What The Word of God Does

Temple Baptist Church - 1-30-2019

Hebrews 12:4

Introduction:

A.  Last week, we took at a look at “The Word of God is.”  If the Word of God is errant and fallible, as the so-called Theologians maintain, then:

1.  We may or may not be saved according to where the omissions, mistranslations, added, taken way, or left out verses are.  Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

2.  We have no true sense of right and wrong because the moral and legal standard of the law has been corrupted.

3.  We can have no real, biblical doctrine because all doctrine comes from the Bible.

4.  The people of God cannot spiritually mature or be thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

5.  Our blessed hope of the soon return of Jesus Christ and eternity may be flawed to some degree.

B.  Enough of that as we can preach for weeks on that subject.  THE WORD OF GOD IS!  It is Divine, Living, Effectual, Cutting, Piercing, Discriminating, Revealing,

C.  We Bible believers are not popular because we stand for and preach what men of old preached.  I preach with INTENT because of the infiltration of liberal, Bible correcting people who will visit and try to sit on our pews.  They will not tithe here nor do they intend to be of help.  They come so as to quieten the pulpit and then begin to make disciples among God’s people.

D.  This is not my “First Rodeo,” as I have seen great churches get infiltrated and the pulpit quiet when preaching on God’s Word.

E.  Liberals will not sit on these pews unless they are teachable because I am resolved to stand for the inspired, inerrant, infallible, divinely preserved old King James Bible that I hold in my hand.  I will never let up, give up, or compromise the Bible.

F.  Why will liberals not sit comfortably?  Because of this one verse.

G.  Now, let us look at the work of God’s Word.

1.  The Word of God is Judging.  “quick and powerful”  Christ has life in himself as God, he is the living God; he is the living Redeemer and Mediator, and he lives forever as man; he is the author and giver of life, natural, spiritual, and eternal: and he is powerful, as he appears to be in the creation and sustaining of all things; in his miracles and ministrations; in the work of man's redemption; in the preservation of his people, and in his advocacy and intercession:

a.  The Word of God is Alive.  Peter said that the Word of God liveth, in a present perfect tense.  I drill this point home because the Word of God is not just paper and ink, it lives and because it lives, it is life giving.  Life must beget life.  it gives life to those who come to Christ.

Not a vegetative state.

b.  The Word of God is Active.  Often, when we refer to someone who has had some terrible think affect their brain, we use the terms “a vegetative state,” or “comatose.”  Someone who is alive but cannot or does not move or respond.  The Word of God is both alive and active.  It works when read and believed.

c.  The Word of God cuts both ways.

1)  With one edge, it Converts and Corrects.

2)  With the other edge, it Condemns and Destroys.

2.  The Word of God Divides.  “dividing asunder”  Dividing asunder is to separate completely.  With God, there are no shades of gray as all things are either black or white, right or wrong.

a.  The Word of God divides the soul and spirit.  The temporal and the eternal.  Our soul is self-conscious and can get us into trouble.  We get our feelings and emotions mixed.  The Bible helps us to rightly assess and prioritize in our walk with God.

b.  The Word of God divides saved and lost.  The world hated Christ first and also will hate those who follow Him.  Our foes can be those within the body who are carnal or even those of our own physical family. 

Matthew 10:34-36  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.  (35)  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.  (36)  And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

3.  The Word of God Discerns.  “is a discerner”

a.  The Word of God shows us what manner of person that we are by exposing our thoughts.  God understands our thoughts afar off.

Psalms 139:1-3  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.  (2)  Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.  (3)  Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

b.  The Word of God helps us to correct our volition and change our actions.

James 1:23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

Conclusion: 

1. Hold the Word of God in high esteem.

2.  Treat the Word of God with reverence.

3.  Read the Word of God for spiritual wisdom.

4.  Trust the Word of God for inward peace.

5.  Share the Word of God to win souls.

Holiness From A Positive Aspect

Temple Baptist Church - 1-27-2019

Romans 12:1-2

Introduction:

A.  When people hear preaching on holiness or personal sanctification,most people automatically “tighten up.”  This should never be the case with God’s people.  God wants only the best for both His children and the world to whom we are sent.  Someone once said that “A life lived is worth a thousand sermons preached.”

