse 16, Peter says, For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain now most of you know i'm sorry this microphone just kind of goes up and down do i need this if i stand right here i i still need it okay he'll just keep flopping around sorry when was it that Peter's referring to here what do we commonly call this in the gospels what happened here yes the mount of transfiguration when Peter James and John were with Jesus and he sort of lit up with with glory and in that moment that's what Peter is recounting What kind of experience do you think that must have been?

And you think about experiences. To be with Jesus would be that in and of itself. Walking with Jesus for a few years, watching him do everything that he did, but then watch him just all bright glory. Apparently Elijah, or Moses and Elijah show up. I mean that's and then here the father speak This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. That's I don't know anybody has experiences like that.

That is an Unbelievable and it was a true experience They weren making this up but then look what he says the very next verse verse 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention to. What he is saying is there's something more sure than experiences. And that's the scripture. so I don't argue with people's experiences sometimes people say well this happened and that happened I doubt it but I'm not going to say no it didn't yes it did no it didn't yes it did let's go to something more sure I'm not going to talk to you about your experiences let's go to something more sure that we do well to pay attention to let's go to scripture and let's stay in there so that's just something that isn't maybe encouragement to you when you talk with individuals who are all about their experiences.

Let's not argue experiences. Let's go to something more sure. Kind of get off thin ice and let's get on the ground. Unless the ground's underwater around here. All right. I'm going to go to...

This is what you don't want to do, number one, misuse the Bible. And that probably to me is one of the clearest illustrations of going in and taking a verse out of context and applying it to Christians today. So the way we do not want to intentionally misuse the Bible. Will we end up misusing the Bible at some point in our life? Yes. We'll use a verse.

We'll refer to a verse. We'll put them on plaques and hang them on our hallways and on our walls only to find out, hmm that verse really isn't for us that really doesn't even apply to us it's really interesting there are various verses that have been taken out of context some of them oh boy i don't know i don't want to ruin your day but you know like people put i can do all things through christ who strengthens me. Well, you can't go out and lift up your car.

I mean, people use that verse like they can do anything. And the thing is, it only refers to... Sorry about this. I'll have to tape it on. Duct tape. it's talking about how to live contentment and a contented life is what Paul's talking there. I know how to go without and be content and I know how to have an abundance and be content.

And then he says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can learn contentment in any kind of a situation because God will help me. That's what it's talking about. You can go do anything you put, you know, you go out and want to do. It's about learning contentment in Jesus. Jeremiah 29.11 is another one in the Old Testament.

These are the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and a hope and all this. And you're thinking, well, that's all over the place. I see that on cards. I see it on plaques. But the verse before, that's talking about Israel in Babylon.

The Israelites in Babylon who were in captivity. And they're going, you know, are we stuck here because of what our parents did? and he's talking to them. And he says, no, after 70 years are completed, I'm bringing you back for the plans I have for you. It all promises right to those people, bringing them out of captivity and back to Jerusalem. But we just go right in and we pick out verses.

Does God have plans for us? Yes. But you just have to be careful which verses and context you're pulling things out of. Does that, you follow that? It's just being careful. So here we go.

Personal advice. And that is, a lot of people will advise you on decisions that you make. And godly people can advise you wrongly. Just remember that. Godly people can advise you wrongly. We're just going to have difficulty here, I think, through the day.

I'm not sure. For example, Peter advised Jesus about not going up to Jerusalem. Do you remember that one? And the words you never want to hear Jesus say to you, get thee behind me, Satan. The elders all conferred and advised each other in Joshua 9, verse 14, about the Gibeonites. If you remember that they didn seek God counsel they said well it looks to me like the shoes are worn out like they came a long distance then they were misled They signed a treaty with the Gibeonites that was a problem in their, sort of a thorn in their side for years and years through Israel.

Godly people can advise you wrongly. And their advice is not authoritative. Remember that. Scripture is authoritative. but people's advice is not authoritative. Let me show you an example of this. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 16.

I was trying to think, if I were Apollos, what would I have done with this one? 1 Corinthians 16, we have Paul advising Apollos. 1 Corinthians 16, verse 12. Now, concerning our brother Apollos, and this is Paul talking, I strongly urged him to visit you, to come and visit the Corinthians, with the other brothers. And then it says, but it was not at all his will to come now.

