Sola Scriptura And Mysticism (part 2)

Bethlehem Bible Church

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A man was on the run, fleeing England over to Europe, to Hamburg, Wittenberg, Worms, finally captured up in Belgium, a city called

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Antwerp in 1535. Imprisoned in Vilvoorde, a small town outside of Brussels.

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Condemned for heresy and put to death at the stake. Oh, let's show a little mercy, let's strangle him before we burn his body.

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The charge against William Tyndale? Translating the Bible in English.

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Do you know what a precious commodity you hold in your hands? Do you know how valuable this is?

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How great this is? And as your pastor, I know you and so I know you do.

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I know that you know it is authoritative, it is divinely inspired, and it contains the word of life.

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I know about you that you, like Christ, have a view of Scripture that's godly.

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How did Jesus view Scripture? Certainly after Malachi is done being written, Jesus shows up 400 years later.

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He could have said, by the way, Jonah's just a metaphor, Sodom, Gomorrah, Lot, Adam, Eve, Noah.

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It's just all pictures, it's not really literal, but our Savior had a high view of Scripture, didn't

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He? And we're thankful that you have a high view of Scripture. I want to make sure you continue that.

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I want to say like Paul did at the church of Thessalonica. You're doing very well in your view of Scriptures.

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Excel still more. Why would I have to say this? Because there is an attack from the inside and outside on the authority of Scripture, on the sufficiency of Scripture.

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That is an attack called mysticism, mysticism. And so take your

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Bibles, please, and turn them to 2 Peter this morning, as we're looking at this topic of evangelical mysticism and its stranglehold on evangelicalism.

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I don't think it's a problem here per se at Bethlehem Bible Church. So this is not a scolding kind of message or how could you message.

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This is a message that says we understand what Scripture is by the

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Spirit's illumination. And so don't grab a hold of a jack -o -lantern, as Edwards would say, when you've got the

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North Star to guide you. And so what I'm going to try to show you is Scriptures are so sufficient, so inerrant, so trustworthy, why would we go for some internal mysticism?

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Why would we play around with that little baby anaconda that's going to grow up one day to slither around your neck?

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Now the outline we looked at last week, since this is a second part of the message last week, I gave you a series of questions designed to help you utterly trust the

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Word of God so that you'll run from mysticism. Several questions to help us in our outline.

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And the first question we looked at last week was, you believe that the Scriptures are sufficient, right?

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You believe that the Scriptures are sufficient, correct? Of course you do. They're not deficient.

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Nothing's lacking in them. And remember last week we looked at 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17.

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Where else do you see Timothy's instruction so solidly given as in a pastoral epistle?

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Timothy, you've got to understand that God breathes in His Word. All Scriptures breathed out by God rather.

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But also, for review, 2 Peter 1, verses 3 and 4 help us as we understand the sufficiency and lack of deficiency in Scripture.

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2 Peter 2, verse 1, it says, Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

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For by these, verse 4, He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

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Look back at verse 3. Everything pertaining to life and godliness. Scripture is rigged out.

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It's equipped. It's adequate. It's plenty. It's ample. It is not deficient.

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And the desire for something more, I want God in a mystical way to commune with me, to talk with me, to guide me, really is a slam on the sufficiency of Scripture, or to use the language of the days of Tyndale, it denies sola scriptura, that the

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Bible alone is our authority. And everything you need is found right here.

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We don't need traditions. We don't need revelations. We don't need new doctrine. It's plenty.

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And the second a church begins to say, it's the Scriptures plus, I know something about that church, chaos ensues.

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Question number 2. We not only believe the Scriptures are sufficient, but also a little bit of review.

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You believe that the Scriptures are inerrant, right? You believe in inerrancy, no errors in Scripture, infallibility.

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You don't believe that the Bible contains errors, do you? Let's turn to Psalm 19.

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We started there last week, and we'll pick it up today, where we left off.

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We are redeemed people by Christ's life and death, confirmed by the resurrection.

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We've been made born again. We're new creatures in Christ Jesus. But there's still a sin remnant dwelling in us.