B.  One problem lies in the pulpit.  Men of God have preached on the subject from a negative stand point.

1.  Holiness is something that you do or else.

2.  Holiness will cost you the things that you like.

3.  Holiness will cause you to lead a dull, boring life.

4.  Therefore, holiness and personal sanctification becomes something to be shunned.

C.  I do not want to deal with these men tonight.  I believe that another problem with holiness and personal sanctification is:

1.  Because people want a Salvation without a Cost.  Salvation is supposed to cost us the world. 

a.  1 John 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

b.  “The world behind me, the cross before me” is found in the little chorus “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus.”  In today’s “Christianity,” it is “The cross behind me, the world before me.”

2.  Because they want a Service without a Cross.

a.  Luke 9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

b.  Few men in our day are willing to sell out completely and follow Christ.  They will follow Christ if they can tell Him where and how they will serve.  God has never used such a man!

D.  Holiness is not as much separation from the world as it is separation unto God.  If you look closely at our text, we are to “present our bodies” unto God as a living sacrifice.  Something holy and acceptable unto God.

           

E.  Holiness is a very positive thing.

            1.  Holiness brings about the peace of God.

            2.  Holiness brings about safety and security.

            3.  Holiness is the best life to be lived.

1.  The Plea of Holiness – 12:1  “I beseech you”

a.  The word beseech denotes asking or praying with urgency.

b.  Paul used it with:

1) Prayer – Romans 15:30  Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me;

2) Sanctification – Romans 16:17  Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.

3) Unity – 1 Corinthians 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

4) Love – 2 Corinthians 2:8  Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.

5) Reconciliation – 2 Corinthians 5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

6) Apostasy – 2 Thessalonians 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

            c.  Holiness has urgency.

2.  The Perception of Holiness – 12:1 “by the mercies of God” - 11:33-36

a.  11:33 – God is wise.

b.  11:36 – God is good

1) It is His power that saved us. “of him”

2) It is His power that performs our salvation. – “through him”

3) It is His power that brings Him glory. – “to him”

3.  The Presentation of Holiness – 12:1 “ye present your bodies”

a.  A Personal Presentation – “ye present”  This is something that every individual believer must do.

b.  A Priceless Presentation – “bodies”  The greatest gift that you will ever give to God is your body.  God uses bodies, not spirits.

c.  A Purposeful Presentation – “living sacrifice”  Dead to self and living only for the glory of God.

d.  A Pure Presentation – “holy, acceptable unto God”  God’s will in our lives.

4.  The Price of Holiness – “12:1 “reasonable service”

a.  An Act of Debt – “reasonable”

b.  An Act of Duty – “service”

5.  The Proceeding of Holiness – 12:2 “be not conformed . . . transformed”

a.  Sanctification – “be not conformed”

1) From worldly philosophies.

2) From worldly fashions

b. Transformation – “transformed”

1) TRANSFORM'ED, pp.  Changed in form or external appearance; metamorphosed; transmuted; renewed.

2) Ephesians 2:1-3  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

6.  The Power of Holiness – 12:2 – “renewing of your mind”

a.  Our manner of thinking needs to be changed - 1 Corinthians 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

b.  Our thinking has been formed by the world and is being bombarded each day.

7.  The Proving of Holiness – 12:2 “good, and acceptable, and perfect”

a.  Malachi 3:10  Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

b.  1 Thessalonians 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

1) God said that non-conformity and transformation was good.

2) God said that non-conformity and transformation was acceptable.

3) God said that non-conformity and transformation was perfect.

8.  The Pleasing of Holiness – 12:2 “will of God”

a.  1 Thessalonians 4:1  Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

b.  Hebrews 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

The Infinite Wisdom Of God

Temple Baptist Church - 1-23-2019

Romans 11:33-36

Introduction:

A.  Paul ends this parenthetical or trilogy of chapters, 9-11, with a doxology.  “Doxology,” in the Ancient Greek language is compound word:  from δόξα, doxa, "glory" and -λογία, -logia, "saying."