He'll come when he has opportunity. I'm thinking, if the Apostle Paul, this is one of the apostles, This isn't Joe Blow here. This is the Apostle Paul tells Apollos, and he says, I strongly urged him, you need to go see the Corinthians. No. And I like what it says, it just was not his will to come right now. He'll come at another time.

Good for Apollos. advice you take it you pray about it you factor it in but it does not carry authority even if the apostle was urging you to do something so advice is really only as good as it's built on biblical principles advice is really only as good as it's built on biblical principles so just kind of factor that in when you're dealing with people. Do you wanna do some radical amputation? Oh that might be If my ear offends me The problem is you've got this on the wrong side of your face.

Oh, okay. All the other guys wear it on the other side. Oh, that might be the problem. Thank you. alright let's get circumstances I have to tell you this one day I'm teaching on this and I wasn't paying much attention and I flipped this and I just saw circum and I said circumcision and there's no way to recover after you say that As soon as I said it, I just looked up and everybody's just laughing.

And I said, because it would be very painful. A painful way of decision making. We're dealing with circumstances. Circumstances. numbers chapter 20 and again i'm out as we keep going through there because there's a lot of them to cover i just want you to show you some of these illustrations why you have to be really careful don't let circumstances make your decision you can't even judge if god was did he work his work because of what you decided or in spite of what you decided.

And we want to do things because of, we want God's blessing because of what we're doing, not in spite of what we're doing. But here in Numbers chapter 20, verse 10, Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, Here now, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.

Now what did the Lord tell Moses to do? Speak to the rock. Don't strike it. Speak. He did before he struck it because the Lord told him to do it but this time he said don strike it speak to it And he doesn because he angry He angry with the Israelites And what happened when he did it wrong? He did it the wrong way.

What came out? Water. God was in this. Well, he was, but Moses paid for this one. Because the verse, it continues on. And the Lord said in verse 12 to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.

These are the waters of Meribah where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy. Wow. You look at results, you look at circumstances, and you say, oh, God's in this or he's not in it because of how it looks to you or what's happening, you have to be really careful. You can get crowds, and you don't even have to preach the Bible.

You can get a lot of crowds. I mean, you just turn on TV and look at some stadiums are full of people, and there's no gospel at all in what's being preached. Then you find some churches where there's faithful preaching, faithful teaching, and very little growth, but God's in it. so watch out circumstances do should not make your decision circumstances remember providence god using providence and circumstances he'll move you to a place where you have to make a biblically informed decision but circumstances should not make your decision so let's say a girl wants to be married and all of a sudden in god's providence two guys show interest.

Two different guys show interest in her. You go, oh, God's all in this. Well, providentially he is, but the circumstances does not mean marry one of those guys. It may mean look at the scriptures, follow the principles, evaluate both those men, it may be neither one of them that you should marry. Now this, We'll just keep working with it. So circumstances, be careful.

Setting up conditions. And this is where you get into fleeces, people to God, if you want this, then you're going to have to do this. We're going to put our house up to sale, and if you want us to move, it'll sell within the week. Or someone's going to come ask us to buy our house, and we don't even have a for sale sign-out. And they put God to the test, is what's going on here.

Gideon really put God to the test. This was not a man full of faith. He was very fearful. God told Gideon what to do with the Mennonites but he goes well I don't know I'll throw this out the fleece and it's got to be dry and then this has to be wet and then the next day well okay now I have to reverse it God was very patient with Gideon but you do not go to that narrative and find six principles for decision making from the life of Gideon you find a lot of lessons on God's patience with children who put them to the test.

So don't push God. God, you've got to come through on this. I'm going to set up the conditions and you're going to have to meet them. I mean, who is serving who here? Be careful on that end. Open, close doors.

And people go, I'm praying for open doors. Jay Adams says open doors can lead to elevator shafts. the phrase open doors, praying for open doors, Paul used that phrase four times in the New Testament. And every time he used it, it was for opportunities to witness. That's it. He wasn't praying, Lord, open up a door where I can sell my tents that he was making, or pray for open doors on whether to buy this or buy that.

He was only praying that for open opportunities to get the gospel out. So if that's what you do, you say, Lord, I pray for an open opportunity today at work to talk about Jesus to someone, that'd be good. I mean, I'd be more in line with how it was used. Just opportunities. Because how you even interpret things becomes a problem. Open, closed doors.