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You might call it sin nature. You might call it flesh. My professor back at seminary used to call it a sin hangover.

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A harmonological hangover. Sounds like a new band's name or something. So when we go within ourselves, we have to be careful because we can't trust ourselves.

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Fools trust themselves, and we are tainted by the fall. And so the desire to get information from the inside is going to give you faulty information.

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So I'm trying to present to you in Psalm 19, look at how pure the Bible is, look at how holy, look at how error -free it is.

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You do not want to be a modern -day Quaker that says, I have the teacher that dwells within me, that is my own spirit, and that I'm not really as depraved and corrupt as the

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Bible says. J .C. Ryle said, There are very few errors in false doctrines, of which the beginning may not be traced up to unsound views of the corruption of human nature.

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I can't go inside of myself for information and answers because I can't trust myself.

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My intellect has been affected by the fall, my emotions, my conscience, my volition, my heart.

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And so therefore, let's go outside of ourselves to the sources, Psalm 19.

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It says, remember in verse 7, as the psalmist David is trying to make an impression, and here's the impression through six synonymous, poetical song lyrics, that Scripture is trustworthy.

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Remember from last week, verse 7 of Psalm 19, The law of the Lord, a description of His words, special revelation, is perfect.

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It's comprehensive. It's all -sighted. Why would we go somewhere else if Scriptures are so perfect?

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What do they do? They make wise the simple. That's what it says in verse 7b, The testimonies of the

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Lord is sure. They not only revive the soul, but they make wise the simple. The precepts of the

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Lord, verse 8, are right. So they're perfect. They're sure. They're right.

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Doesn't sound like my bosom that burns often. Doesn't sound like my liver that quivers awesome.

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Let's just close in prayer by the tape from the first service. We can't trust ourselves, so what can we trust?

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Why go to the inside like the mystics do when we have a sure foundation called the

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Word of God? And what does it do? It rejoices the heart. We're not led by the heart.

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We are rejoicing in our heart. Verse 8b, The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

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It's radiant. It's lucid. It's easy to see. It gives direction. It doesn't sound like me at all.

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I'm not free from stain. I'm not free from imperfection. I'm not free from corruption. Verse 9,

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The fear of the Lord is clean. The fear of the Lord is just a good synonym for the Bible.

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Enduring forever. It's clean physically, the word is used of.

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It's clean morally. Clean ceremonially. It's just clean. The rules of the

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Lord are true and righteous altogether. And so what's the response of the

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Christian? More to be desired, verse 10, are they than gold.

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They're to be desired more than intuition as well and insight and impressions. Even much fine gold.

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Sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

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Moreover, by them, not on the inside, as your servant warned, in keeping them, there is great reward.

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We can't trust ourselves. We trust in external authority called the word of the living

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God. I know you believe that the scriptures are sufficient. I know that you believe the scriptures are inerrant.

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Question number three. Now we come to the new information. Question number three. We have five questions this morning.

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If you must call everything a point, then we have five points this morning. We're all five -pointers this morning.

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How does that sound? Question three. You believe that the Bible is more sure than experience, don't you?

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You believe the Bible is more sure than experience? I know you do. Let's turn to 2 Peter 1. Let's go back there again.

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So many people will say, I've had an experience, therefore that validates that to me.

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You've had an experience? I haven't had an experience. Who breaks the tie? I've been to heaven and back.

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Well, what about you? Does experience determine truth? Well, Peter is writing in 2

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Peter to a group of dear Christians, and they're being attacked. And here's the attack. Attack.

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Jesus isn't coming back. Jesus didn't come back yesterday. He didn't come back last month.

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He didn't come back last Mother's Day. And He's not coming back today. It's the same old, same old. Where's the promise of His coming?

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Chapter 3. And Peter wants to write to them and say, You know what? They are talking.

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They have wives' tales. They have quack doctor advice. I know

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Jesus is coming back because I've seen His preview. Ever see a movie preview?

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Sometimes that's the only thing you wish you would have seen because it makes you get a little glimpse of something, and hopefully the best is yet to come.

