SERMON TWO (SERIES 5B)
“THE IMPORTANCE OF RIGHT THINKING”
What am I Missing Here?
Steps to Recovering Your Joy
March 6, 2011, March 27, 2011
Calvary Baptist Church
Isaiah 55:8-9
SERMON 5B: Stinking Thinking, Part II: “The Importance of Our Thinking”
Isaiah 55:8–9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.
QUOTE: One psychologist determined that the average human has 10,000 thoughts per day. That’s 3 ½ million per year. If we will give an account of every idle word, what account must we give for our thoughts? (TAN)
II. THE IMPORTANCE OF RIGHT THINKING
I must think rightly because …
A. The Display of My Thinking (before God)
1. God Searches My Heart (1 Chronicles 28:9)
1 Chronicles 28:9 And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.
2. God Knows My Heart’s Secrets (Psalm 44:21; 139:2)
Psalm 44:21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Psalm 139:2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
B. The Distinction of My Thinking
1. The Thinking of the Natural Man is Worthless (Ps. 94:11)
Psalm 94:11 The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
2. God Expects that the Believer’s Thinking should Be Different and Worthwhile (Eph. 1:17)
Ephesians 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
C. The Defilement of My Thinking
1. Satan Will Fill any Vacuum in My Mind (Acts 5:3)
• If I am not filled with good thoughts, Satan will fill me with bad
Ac 5:3 — But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
2. My Thoughts Can War Against God (2 Cor. 10:3-6)
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
3. My Thoughts Can Be Satan’s Doorway to Deception (2 Cor. 11:3)
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4. My Thoughts Can Lead Me to Doubt God (Mark 11:23)
Mark 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
ILLUS: THE LAW OF THE PENDULUM In college a student was asked to prepare a lesson to teach his speech class. He was to be graded on creativity and ability to drive home a point in a memorable way. The title of his talk was, “The Law of the Pendulum.” He spent twenty minutes carefully teaching the physical principle that governs a swinging pendulum. The law of the pendulum is: A pendulum can never return to a point higher than the point from which it was released. Because of friction and gravity, when the pendulum returns, it will fall short of its original release point. Each time it swings it makes less and less of an arc, until finally it is at rest. This point of rest is called the state of equilibrium, where all forces acting on the pendulum are equal.
The student attached a three-foot string to a child’s toy top and secured it to the top the blackboard with a thumbtack. He pulled the top to one side and made a mark on the blackboard where he let it go. Each time it swung back he made a new mark. It took less than a minute for the top to complete its swinging and come to rest. When he finished the demonstration, the markings on the blackboard proved the law of the pendulum.
The student then asked how many people in the room believed the law of the pendulum was true. All of his classmates raised their hands and so did the teacher. The teacher started to walk to the front of the room thinking the class was over. In reality it had only begun. Hanging from the steal beams in the middle of the room was a large, crude but functional pendulum made from 250 pounds of metal weights tied to four strands of 500 pound test parachute cord. The student invited the instructor to climb up on a table and sit in a chair with back of his head against a cement wall. Then the student brought the 250 pounds of metal up to the teachers’ nose. Holding the huge pendulum just a fraction of an inch from the teacher’s face, the student once again explained the law of the pendulum he had applauded only moments before, “If the law of the pendulum is true, then when I release this mass of metal, it will swing across the room and return short of the release point. Your nose will be in no danger.”
After that final restatement of this law, the student looked his teacher in the eye and asked, “Sir, do you believe this law is true?” There was a long pause. Huge beads of sweat formed on his upper lip and then weakly he nodded and whispered, “Yes.”
The student released the pendulum. It made a swishing sound as it arced across the room. At the far end of its swing, it paused momentarily and started back. The student later testified that he had never seen a man move so fast in his entire life as the teacher literally dove from the table.
(Ken Davis, How To Speak To Youth, pp 104-106).
It was easy for this teacher to believe in the law of the pendulum when it was all theoretical. But when his life literally depended on the law of the pendulum he showed that his belief was only theoretical. How easy it is for us to believe in God’s sufficiency in church on Sunday morning or in a Bible study. But in the real world where our lives are on the line too many of us demonstrate that our belief was only theoretical. Friends, we must change our thinking. (Submitted by Stephen Dow)
D. The Determination of My Thinking
1. The Heart is the Fountain of Life (Prov. 4:23)
Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
2. My Thinking Reflects the Real Me
Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
QUOTE: What is the value of the human brain? It was estimated that at the time of his death, the inventions that had come from the mind of Thomas Edison had produced businesses worth over 25 billion dollars. (TAN)
E. The Deliverance from My Thinking
1. Mental Purity is a Requirement of the Godly Christian (Ps. 19:14)
THE GODLY CHRISTIAN KNOWS THAT HE MUST BE PURE IN HIS MIND
Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
2. We Must Turn Our Thoughts Over to God (Ps. 139:23)
Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
3. God Commands Us to Abandon Human Reasoning (Prov. 3:5-6)
Proverbs 3:5-6 *5 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.
4. We Are Commanded To Be Renewed In Our Mind Ephesians 4:23
Eph. 5:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
5. God Gives the Believer a Sound Mind (2 Tim. 1:7)
GOD’S GIFT IS A SOUND MIND 2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
6. The Word of God Helps Us to Sort Out Our Thoughts (Heb. 4:12)
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
F. The Devotion of My Thinking
1. The Mind is Involved in My Worship (Mt. 22:37)
Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
2. God’s Word is to Consume My Thinking (Col. 3:16)
OUR THOUGHTS ARE TO BE CONTROLLED BY GRACE Colossians 3:16 *Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
3. My Mind Must Be Right in Order to Know God’s Will (Rom. 12:1-2)
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
CONCLUSION (Isa. 55:8-9; 1 Cor. 2:16)
Isaiah 55:8–9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.
1 Corinthians 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
FAITHFUL INSTRUCTIONS WE MUST OBEY
There was a man who got lost in a deserted area. After wandering around for a long time his throat became very dry, about that time he saw a little shack in the distance.
He made his way over to the shack and found a water pump with a small jug of water and a note.
The note read:
"Pour all the water into the top of the pump to prime it, if you do this you will get all the water you need".
Now the man had a choice to make, if he trusted the note and poured the water in and it worked he would have all the water he needed. If it didn’t work he would still be thirsty and he might die. Or he could choose to drink the water in the jug and get immediate satisfaction, but it might not be enough and he still might die.
After thinking about it the man decided to risk it. He poured the entire jug into the pump and began to work the handle, at first nothing happened and he got a little scared but he kept going and water started coming out. So much water came out he drank all he wanted, took a shower, and filled all the containers he could find.
Because he was willing to give up momentary satisfaction, he got all the water he needed. Now the note also said: after you have finished, please refill the jug for the next traveller.” The man refilled the jug and added to the note: “ Please prime the pump, believe me it works”!
We have the same choice to make, do we hold on to what we have because we don’t believe there are better things in store for us, and settle for immediate satisfaction? Or do we trust God and give up all that we have to get what God has promised us? I think the choice is obvious. We need to pour in all the water, trust God with everything.
Then once we have experienced what God has to offer, the living water, we need to tell other people, “Go ahead prime the pump, believe me it works”! (Submitted by Randy Leckliter)