You know, a closed door was given me. Well, how would you interpret it that it was closed? Someone says you know our door was closed I applied for a visa for Turkey to go over there and minister and the door was closed So that means God doesn't want me to be a missionary. Well, it was turned down. That doesn't mean God doesn't want you to be a missionary.

I mean, what did the church leadership say when they are sending you? You know, where's the church leadership in some of these major decisions in ministry? but it might mean try again it might mean a different country all kinds of things it can mean and then people get very interpretive it's very subjective open and closed doors the next one here is ideas, inner feelings, desires and impressions this is dangerous just because we don't know where impressions come from and feelings as I mentioned Dr. Gary Friesen in his book on decision making he says let me see here I have it impressions could be produced by any number of sources God, Satan, an angel, a demon, human emotions, hormonal imbalance, insomnia, medication, just an upset stomach you have no idea where impressions come from and you go but i have a good desire if i have a good desire it was definitely from god well be careful on that one you might have good desires desiring what's right but don't put god's address on it like he wants you to do it and i want you to turn to second samuel on this one because there's a couple of things to be cautious of in this passage.

2 Samuel 7. It says, When the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent. And Nathan said to the king Go do all that is in your heart for the Lord is with you Now let just stop there You got going on there a desire from David to build the temple He lives in a cedar palace, the ark is in a tent.

He has a desire to build a temple for the ark. I don't know why I wasn't having this much difficulty this morning. Maybe after the break I'll switch ears. I'll switch the phone on the ear. Maybe I'll do that. It just flips around.

If it's like this, okay. All right. Thank you. Two things going on here. Nathan has a desire to build the temple. And what does Nathan say to him about that desire? go do all that's in your heart for the lord's with you you've got advice from a godly individual i mean nathan the prophet except the next verse but that same night the word of the lord came to nathan now the whole rest of the chapter is god correcting nathan nathan and i'm summing up the whole chapter.

It's the Davidic covenant. He says, David's not the guy to build the temple. He's not going to do it. His son Solomon's going to do it. And this is not the time. So you're wrong.

He said, go do all that's in your heart for the Lord is with you. No. but a good desire but he's not the guy and now's not the time do you see when you have desires you still have to check them out he should have went so well you know david let me go talk with the lord about this because at that time god would speak to the prophets so there's an illustration of even good desires have to be checked out with commands and principles it may mean you're not the person to do it. And now may not be the time.

So I just want to show you, be cautious, even with quote good desires The next one led by the Spirit We led by the Spirit It mentioned twice Once in Romans 8 and once in Galatians chapter 5 Led by the Spirit. To be exact, the verses Romans 8, 14 and Galatians 5, 18. And all it is, it's a summary of the context of both of those passages. that God's Spirit is leading us into a walk of holiness.

It's all a context of sanctification. It's not talking about specific things I'm waiting on him to show me, which this or that. It's he's taking me in a path of Christ-likeness. We're led by the Spirit, walking with the Spirit towards Christ-likeness. That's all it means. Those who are children of God are led by the Spirit, going in that direction and following the scriptures.

But it's not specific individual, the Spirit's going to lead me on which loaf of bread to buy. No, it's going in a path of holiness. So it's kind of a general walk with the Lord in that path. People say, an audible voice, I heard Jesus tell me or God tell me. Well, one, no way to verify it. and when you get into this audible i i can't argue with people i doubt it was god an audible from god but argue experiences it's fruitless let's just go to something where we know it's god's word something more sure and get off of that experience that subjective experience because no one can verify it and just try to help point them to scripture.

People can hear things. You just go three nights without sleep and you can begin to hear things. I tell people that they can hallucinate after three nights without sleep. And during midterms and finals, definitely people have hallucinated what they've written down for their answers. It's like, what in world so you can hear things you can hear without three three days this just studies from Stanford Clinic on sleep sleep deprivation is I could be in here and I could hear it like you're hearing can become very acute You could hear voices of people talking way in the very back of this building, but you go, man, I'm hearing somebody's talking, and there's no one here.