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Hopefully the preview isn't the best, but it gives you just a little inkling of how good the movie might be.

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Peter said, I saw a preview of the second coming. I know it's true. False teachers run their mouths all they want, but I've seen a preview of the second coming.

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And what's the preview? Well, let's find out. That's a good question. Chapter 1, verse 16, the objective certainty of Christian truth.

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For we, verse 16, we didn't follow cleverly devised tales.

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That word means fable or a myth or a legend or a snake oil salesman stuff.

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The stuff that these other false teachers are selling. That's not what we followed. When we made known to you, look at this language, the power and coming of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. But we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

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When was that? When could you see the power and the glory and the majesty of Christ Jesus?

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Verse 17, for when He received honor and glory from God the

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Father. Such an utterance as this was made to Him by the majestic glory. What a name for God the

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Father. The majestic glory. And what did God the Father say in the Mount of Transfiguration in Mark chapter 9?

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This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. See what Peter's doing?

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I saw it with my own eyes. I heard it with my own ears. It wasn't from within.

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It wasn't something from the inside at all. If you had an iPhone and you sat there at the

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Mount of Transfiguration, Mount Hermon we think it is, and you pushed play, record is what you should push.

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If you pushed play, nothing would happen. If you pushed record, you would hear the Father saying of the

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Son, this is My choice one. This is My beloved one. This is My elect one. I've had no change in how

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I've been well pleased with Him in eternity past, in the manger, and now in the

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Mount of Transfiguration. Objective reality. It was not in their minds.

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It was from without. Not within. I'm well pleased.

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Verse 18, And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

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Now today mystics will say I've had an experience and I don't even know if they have or not.

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Peter had an experience. It was a real experience. He saw. He heard. And now what does

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Peter say? Verse 19, Surely the Bible trumps experience, doesn't it?

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Yes. Even the scene Jesus transfigured on the mountain. And so verse 19,

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We have abidingly, currently, always, the prophetic word made more sure.

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Emphatically pushed to the front of the Greek sentence to make sure you understand. Literally it could be translated,

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We have more sure the prophetic word. More reliable, more sure, more trustworthy.

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Than what? Than me on the mountain, Peter says, seeing Jesus transfigured,

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His inside glory coming out on the outside and me hearing the Father saying, That is my beloved

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Son in whom I am well pleased. Scripture more trustworthy, more permanent, more authoritative than any experience.

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So friends, when people come along like Sarah Young and write Jesus Calling, how many people have heard of that book

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Jesus Calling by Sarah Young? Some have. I'm so glad not many raised your hand.

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But it's a popular book. This is not some fringe deal. Last year it sold more books than the latest

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Stephen King book. It's sold more than 10 million copies since 2004.

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It's sold so many copies you can get apps, journals, calendars, deluxe leather editions.

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And you can get this book named Book of the Year in 2013 by the

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Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. And it is nothing but brute mysticism.

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It's blasphemous. It says, according to Amazon's ad about the book,

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Missionary Sarah Young decided to listen to God with pen in hand. By the way, that's a really bad thing to do unless you're copying down verses.

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Right? As my friend Justin Peters would say, If you want to hear God speak out loud, then read the Bible out loud.

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You'll hear Him. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God.

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I've heard God out loud today. Didn't really like the messenger, but that's another point.

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Writing down whatever she believed God was saying to her. You know what this is? This is called channeling is what it's called.

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Romph the New Age automatic writing. Here's her conversion story.

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I one night found myself leaving the warmth of our cozy chalet to walk alone in snowy mountains.

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I went into a deeply wooded area feeling vulnerable and awed by cold moonlit beauty.

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The air was crisp and dry. Suddenly I felt a warm mist envelop me.

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I became aware of a lovely presence and my involuntary response was to whisper, Sweet Jesus.

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And now she reveals, this was far more than the intellectual answers for which

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I had been searching. I had been writing in prayer journals for years, but that was one -way communication.

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I did all the talking. I knew that God communicated with me through the Bible, but I yearned for more.

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See? Aren't the Scriptures sufficient? Aren't they adequate? Aren't they enough?

