Learning The Ways Of God

Pastor Billy G. Lobbs

Theme: A study in the need to learn the ways of God.

Text: Isaiah 2:2-3, (KJV)

"And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths."

Introductory Remarks

To really appreciate what Isaiah is saying in these verses, we must understand what conditions were like at the time that he prophesied these words. There was only one nation in the whole world that had any idea of God at all. That nation was Israel, and even their knowledge had become corrupted and polluted. All other nations of that day were bound by satanic power and were blinded spiritually by the God of this world.

In the midst of this condition, Isaiah stands up and with prophetic anointing burning in his soul and declares that there would come a day in the future when peoples from every nation were going to come into the house of God to be instructed in his ways and that they would walk in his paths. As a student of the Word, I'm aware that this prophecy by Isaiah to Israel will find its complete fulfillment in the Millennium Age that is to come, when Satan will be bound for 1000 years and Christ will reign over all the nations from Jerusalem. I'm also aware that what God has promised to do then to those who come into his house in Jerusalem, He is doing even now to those who are coming into His Church which is the "Spiritual House" that Jesus is building with "living stones." The Scripture refers to the church as "the spiritual house of the Lord."

I Peter 2:5,

"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable unto God."

II Corinthians 6:16, "For ye are the temple of the Living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

When Jesus died on Calvary and rose again from the dead, he opened up a fountain for uncleanness. Since then, people have come from every nation to be cleansed. Today, it is the church established and exalted as the House of the Lord that people from all nations are flowing into to receive instruction in the ways of God. We are witnessing this happening just as Isaiah said it would.

Point I:

There are three things about learning God's ways we need to know.

1. To even begin to think of learning God's ways there is a challenging Scripture we must first come to grips with. We must consider Psalms 119:128, and make a decision about it.

Do we believe it or do we not? "I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right."

This verse implies that God has given instruction in His Word concerning every area of our Life and these instructions are always the right thing for us to do. Always! No arguing- no debate-no excuses. Never! At some point in our Christian walk, if we are ever going to go anywhere in it, we are going to have to make a decision on what God is telling us to do.

Do I really believe what God has said to do is really the right thing to do?"

Here is something to remember that will help us when we are making that decision.

-God's ways always work.

-You can prove His ways by putting them to the

test.

-God's ways will always stand the test.

-If we will believe and obey what God says for us to do, we will eat the fruit of all He has promised.

-If we refuse to believe and obey, we will eat the fruit of our own way. I have experienced both and I can tell you that His fruit tastes so much sweeter.

2. We need to know that as we learn the ways of God, divine precepts and principles of a heavenly origin are being brought into our lives. To our great joy, we discover that those precepts and principles are workable in the 'here and now' where they are needed and not in 'the sky when I die.' It's to the point that we receive, believe and obey them that we will find ourselves....

- Enjoying peace - where there is no peace.