And you're going to think, oh, this... It's just all kinds of things start happening. You can see things move that aren't moving. Just sleep loss. Then there's side effects of medications. Some serious side effects on certain medications that you can have all kinds of strange occurrences. so i'm it can be explained why people and sometimes it's a brain problem actual brain things are are happening and and signals are being crossed and they think they're hearing things because they're all connected with the auditory but whether it's god talking i doubt it he's already talked and we have it so i'm just going to try to encourage him to come back to this misusing prayer and this is where people pray for what they want rather than what god has revealed in scripture this is james chapter 4 you ask and you don't receive because you pray a mess you pray for your own selfish reasons you want what you want and so you have misusing prayer another thing that misuses prayer is people listening prayer isn't about listening there's there's nothing in scripture about listening in prayer prayer all four words that are used for prayer are you talking so the four words supplications you talk you you praise god you humble yourself before him.

Another word for prayer is intercessions. That's where you're praying for behalf of other people. You have petitions where you are asking for things in your life. And then the last one, thanksgivings. So four different words used for prayer, and that's giving thanks to God for what he has done. But nothing about sitting still and listening.

That's sort of a Near Eastern view, almost a yoga transcendental stuff of emptying your mind. Prayer is fill your mind with scripture and then lift up your voice to God Much more talking it not listening Inner peace I just did a quick check on peace in scripture and it not used for decision making If you don't have peace with God, you're not saved. Romans 5.1.

That's peace and being reconciled with God. If you're anxious and worrying, you don't have peace. So be anxious in nothing but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. There's three words for prayer. Let your requests, your petitions be made known to God, and his peace will guard your heart and mind. So it may be that you're worrying.

Another piece that's used in Colossians 3.15 is it says, let the peace of God rule in your hearts. It's kind of a southern term. In y'all's hearts. It's collective. It's let peace guard the church as it gathers. Not divisive, not all kinds of factions going on, but let God's peace rule in all of your hearts as you gather.

We're to keep that peace, right? In Ephesians chapter 4, guard that peace, keep it. Now when people say, I don't have peace about something, right? I'm going to make a decision, I don't have peace about it. explore what they mean by that like what do you mean you don't have peace about John becoming an elder I just don't have peace about him becoming an elder what do you mean what you want to find out is this a gut peace this is just feelings or are you talking peace of mind because of what I know and what I know of scripture and they don't fit I know his life, I know the scriptures and they don't fit and you're just saying I don't have peace about it so is it a feeling that you're talking about or I'm troubled in my mind and if it's troubled in their mind that's a better that's a better thing that they're doing just don't use peace about that just say I'm troubled in my mind I know things about his life and character I know 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 and the character there they don't really match so I'm troubled in my mind about that.

Just explore. If it feelings we not to let feelings guide us That isn what supposed to help us make decisions Devices This is coins could be scissors paper rock You're saying, yeah, but they did that in the old, whoa, in times past. God spoke in many ways. He conveyed things in various ways, but not now. As God has given more revelation, we have more of what God wants us to know and what he wants us to do, we don't resort to old ways.

We don't go back to the human with human. We don't go back to casting lots and we don't do various things that they used to do. Now it's used the commands and principles. What does the scripture say about decision-making? I had a student come up after I mentioned this after class and she said, I'm really, I don't know what to do. She said, she was on a soccer team.

And she says, I mean, we flip a coin before we play. Okay, we're talking about we're talking about moral decisions in your life, you know, not a game that you're playing with another Christian university there. Because if you practice biblical principles, you would never get started because don't seek your own, prefer the other. So you'd be preferring them and they'd say, oh no, no, no, you go first.

No, no, no, you go first. You'd never start. So we're talking about immoral decisions, not in a game. And she seemed to be relieved. She had peace about that after she... You're going to have fun with these.

It happens almost every time afterwards. People are going, well, you know, I'm going to start using all these different things. Signs is another one. People looking for signs. In the scripture, God does not talk, especially the Lord, does not talk too highly about people who look for signs. You have the Jews and the Greeks.

The Jews were notorious for looking for signs. and even Jesus did them all, right? And they didn't believe. No matter what he did, they wouldn't believe. So when we looking for external objects I mean I heard a person say I don even know what to give today at church And they looked at the speed limit sign They go that makes build churches near major highways The Autobahn.

There's no speed limit. Oh, boy. You know, people looking for things like that in their decision making, rather than what are the biblical principles in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 on giving. And give generously. Don't be stingy. Don't be all self-centered.