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The bad, bad, bad, bad news is is now you can do this too. You can get the

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Jesus Calling devotional Bible and it says, Set aside a half an hour to start. When you're ready, quiet yourself.

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If stray thoughts come through your mind, write them down on a separate piece of paper. Pause. Wait.

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Listen. Mark this. Jesus never talked to Sarah Young outside the

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Bible. Never. I have a different explanation. Did you know peyote does the same thing?

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Now I'm not saying she took peyote, but peyote does the same thing. Just get that little small, spineless cactus found in New Mexico, Arizona.

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Chop off the little top, make the button, set it down there, let it dry off, and then eat it, and then what will you have?

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I'll tell you what you'll have. Trance -like states, pulsing drum beats in your head, and you'll start doing some self -writing is what you'll do.

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By the way, if you throw up because those little buttons are so gross, it's because you need to be further purged.

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According to those who call peyote a peyote sacrament. There is nothing in the

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Bible that says, listen to God, outside the Bible. Nothing. You say, yeah, but they had an experience.

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How can I deny it? How can you deny it? The Scriptures deny it. What's more, sure, Spurgeon, take care never to impute the vain imaginations of your fancy to Him.

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I've seen the Spirit of God shamefully dishonored by persons, I hope they were insane, who have said that they have had this and that revealed to them.

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There is not for some years passed over my head a single week in which I have not been pestered with the revelations of hypocrites or maniacs.

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Self -lunatics are very fond of coming with messages from the Lord to me, and it may save them some trouble if I tell them once and for all, here's a no -co moment for you,

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I will have none of their stupid messages, because it denigrates this.

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What men and women would die for. We say, you know what, I'm not content with that.

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Spurgeon says positively, whatever there is to be revealed by the Spirit to us is in the

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Word of God already. He adds nothing to the Bible and never will. Let persons who have revelations of this, that, and the other go to bed and wake up with their senses.

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Mysticism says that you can know God and relate to Him and to talk to Him best by experience over and above even

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Scripture. Doesn't this sound to you a lot like exegeting experience instead of exegeting

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Scripture? Doesn't it sound to you a lot like I'll put autobiography above theology?

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Well, it happened to me. So what does he say in verse 19?

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We've got the prophetic word made more sure, so what should you do? To which you do well.

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Look at the exhortation. Peter's drawing them back to apostolic messages. Scripture.

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You do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy comes from someone's own interpretation.

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We're talking about Revelation here. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. But men spoke from God as they were carried along or born along like wind blowing a sail by the

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Holy Spirit. What about Heaven is for Real then?

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We have a young man and he says he's been to heaven and back and he's had an experience, so what do we do with that? Maybe you don't want to read

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Heaven is for Real. I thought we were done with the book, but now we've got the movie and probably we have the sequel, I'm sure.

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Nine Days in Heaven is a book. Ninety Minutes in Heaven. It kind of got short -changed. To Heaven and Back.

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A Journey to Heaven. Flight to Heaven. My Journey to Heaven. And especially with young Mr.

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Burpo, saying things about Heaven that aren't even true. When you see

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Heaven's glories, Paul was told, you can't talk about it because it's exceedingly wonderful and what you get instead is a thorn.

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How many people get to go to Heaven and see a vision of God? I asked the question with Solomon in Proverbs 30.

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Who has ascended to Heaven and come down? I answer with John 3.

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No one has ascended into Heaven except He who descended from Heaven, the Son of Man.

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And any exception like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Paul or John with the book of Revelation and a quick glimpse of Heaven that Micaiah had and Stephen.

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And for them it wasn't, well, people have wings.

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New York Post wrote this.

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Lynn Vincent who ghost wrote Heaven is for Real on behalf of the young boy Colton Burpo and his father said that she was initially reluctant to include

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Colton's description of people in Heaven having wings. If I put that people in Heaven have wings,

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Christians aren't going to think the books is a hoax. She did and they didn't. So that's why we need to go back to the

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Word of God. Question number four. Question number four. Hold on.

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Question number four. Scriptures are sufficient, inerrant, more trustworthy than experience. And number four.

