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.
- Enjoying joy - where there is no joy.
- Enjoying direction - where there is confusion all around us.
- Having deep, growing relationships - where so many around us are being polarized.
- Seeing our families being drawn together - where others are disintegrating.
- Becoming at peace in our heart - coming together on the inside - when everyone else seems to be flying apart.
3. We need to know that as we learn His ways, God begins a work in us that starts to produce some wonderful changes in our life. Philippians 2:13, "For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him."
I might add this encouraging word with this verse. Philippians 1:6, (NIV) "And I am sure that God who began the good work within you, will continue his work, until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again."
It is as though God is the potter and we are the clay upon the potter's wheel. The potter is busy working out of us all the impurities that would hinder us being made into the vessel of the potter's choosing. As we are instructed in God's ways, we are being changed day by day, mentally - emotionally and spiritually. Our motives, - our values - our ambitions and our priorities are being examined by the Holy Spirit on a daily basis and brought into line with the Word of God. We are being transformed by the renewing of the mind as the Holy Spirit re-educates us with the truths of God's Word.
"Romans 12:2, And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, they ye nay prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
I like the way the New Living Translation says it.
"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is."
Point 2:
Have you ever wondered why God is so set against us wanting to walk in our own ways after we become a Christian? Sometimes we want to ask the Lord, "Lord, why is it you're so against a person continuing to walk in their own ways after they come into your house? After all Lord, we do have some pretty good ideas sometimes." The Lord would answer us and say, "When a person wants to continue in their own ways rather than mine, then that person is challenging the fact that my Word has said in Romans 12:2, that my will for them is good, acceptable and perfect. They are openly rejecting my direction and purpose for their life. They are saying they can run their life better than I, the Lord, can.
Part of Satan's strategy is to encourage us to continue to walk in our own ways. He knows that as long as we keep doing our thing - we won't be doing God's thing. We will never embrace the will of God nor walk in it. Trying to live the Christian life outside the will of God produces miserable, frustrated, and unhappy people. It is only as we walk in the will of God that we find his presence, his purpose, his provisions and his power. If Satan can keep us from exchanging our ways for God's ways, he can keep us directionless, quickly discouraged, and easily defeated in our Christian walk. I, ask you! Doesn't it really make sense for us to trade in our ways for his ways?
Point 3:
Five reasons why we need to learn God's ways.
1. Our ignorance of his ways requires it of us.
We were not born into this world knowing God's ways, much less understanding anything about them. They were not included in our DNA. They are completely alien to man's thinking. God says this about it in Isaiah's writings.
Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
When we come to Christ we come knowing a lot of things. The ways of God are not one of them. Wouldn't it be wonderful if when we got saved we'd all line up in a line and the preacher would lay hands on us and we'd fall down under the power of God, and when we got back up we'd all be filled with the knowledge of God's ways? Forget it! It's not going to happen that way. We couldn't handle the whole package all at once if he did unload it on us. But here is how God does instruct us in his ways. He brings it into our lives as Isaiah said, "precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little. He wants us to know. He gives truth to us as we are able to assimilate it. The more we desire to know, the more he opens up to us.
2. Jesus wants to present to himself a "glorious church.
Ephesians 5:27, "That he might present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish." Learning God's ways produces this result in the people of God as they are instructed on the lifestyle that is pleasing to the Heavenly Father and what empowers them to live it.
3. God wants to present to the world, a people who are his and who will display a quality of life that He produces in them and which the world cannot duplicate. He wants to present a people who will Demonstrate to the rest of the world what life is really like for a people when God is their everything. These people are those who submit to learn his ways and who obediently walk in his paths.
4. We need to learn the ways of God because when we come into the church as new believers,
we bear a striking similarity to the Children of Israel when they came out of Egyptian bondage. The Book of Exodus tells the story of Israel's deliverance from 400 years of bondage and slavery In Egypt. God had set them free and had taken them unto himself as his people, but they were a people with a major problem that God was going to have to deal with. All the Israelites had been born in Egypt. Egypt's lifestyle had molded their lives. They had learned Egypt's ways of life, their language, their patterns of thinking. They thought like Egyptians, they ate like Egyptians and they acted like Egyptians. They had an Egypt mentality and a slave mind set. God had delivered them out of Egypt, now he was going to take Egypt out of them. The people of Israel needed their thinking changed. God was going to have to retrain and reeducate them from Egypt's ways to his ways. Israel must learn that they are what God says they are now and not what Egypt said they were then. It was important that they be introduced to the laws and principles of God that he expected them to live by as his people in Canaan.
When you and I were delivered from the Kingdom of darkness and brought into the family of God, we came with a problem similar to Israel's problem. Still clinging to us was a world mentality and a slave to sin mind set that was going to have to be dealt with. Like Israel, we too needed our thinking changed and we needed to be instructed in the ways of God that he expects his church to walk in.
It is important that everyone knows the way the government they live under operates. Most of us are familiar with the Constitution of the United States. Our schools have classes that acquaint us with its systems of laws and principles of operation. It's to our hurt if we neglect to educate our- selves in this area. Are we to think that God would be any less specific in giving to the citizens of his Kingdom the information that is crucial for them to know on how his kingdom functions and how the laws that govern it operate? I don't think so! God has given to us in his Kingdom Handbook called The Bible all the information about his ways that we need to know so we can live successful, productive and victorious Christian lives pleasing to him.