And God's given you money as a steward. Use it generously for him and for his work. But there was the principles. As God has given you, you use sacrificially to help others. But looking for signs, like the tree limbs and things like that, that's very immature. Isolation.

These are individuals who, when making a decision, don't talk to anyone else. They don't want any input. See, one of the proverbs is, in the multitude of counselors, there's wisdom. But there's also confusion when they start going different advice. But isolation, listen to this proverb, Proverbs 18, verse 1. Proverbs 18, 1.

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire. He breaks out against all sound judgment. a fool next verse takes no pleasure in understanding but only in expressing his opinion whoa he who isolates himself seeks his own desire and that's often the case i don't want to know if anyone disagrees with me i want what i want so don't the weightier the decision the more i'm i'm looking for godly people for input I mean, the weightier decision, you want to consult. I don't know why it is that people who move don't ever talk to their pastors or elders about it.

And I don't mean move across town or move a block away. I mean move to a whole other state. Usually, and I don't know if Tim and others here may know this, or have experienced this, but people come and say, well, we're moving. What? Yeah, I accepted a job in another state. I had this.

I had one of our deacons do that. Just, yeah, moving up to Virginia, and we were in South Carolina. I'm like, well, that's the first I've heard about it. Well, it was a major job promotion, more money. And I thought, well, that doesn't mean necessarily it's sinful. It's just now you're talking to us about that?

Because we had some concerns. I did, about their marriage. It was a little rocky. I thought, I'll move right now, maybe not the best. And so my first question was, is there a good, solid, gospel-oriented church in that area? And he said, I don't know.

You didn't even think through that before you're moving? I'm sure there's one around. There wasn't. Where he moved to, there just wasn't. And their marriage did not make it. But, you know, on the way to your decisions, seek counsel.

Godly counsel. That just stands out in my mind, what happened there. But don't isolate yourself. Dreams. Charles Spurgeon said your dream is nothing more than your imagination morbidly active all my dreams are weird God doesn't hold us responsible for our dreams he holds you responsible in your waking time what you put in your mind before you sleep and when you wake up you go boy that dream now he holds you responsible for what you do with what's on your mind Don't dwell on things that are, unless they're true, honest, right, pure, lovely, good, poor, virtuous, and praiseworthy.

But when people go, oh, my dreams, God's trying to tell me things in my dreams. No, no. In times past, he did to people in the scriptures. Now he's spoken through his son. So we don't put any stock whatsoever in dreams. Just move on. we don't talk about our dreams my wife and I we might say you know boy I said some vivid dreams it was kind of hard waking up it was like whoa But she doesn say well tell me what all happened and I don discuss them The more you talk about your dreams, the more real they become.

Remember that even for kids. Tell me all about the nightmare. Why? It wasn't real. just what's the nature of it well someone's coming you know what that wasn't that's not true no one's coming after you god's here we're here let's let's dwell on what we do know and what's for sure let's move on the more they rehearse it and tell this friend and that friend and that friend and that friend and you know what what was not true now it's almost true in their mind that this happened.

So God holds us responsible for our conscious waking hours, what we put in our mind. So a lot of times our dreams are something we've watched or seen or, and then take that thought, work it through biblically. Let's move on. Dreams. Oh, waiting on the Lord. That's a popular one.

I'm waiting on the Lord to marry somebody. I'm waiting on the Lord. We need help teaching in this Sunday school class while I'm just waiting on the Lord. Well, let's just talk about the word wait. In the Old Testament, the key word for wait means to trust. It's keva, it means to trust, literally wrap around and trust.

That's what it means. There's nothing passive about that word wait. It is in our language, in our language, not in the Hebrew word. There's nothing passive just waiting and being still it's trust god and move and we read wait and we think in our english language that means just stay still it's not it's trust wrap around and trust him those who wait on the lord will what in isaiah mount up with wings like eagles they're going to run they're going to walk they're going to they're on the move but they're trusting so when i see a guy seminary he goes man i really want to be married but i just waiting on the lord you know what trust god and start asking some girls out I mean do not be still Look at the principles start asking but trust God as you go That really is the meaning of wait on the Lord.

Sometimes I think it's just a cop-out for people not to do anything. But they say, I'm waiting on the Lord, I prayed about it, I have peace. I'm looking for open doors. And on they go. Well, we've got some work to do. Conscience.