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You believe that the highest form of communion with God is through His Word. Don't you? The highest form of communion with God is through His Word.

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I want to be close to God. I want to be near to God. I want to have a close relationship with God. Amen.

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Attaboy. Attaboy girl. I admire that. So let's turn our

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Bibles to 1 John chapter 4 and find out how to have communion with God.

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And what does that look like? Now, I was really minding my manners well in the

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Ruth series. I didn't say anything about any false teacher. I didn't warn you at all. I was just teaching sound doctrine.

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But pastors must teach sound doctrine and refute those that contradict. Correct? So when you say,

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I want to have communion with God, friends, don't go the mystical route. Like Anne Boskamp, 1 ,000

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Gifts. I can't even hardly say the words that she writes about her relationship with God.

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Small g. Because it is carnal and it is erotic. At the least offensive, she's got wooing, intimate pursuit, passionate love, caressed, burning of heart to know

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God the way Adam knew Eve. God as husband in sacred wedlock bound together body and soul fed by His body.

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I'll read one quote and it will be enough to make you think, of course

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I want to be close with God, but not this way. Page 201 of this best -selling book

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I've gone crazy. I fly to Paris and discover how to make love to God.

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Friends, carnal eroticizing of God's love belittles and shames real divine love.

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What's love? What's divine love? How can I know this God who has loved me?

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The God who even said to Israel, I've loved you with an everlasting love. What's love look like?

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And especially right now, if you were me, to see the men standing here, sitting there.

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The men are going, I don't talk about God that way. I don't talk about anybody like that.

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Even my wife. What is love? 1 John 4, 7. It's not erotic, it's agape.

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It's God giving Himself to other people at His expense.

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Agape, not erotic. I want to commune with God. I want to be close with Him. Beloved 1

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John 4, 7. Let us love one another for love is from God.

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See how He's tying in methods and doctrine, creed and conduct, agenda, credenda.

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Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 1

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John 4, 8. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love.

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True or false? God is love. You have to say true.

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It's there. God is love. But what does it mean God is love? A carnal love?

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A sentimental love? A sappy kind of love? Agape love? Philadelphia love?

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Storge love? John, the apostle of love, tells us.

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John, what some called the theologian. What a name. How would you like to be called that?

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The theologian. And he is the theologian of love. Please describe love.

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Please define love. And so he does. Verse 9.

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In this the love of God was made manifest in us, inside of us.

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Love of God was made manifest among us. He's talking about the incarnation. He's talking about the

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Philippians 2. The love of the Father and the love of the Son and the love of the

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Spirit where the Son would cloak Himself with humanity. This is the incarnation that God sent

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His only Son, verse 9, into the world that we might live through Him.

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So He's shown us what His love is. What's His love like? How is it defined? How do you describe it?

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In this is love. So here's the description. No carnality.

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No eroticism. No belittling. No shaming. This is what real love is.

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You cannot understand the love of God unless you understand verse 10. In this is love.

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Not that we love God, but that He loved us. Self -sacrifice to the extent

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He gives His best and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the wrath assuager, the satisfaction for our sins.

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This isn't abstract. This isn't some principle. This isn't carnal. This is agape.

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John, John, excuse me, tell me about love. And he says, I would love to. Let me tell you about propitiation.

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Tell me about propitiation. I'd love to. Let me tell you about love. Because it's the love of the triune

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God that would actually make propitiation for sinners like us. And it's propitiation that describes love because what other act in the universe describes the self -sacrificial giving at one's own expense?

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Propitiation explains love. Love explains propitiation. James Denny said, for the apostle to say

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God is love is exactly the same as to say God has made propitiation for our sins.

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That's what the love of God is. S. Lewis Johnson said, you don't know what love really is until you see it in light of propitiation, the satisfaction, the death of Christ for sinners.

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Do you want to know if God loves you or not? You look to Calvary. You don't have to have some language that I hate to even talk about.

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Manifest among us. Sent His Son. Jesus becomes our mercy seat.