B.  I will give three types of wisdom found in the Bible before I look at this doxology.

1.  Worldly Wisdom: things that we learn over the years.  We gain knowledge and then learn how to rightly apply it.

2.  Spiritual Wisdom:  spiritual knowledge rightly applied.  Spiritual wisdom comes from God!

a.  The First Mention of wisdom in the Bible:  Exodus 28:3  And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.

b.  The spirit of wisdom comes from God.  James 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

3.  God’s Wisdom: things that only God knows and can only be gotten from Him.

C.  The Bible declares that God’s wisdom in infinite:  Psalms 147:5  Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

D.  Wisdom defined:  accumulated knowledge or enlightenment , the trait of utilizing knowledge and experience with common sense and insight, the quality of being prudent and sensible. (By my definition, wisdom is the right application of or understanding of how to use knowledge.)

E. One of the attributes of God is that of omniscience.  This is simply means “all” and “knowledge.”  The state of having infinite knowledge.  As Dr. B. R. Lakin so put it, “Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God?”  God knows everything about everything!

F. There is a difference between having knowledge and having wisdom.  Many men of our times have had great intellect, extensive education, and yet have died without Christ!  That is the most foolish thing that I can think of.   “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God!”  Men like Confucius who have left behind a legacy of worldly wisdom have denied Christ, died lost, and are in hell today.

G. God not only has all knowledge, He also has all wisdom!  God’s knowledge and wisdom are far above that of the smartest and wisest of all men.

Isaiah 55:9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.  (Notice the analogy here: “as the heavens are higher than the earth.”)

H. I think important that we understand God’s wisdom as we are taught biblically to trust Him in relationship to our circumstances and needs.

1.  Our Circumstances - Proverbs 3:5-6  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  (6)  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.  (We are often confused, humanly speaking, by the things that happen in our lives that we cannot control.  Yet, the Bible is clear that we are to trust completely when we do not understand.)

2.  Our Needs - Matthew 6:31-34  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?  (32)  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  (33)  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.  (34)  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.  (In times of uncertainty, God wants our priority to be Him, not our temporal needs.  He has assured us that He knows what we need and will supply them.)

I.   Can we trust the infinite wisdom of God?

1. The Wisdom Of God Penned Down In The Bible – Proverbs 1:1-5  The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;  2  To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;  3  To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;  4  To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.  5  A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

2 Peter 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;  (There has never been a book like this one.  You can live by it and be glad you did!  You can trust it and find it true!  You can learn from it and find it both factual in its truth and perfect in its detail!  What a Bible!  What Wisdom!)

2. The Wisdom Of God Previewed In Creation - Genesis 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Psalms 19:1-4  The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.  2  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.  3  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.  4  Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun.  (God created in wisdom!  It was and is still very good – so good that He has never had to change or correct anything in the heavens or the earth.  All was created perfectly and remains perfectly unchanged.  All of earth and space remain in perfect harmony!  What a wise God we serve!)

3. The Wisdom Of God Personified In Jesus Christ - Proverbs 8:1, 22   Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?...The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

Colossians 2:2-3  That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;  3  In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  (Jesus Christ did not have wisdom, He was Wisdom!  He never said a wrong word, did a wrong deed, think a wrong thought, or give a wrong advice!  He was all wise!)

4. The Wisdom Of God Performed In Salvation - 1 Corinthians 1:17  For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

1 Corinthians 1:21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.(God came to us in grace and mercy.  Thank the Lord for His perfectly free salvation!)

5. The Wisdom Of God Personalized In Justification - 1 Corinthians 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

1 Timothy 1:15  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.  (God knew what we were.  God knew what we needed.  God knew that we could not maintain our salvation.  It was perfected in wisdom!)

6. The Wisdom Of God Perfected In Eternity – 1 Corinthians 2:9-10  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

Hebrews 11:16  But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.  (A perfect place prepared for a perfected people!  I promise you, you will never be disappointed in Heaven!)