Conscience. God has given us a conscience. Everyone has a conscience, every human being. And there's the thing about conscience in Romans 2.15. God has placed sort of his law, his moral law and principles in everyone's conscience. We know there's a right and wrong.

The conscience is God's ally in people. But it's infected with sin. There's the problem. So you have to forget everything Pinocchio ever taught you. When he said, let your conscience be your guide. Don't ever let it be your guide.

Scripture is our guide. Our conscience is infected with sin. It will say right is wrong and wrong is right. That's how bad our conscience can be. We need to inform our conscience. Dr.

MacArthur writes this in his book, Vanishing Conscience. Our conscience is our guard. It's not our guide. Don't violate your conscience. But don't let it guide you. Scripture guides us. and the more we have scripture in our mind the more our conscience will be calling right right and wrong wrong but it's not our guide next reason and you're going man there's a lot of ways that we tend to rely on this is a big one here reason our own reason and we have a decision to make we get a piece of paper out we put pros and cons and we rely on our figuring things out on paper.

We need to bring in what are the commands, what are principles that will help us with this decision not just our pros and cons Because let say this girl meets this guy at work She really wants to be married in the worst way Her parents are putting pressure on her to marry. She meets this guy at work, really nice guy. Man, so nice. He's thoughtful towards her.

The families know each other. Her parents love this guy. And so everyone just loves everybody. and he asked her to marry him. And she sits down with a piece of paper. Wow, all families get along well. My parents just think he walks on water.

I mean, he can provide for me. We have so much in common. All the pros, 20 of them. One con. She's a Christian, and he is not. pros 20 con one well let's go with the pros see that's that's relying on your own understanding your own wisdom rather than whoa god's word uh and the commands and the principles a lot of times I find too in situations like that that those professing quote Christians are Christianized pagans and that's why they get along so well with unbelievers is they only have an empty profession and we all know I mean I was like that a bit for a while in my life I wasn't saved but I was had the language and everything and he said why are they so attracted to unbelievers and have nothing about Jesus to say at all at any time?

He's going, many times we're just dealing with an unbeliever with an unbeliever. So our own reason, be careful. Proverbs 3, 5 and 6. Do not lean on your own understanding, right? In all your ways, acknowledge him. He'll direct your path. engage your reasoning don't rely on it don't be mindless engage your mind engage your reason but don't rely on it you know i want to think things through i want to investigate i want to think this i want to do this i mean gauge your mind and but don't rely on your own reasoning.

Pseudo-faith. People say, well, I'm just going to do this by faith. I went to a school where this was sort of applauded people who did things that weren't really following the biblical commands and principles. And so a guy, I remember this guy, he showed up on Sunday in his pickup truck with all the stuff he owned in the back and his family in the back seat, a pickup truck.

And they came in, and I introduced myself, and they said, yeah, we just, like Abraham, went out not knowing where he was going. We're down here, and he's going to go to the school that I went to, a Bible college. I said, well, you just came down. You have a job? No. You have a place to stay?

No. Why, Abraham? Went out not knowing where he was going. There's narrative again, right? They just go in and they pull out narrative. And he thought he's just a man of faith.

And I thought that's like one of the most stupidest things. To just pack up everything, go somewhere. You don't even know where you're staying. You don't have a job. I mean, that's just unwise all over it. but when he went to chapel, and once he went to school, they found ways to pay for him and deal with him, because they thought that is just phenomenal faith.

Faith in the Bible is taking God at his word and then obeying it. I mean, you just think about Hebrews 11. God told them things, and they obeyed. They took God at his word and followed it. when the Lord said to the Roman centurion in Matthew 8, the Roman centurion, just say the word, I'm on my way home, my servant. You just say the word, he's okay, I'm on my way home.

And Jesus said, here, I'll go with you. He said, no, you don't have to go with me. I'm under command. I mean, I tell people what to do and they do it. You're God, you just say the words, I'm on my way home. But you got to say it Tell me he okay and I going home And what did the Lord say about him I have not seen such great faith in all of Israel It wasn't foolishness.

He wasn't just pretending something and I'm going to claim that by faith. Taking God at his word and then obeying it, that's how we walk by faith. It's not mystical. but you'll find people who go, I'm just going to do this by faith. We're just going to sell everything we have. We're just going to give everything we have to somebody, and we don't even know where the next paycheck is going to come.