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Raised from the dead. And finally question number five. Scriptures are sufficient, inerrant, more sure than experience.

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Give you the highest form of communion with God. You want communion with God? Open the

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Bible and read it. And question number five. You believe that you can make decisions without signs, don't you?

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You believe you can make decisions without signs, don't you? So what's happened is, you say well, Mike, you've taken away impressions, you've taken away intuition, you've taken away signs as decision making.

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Impressions are impressions. Intuition is intuition. I'm not saying you don't have them nor should you have them. I'm saying they aren't revelation.

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I'm saying don't trust yourself. So how do I make a decision? How do

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I make a decision these days if I'm not a mystic? It was so much easier if God would just tell me things.

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Well, God told me to. Oh, He did? Remember friends, when you say God told me, how many

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Israelites were in Egypt rescued out by God's mighty hand in Exodus 14 through the

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Red Sea? About two million? And how many of those did God talk to?

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Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Jesus and the Apostles. God hardly talks to anybody ever.

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And now, I think I need to marry Jill or Jane, God just tell me. I just drive by Jill Avenue and I've got the answer.

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That's like the pastor that said, I'm giving up donuts to go on a diet and just take care of my body.

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He was on the way to a prayer meeting at church and he said, Lord, I'm driving by Krispy Kreme and I know

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I'm supposed to take care of my body, but if there's an empty parking space, usually not, if there's an empty parking space in the driving area, the parking lot of Krispy Kreme donuts,

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I know it's a sign for me to break my fast. So, five times around the block, there's one that opened up.

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And see, we laugh, but that's how we do it. How do I make a decision? See, here's the thing. A real Christian, don't we want to honor

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God with a decision and make the right decision and do the right thing? And we know our actions produce consequences and so,

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God, I want to honor you in this decision. That's good and that's right, but the second you say, now

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I'm going to act like a mystic, that's where it all goes haywire. Here's what

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I want you to do. Let me talk negatively, then positively. If you're a person that waits for signs and wonders and little

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God talking to you stuff, which really is just your own self talking, to make decisions, let me take away your idolatry.

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Because that's really what it is. I have to have this sign before I make a decision. God has told me to trust in Him with all my heart, not to lean on my own understanding.

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In all my ways, acknowledge Him. He'll make my path straight, but that's not enough. I want a sign.

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Friends, that's idolatry. Spurgeon said, what does an idolater do?

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I cannot believe in an unseen God. I must have a golden calf that I can see with my eyes and touch with my hand.

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Spurgeon said, you say just the same. You cannot believe God's naked

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Word. You demand something you can feel, something you can see. That is sheer idolatry. Don't you see it?

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You make your own feelings and emotions or strange impressions to be more worthy of trust than even

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God Himself. You make them idols and put them in God's place. You, so far as you can, undeify the deity, tremble at such a crime as this.

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So what should you do to make a decision? Let me just give you three quick W's.

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You've been taught this before as a congregation, but we have lots of new people. And so let me tell you what to do if you can't operate through mysticism, shouldn't operate through mysticism.

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What should you do instead? And here's the good news. Not one of these W's has anything to do with getting some vascular tissue at the butcher and reading a liver or a kidney.

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Isn't that nice? If you look at some of the Scriptures, you're going to see in Ezekiel 21, how the king of Babylon, he looked at the liver.

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I got to make a decision. Look at the liver. You would see in Exodus, Ezekiel chapter 21, how do

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I make a decision? Put a bunch of arrows in a quiver, shake it up, throw it out.

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Whichever way that one arrow points, that's the direction to go for Mother's Day lunch. So it's super simple.

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Remember, you've got a God who has loved you, a Father who's loved you, a Son who's loved you. And now

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He just wants you to make decisions by number one, the first W, what does the Word say? Some decisions can be directly gleaned from reading the

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Scripture. What to do? You ought not to marry an unbeliever. That simple. But you say,

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Pastor, lots of things aren't in the Scripture. Number two, the second

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W, wisdom. You know, God's such a good God that when you pray for wisdom, how does

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He give you wisdom? Stingily. Generously.

