How to Establish Religious Authority #8
A. Were in a series of lessons that enables us to look
at the many ways mankind
seeks to find, approach and serve God. There is in man the natural
inborn desire to
seek and serve his creator. It is a natural longing that is explained
in Eccl. 3:11?14, God has
set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what
God has done from beginning to
end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy
and do good while they live.
That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all
his toil?this is the gift of God. I
know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can
be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that
men will revere him. Spend some time looking at and understanding
this scripture.
Vs. 11, says, God has given us the natural, inborn, inclination
to seek Him and the eternal existence He offers. But, it also
says, man does not know how to understand the mind of God so they
can get back that lost gift of eternal life. Thats the same
thing Paul told the Athenians in Acts 17:22-27. God wants us to
seek and find Him. We are to seek Him not as we think He is but
as He tells us He is. Not in the way we want to seek Him but in
the way He tells us to seek.
a. The reason for seeking and finding God is so He can tell us
Who He is and how we can be
restored to the eternal fellowship Adam lost in the garden. I
cannot read or understand
Gods mind. God has to speak to me and tell me what He has
on His mind. Thats what the
Bible is. The Bible is God speaking to me through inspired men,
whom He has chosen,
telling me how to be restored. The question is, Why should
we seek God? Vs. 30?31.
Question? If God no longer overlooks my spiritual ignorance and
sin and is going to
judge me for my sin, how do I find out what God wants me to do
to get rid of that sin so I
can escape His judgment?
(A) Eccl. 3:11, says, ...yet they cannot fathom (understand)
what God has done from
beginning to end. That means I cannot read Gods mind
and therefore I do not know
how to get right with God unless He tells me how to do that. Anything
I do, on my
own, is pure conjecture. I dont know the mind of God therefore
I do not know how to
worship God correctly unless He tells me how. I do know He wants
me to worship
Him in a certain way. In Jno. 4:24, Jesus said God is seeking
people to worship
Him, but that He only accepts those who will ... worship
Him in spirit and in truth.
Jer. 10:23, ...a man's life is not his own; it is not for
man to direct his own steps. I
have to depend on Gods Word to direct my steps so I can
worship Him correctly and
be restored. God tells me in the word He gave Jeremiah, Jer. 11:1?3.
Jeremiah
also, prophesied that God would replace the covenant He gave to
Israel with another
covenant that would take away our sins, Jer. 31:31-34. Jesus said
that covenant
was the one He established by shedding His blood on the cross,
Matt. 26:27-28.
That New Covenant is what Jesus spoke about in Jno. 4:23?24.
(1) 1 Cor. 2:7-10; 16. Vs. 16, asks "For who has known the
mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? Thats a Good
question. Who can tell or instruct God how He should be worshiped
or how we should be be saved? The latter part of that verse gives
us the answer to that question. But we (we Christians) have
the mind of Christ. How do we have the mind of God? We have
the mind of God in the New Testament. Jesus came to reveal the
mind of God. If you have the teaching of Jesus, you have the mind
of God. Jno. 7:16; 14:24-27; 16:13. By the teaching of Jesus and
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the mind of God has been revealed
for all time by the New Testament apostles and prophets. They
wrote down what God told them and gave it to us in this book we
call the Bible. God speaks to us in this Book and thus guides
us into all the truth that reveals the mind of God.
(2) Solomon was inspired by God to write an entire chapter about
how the wisdom and mind of God would be shown and revealed to
man by the coming of Jesus. Prov. 8:1-4. That one who is called
Wisdom is Jesus. Vs. 6?11. Listen to what this One
named Wisdom has to say. Vs. 15-17; 22?23; 32-36.
(3) Thats exactly what the apostle Paul says, 1 Cor. 1:21?25.
Notice how the mind of God teaches us how to be saved. Vs. 23-25.
(1) It is in Jesus and New Testament Christianity that we are
told how to be saved and restored to God. Eph. 3:10?12, Paul says,
Here is what God had in His mind when He made a plan to save mankind.
Where does that say we can approach God in any other way?
(2) Man was created to live with God eternally. He was Not intended
to die. Man disobeyed God, and died. God in love and mercy said
I will offer a way (thru Eves seed) for man to be forgiven
and be restored to that state of living eternally with Him.
(2) Where does that happen? Only in His church. Eph. 3:17?21.
(1) Do you want Christ to dwell in your heart by faith? Do you
want to be rooted and established in Gods love and to have
the power to know the love of God that passes all understanding
and have all the fullness of God in your life? Then you had better
be in Christ Jesus and you had better get into Christ the way
God has ordained.
(2) Acts 20:32.
Spur - 03/30/03 am
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