That's not faith, unless God in Scripture, and he doesn't tell us to do that. But, oh, and I just call it pseudo-faith. So be careful of that. Walking by faith is walking according to what God has said. Fasting. People say, well, I gave up some meals and then made the decision.

Well, you might be thinner, but it doesn't mean you're pleasing God. Fasting is not a rabbit's foot that you add on to your decision-making to make your decision definitely God's will. It's okay to fast. People go, I prayed and fasted, I made the decision, so it's obviously God's will. No, unless you're following commands and principles. So nothing against fasting, just don't make it something magical.

Like if I do that and I pray, then for sure that was what pleased the Lord. The call. and I mean when it's all experience based when people are oh I've seen in my doctoral class the professor when we first met he said I want you to go around and tell me you're called to ministry and so I was going around the room and each of these men were telling about they're called to ministry and that language itself can get kind of subjective. But there are biblical principles for going into ministry.

There character 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 There abilities Do you have speaking gifts serving gifts I mean how has God given you an ability to serve him You have godly leadership who look at your life and encourage you to set your life to the Lord's ministry, as was done in Acts, and Paul tells Timothy that. And then there's a desire to really want to serve God as a leader in 1 Timothy 3. but it was going around the room and that that was that was mine i'm just looking at the various principles in scripture but the guy before me he was a farmer from outside st louis he said he said before i was a minister he said i was a farmer outside st louis i knew the area and he said one day i was coming back from the fields he said i was backing up the tractor into the barn and he said I I was ready to close the doors he said I just like God was going to chase me I I just felt like God was was chasing me so he said I started running around the barn and I was running around the barn he said I ran around several times and and finally I was exhausted and so I just fell down on the ground I said okay Lord he said that was my call to ministry nothing against farming nothing against everything else he was doing there but god's chasing him around the barn and that was his call to ministry i'll tell you ministry is tough it can be really hard and you'll start second guessing maybe i around one more lap. It won't sustain you in ministry.

That kind of experience. The other principles will by God's grace, but not that one. And anyway, he finishes. And I'm trying not to look like my jaws, you know, like what? So I look at the prof and the prof goes, whoa, yeah, Stuart. So mine was a real dud compared to that.

But watch out for this. People they talk about they called a ministry and it all experience is based It not biblical principles Then you have a small group method I thought I get my little small group together there That my mom She selling her house and moving up to live with us And my daughter and grandson. But you know the small group method is just when you want something, get a couple of people with you and pray and it'll be done for you.

Where they misuse a portion in Matthew 18. You familiar with that? If two or three gather and you agree, it'll be done for you. And I've had people ask me, come on over here, Sunday evening service at a church. I go over there, what's up? There's two people and I'm the third.

They go, well, it says if two or three gather, this will be done. So we want to pray about something. Whoa. That passage is talking about what? Church discipline. But, yeah, watch out.

The small group methods. Now here's the next one. This is not an exhaustive list. This is just a start of all kinds of ways that we can tend to use in decision making. Some of those aren't necessarily wrong in and of themselves. You have to be very cautious about them.

You need to jot down some pros and cons. Nothing sinful about just putting them down. You've got to be really cautious that all the cons outweigh the pro. But the pro is a biblical principle. Or the con is a biblical principle. And you just have to be really cautious with some of them.

Again, I'm sensitive to, in a room this large, that there's all kinds of ways that we have used and you said, well, I used some of those to buy the house we're in. I used some of these to marry the person I married. You haven't missed God's decree of will. You are not on plan B. What God is wanting at this point, now that you know, boy, I should be cautious about these, to grow. to grow in your faith to say I'm going to be much more oriented to use commands and principles and really factor those in in our decision making well praise the Lord that's the point it's not to get discouraged It's to be encouraged that there's grace.

If you sinned, if you said, man, I violated scripture. I knew I was doing wrong. Then ask his forgiveness. God is gracious to forgive. Don't live with all kinds of regrets in that way. Just say, you know, I was foolish, but I want to grow to be more wise today.

I want to grow more wise in tomorrow and the future decisions. So that's it for this section. and we're going to have a break I think 15 minutes and after that then we want to look so how do we go about a methodology in scripture of making decisions and be much more faith oriented biblical oriented so you are dismissed