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He gives you generously. So you say, I'll read the Word. Don't see anything there. But I am reminded as I read the

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Word, the sovereignty of God and who He is. I also now secondly should say, I need wisdom. So God, give me wisdom.

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I have to make a decision. Do I take this job? Do I take that job? God, give me wisdom. And with wisdom, there's also wisdom to be found through other people as well, isn't there?

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The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.

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So what does the Word say? What does wisdom from above say? God, give me some insight. And then what does wisdom say from a friend, somebody who's godly?

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I like to say to people, if you have to make a really big decision, think of the person who you respect who would tell you the exact opposite of what you want to be told and call them.

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It was about six months ago, a few months ago, I had a phone call from someone. They said, Mike, I have a big decision to make and I can't trust myself.

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I know you're going to tell me exactly what I don't want to hear, so would you please tell me? I said,

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I'd love to. Batter up. I'm just kidding. I just thought, that's right, because I'm only giving you wisdom.

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This is not Scripture. You don't have to do it. That's why I regularly say to people, well, in my opinion,

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I would do this. If I were you, I'd do that. That is not the sayeth the Lord. And then lastly, wish.

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Word, wisdom, wish. Do what you wish to do. Do what you want to do. What? Yeah.

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Because if you've been in prayer, if you've been in the Word, then I think what you want to do has been given to you by God.

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Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you what? The desires of your heart. 1

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Corinthians 10, if an unbeliever invites you and you wish to go, eat anything that's set before you. If you don't wish to go, don't do it.

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Wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband is dead, she's free to be married to whom she wishes.

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I wish to marry you as long as you're a Christian. I wish to marry you. Okay. So what we do is we say,

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I have decisions to make, and now I have principles, I have Scripture, I have wisdom,

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I've been asking God for things, I talk to other people, and then you just make a decision. And you don't need to say,

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God told me to. You don't have to say, I so fear making a mistake because friends,

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God is sovereign, and the God who's loved you at Calvary and in eternity past, and when He saved you, and who loves you now, and will love you in glory and beyond.

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Without being presumptuous, if you do make a mistake, doesn't He cause everything to work together for good?

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Yeah, but I made that horrible mistake. Yes, God is sovereignly in charge, so we say, word, wisdom, and wish.

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We use our minds. Yes, it would be easier if somebody would just say, just do this.

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God told me to. But instead it's, we think our wisdom is, you should do this.

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Scriptures are sufficient, inerrant, more sure than experience. Highest form of communion with God, and give us decision -making templates.

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And to quote Kevin DeYoung, in his great book that you ought to read, with decision -making, assuming you've read the

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Word and prayed, just do something. Just make a decision. Tyndale, before they strangle him, and then burn his body, wasn't thinking about himself so much.

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He was thinking about the king who was tracking him down. The king of England.

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And what happened? What happened there in Valvorda, near Brussels? The account says this, and it's striking.

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At the stake with a fervent zeal and a loud voice, Tyndale was reported to say,

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Lord, open the king of England's eyes. And then they killed him.

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For translating the Bible into English, within four years.

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At the king of England's request. Four English Bible translations were published in England, including

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King Henry's official great Bible. And now you have a copy in your hands.

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Why go anywhere else? Let's pray. Father, we're thankful for Your Son, who in these last days, that You have spoken through Him, and His apostolic messengers, as Hebrews 1 says, no longer in dreams and in various ways, in His Son.

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Thank You that this same Son upholds all things by the word of His power. Thank You that this

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Son has purged us from all of our sins. Thank You that this Son has risen and reigning and one day will return.

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Every one of us, including myself, Father, we haven't studied the Bible like we ought to. We haven't thought of it more than our daily food, more wonderful than gold and honey.

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But we're so thankful today that You are a forgiving God and that Jesus always did think properly of the

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Word, always did read the Word rightly and righteously. And we're thankful that we have His covering and His righteousness.

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Protect Bethlehem Bible Church from the world's influence to go within for truth when we have the

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Torah, when we have the prophets, when we have the Law, when we have

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Moses, when we have Elijah, Matthew, Mark, Romans.