5. We need to learn his ways because we come into his house like little children that need training and discipline in the ways of God. Hebrews 12:5-6, (NLT) "And have you entirely forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you, his children? He said, "My child, don't ignore it when the Lord disciplines you, and don't be discouraged when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes those he accepts as his children."
I suggest you read verses 7-11 also.
We are children of the Heavenly Father and he has taken on himself the task of raising his children. I think we should consider God as being a specialist on the subject of child rearing. He's even authored a best selling book on the subject. It's called The Bible. In all honesty I have to say that his book on parenting is the best book on the market. It did precede all others on the subject, including Dr. Spock's, by a number of years. I want to say also that if we as parents will follow God's advise in the raising of our children, we will have a lot better results than Dr. Spock did . The doctor has admitted that he missed it in some of the instructions that he gave. God has never had to apologize for any advice that he has given on the subject of parenting and child raising. If we are wise parents, we know that in raising our children, their happiness is not the ultimate goal in life we have for them. As parents, we are there to bring instruction and discipline into their life and try to make sure that they grow up to be responsible adults. In the raising of children, if we make their happiness the primary goal, there's a strong chance they may turn out to be very undisciplined in life. I say this because if their happiness is the goal, then you can't really discipline them right, because discipline sometimes involves things that don't make for happiness. I firmly believe that if Moms and Dads will quit giving in to every wish - want and desire of their children, but will stick to their guns in training and disciplining them, the possibilities are very favorable they will grow up to be happy and a success in life.
If God gives to us earthly parents advice and instructions on how to train and discipline our children, then he would be very lax if he did not follow his own advice when it comes to raising his children. Our text in Hebrews 12 tells us that in God's family, the father has purposed to instruct and discipline his children so he can disciple them in learning his ways. God believes in corrective discipline when his 'kids' get out of order. He spanks his children. Correction by spanking may be questioned in the courts of our land, but not in God's. He uses It when more than a word of correction is needed.
Here is how the Living Bible paraphrases Hebrews 12:5-7, "My son, don't be angry when the Lord punishes you. Don't be discouraged when he has to show you where you are wrong, for when he punishes you it proves that he loves you. When he whips you it proves you are really his child: Let God train you for he is doing what any loving Father does for his children. Whoever heard of a son who was never corrected? If God doesn't punish you when you need it, as other fathers punish their sons, then it means you aren't really God's son at all, that you don't belong to his family."
It's true that God doesn't use his physical hands or a belt or a switch when spanking, but I guarantee that when he gets through correcting you - you'll know that you've experienced the rod of his discipline.
Many of us have thought that God's goal was to fill his house with as many people as he can get into it. No, he wants more than that. God is out to get people who can take instruction and are willing to be disciplined. He is looking for a people who will come into his house and say, "Here I am, Father. I'm a candidate for discipline and instruction in your ways. I want to grow- up ." As we do this, I can hear Father God say, Hallelujah, Glory to me, that's what I've been waiting to hear."
Point 4:
The Apostle Paul's conversion on the Damascus Road and his reaction to it are a good example for us to follow when Christ confronts us. The story is told in Acts, Chapter 9. Saul of Tarsus, that fanatically zealous pharisee was on his way to the city of Damascus in a fuming rage against the followers of Jesus. Suddenly, he was intercepted by the risen Lord Jesus. A blinding flash of light exploded around him knocking him to the ground. He heard a voice saying, "Saul, Saul, why persecute me." Trembling and astonished, Paul asked two questions in return. "Who art thou Lord" and "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" I really believe these are the kinds of questions that please God and that he takes pleasure in answering. I can hear the Lord say, "Paul, I'm really glad you asked those questions. Here's what I have in mind for you to do." From that moment, Paul began a journey of discovering God's ways and God's will for his life. It was a journey for Paul out of the Kingdom of self, where he ruled, and into the Kingdom of God where God rules.
I strongly suggest to you that God has this same journey in mind for you and I. He wants to deliver us out of our empty unfulfilled existence we had in the world and bring us into his house to be instructed in his ways that will lead us into paths of satisfaction and fulfillment. Many of us may be pleased with what we now are in our spiritual growth, but none of us are what we could be if we continue to learn God's ways.
Point 5:
I close with this thought.
When you received Christ into your heart, something wonderful began to happen to you. God started a project in you. He enrolled you in his school for Christian Development where he began to write his laws into your heart and instruct you in his ways.
Why is God doing this? Because he is going to make you an open letter to the world for them to read. God wants to send love letters to the world and you and I are those letters. I Corinthians 3:3, "We become your letters known and read by all men." God brings us into his house so he can write on us and stamp us with the Holy Spirit's seal and send us to the world. It is God's intention that by the time he is finished teaching his people his ways, every believer will become an open expression of God and all will be telling the same story.
When we write a letter to some one we love, we write an expression of us to them from our hearts. That is exactly what God wants us to be to the world that "he so loved." We are to be an expression from his heart. I can't help but wonder. What are people reading when they read you and I?
I leave you with these words. God has said in Amos 3:3, "Can two walk together except they be in agreement?" He also said these words in Malachi 3:6, "I am the Lord, I change not." If we are to walk with God somebody has got to make changes. I've got news for you. It's not going to be God. He's already laid down the rules and God does not change them. Guess whose ways have got to go? You've guessed right--ours! So why not surrender them now to God and begin the journey of your life----into discovering God's will for your life by learning his ways.
