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Sunday 11/10/24
Title: Unrighteousness suppresses truth and darkens the mind
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Unrighteousness suppresses truth and darkens the mind
Last week we learned more about the power of God’s word and our minds.
The scriptures tell us that how we live is directly determined by what we think. This is why we can “want” to honor God in our emotions and yet, rarely follow through in our actions. The ability to change is not found in our emotions.
Any relationship which is largely built upon emotions will ultimately fail to deliver the reality of those feelings in how we live our lives.
This is why emotion based church services are so ineffective towards encouraging any real, and life giving changes in the lives of believers.
We can feel things deeply and profoundly which never have a lasting impact on honoring God and obeying Him.
This is not to say that emotions do not serve a valuable role in our lives and our walk in Christ, but they are powerless to effect long term change.
Now I will offer a potential caveat…
Emotions which are so intense as to captivate the mind for long periods of time Can – by the impact they have on our attentions – facilitate long term change but overwhelmingly these changes are not pleasing to God because they are the product of how we feel rather than Who He is.
Terror is an example of such an emotion. One might change their behavior out of a terrifying fear of punishment, but that is a change which is focused upon self and is therefore selfish and destructive.
The right thing done for the wrong reason is still wrong.
No, the only pure motive for pursuing righteousness is love. Remember it is because of the love of God that has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that our hope of Christ in us does not disappoint. (Romans 5:5)
One of our opening scriptures last week wound up setting a theme for the entire teaching and it was one which I had not originally anticipated.
We found it in Isaiah 55
“(7) Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
(8) “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says 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.”
The reason given was because God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.
So we determined that righteousness comes from surrendering our minds to God and thinking His thoughts OR adopting His way of thinking.
This paired well with the other passages we covered last week which were all centered on the power of God’s words to effect long term and systemic change in how we live our lives.
Truly listening with respect to God’s Word with the intent to obey has the power to transform us into Christ’s likeness.
Interestingly enough, that is part of the definition for grace.
“The Divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life – including gratitude.”
This enhances the depth of our understanding of other verses like
“For by grace you have been save through trust and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God. Not of personal effort so that no one can boast or take the credit. “
Which is to say,
“For it is by your trust in the influence God has had upon your heart that regeneration of life has been realized in your life – it is His work and gift to us. It is NOT the product of personal effort or discipline so that in the end – no one so changed by God’s grace can assume the credit for the transformation.”
Today I want to focus upon the relational nature of this process.
Transformation through personal encounters with God.
- Moses – burning bush
- Joshua – commander of God’s army
Every prophet in Israel – “I have revealed Myself to them in a dream or a vision… But not so with my servent Moses.”
It is God’s word spoken to us directly which is what man lives by. His words are revealed to us by the HolySpirit.
When God’s words meet with trust in the hearers, the seed of the word germinates and it gives life to the heart in which it was planted.
Thus we have:
- The parable of the heart Soils
- The commands to heed His word
- To treasure His commands
- To be slow to speak, slow to wrath but quick to listen,
- To receive the implanted word which is able to save our souls
- To not be conformed to the world around us but be transformed by the renewing of our minds
- To not set our minds on things beneath but on things above where Christ is which is where our life is hid… etc.
All of these contain the recurring story.
- God speaks to us
- We listen
- The Spirit causes us to understand
- Our heart chooses whether or not to trust
- Christ is formed in us
Psalm 1:1-6,
“(1) Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;”
Their opinions do not matter. The blessed of God do not look at, they do not rely upon, and are not shaped by the opinions and praise of people.
Jesus revealed one of the greatest hindrances to genuine faith and transformation by God’s word in John 5. He said, so long as we accept the praise and honor of man rather than the honor that comes from God we will not be able to believe! He also told them that the reason He was telling them this was so that they might be saved!
Let’s look at it, its found in John 5:30-44. If you pay attention you will see some of the elements we have already covered this morning throughout His dialogue.
“(30) I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
(31) “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.
(32) There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.
(33) Youhave sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. (34) Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.
(35) John was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. (36) But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. (37) And the Father Himself, Who sent Me, has testified of Me.
You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. (38) But you do not have His word abiding in you, because Whom He sent, Him you do not believe.
(39) You search the Scriptures, for in them YOU THINK YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE; and these are they which testify of Me. (40) But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
(41) “I do not receive honor from men. (42) But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.
(43) I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
(44) How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?”
Psalm 1…
“(1) Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; (2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
(3) He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
(4) The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
(5) Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
(6) For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
He is familiar with the ways of the righteous. He knows them, experiences them – they are HIS ways!
Notice a large part of this was due to where they placed the attention of the thoughts of their minds.
Last week we looked at 2 Corinthians 3 which spoke of our transformation into the likeness of Christ we see revealed to and in us through the mirror of the word of God by the Spirit of God.
The passage went like this –
2 Corinthians 3:14-18,
“(14) But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. (15) But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. (16) Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (17) Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (18) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Now let’s read the next chapter…
2 Corinthians 4:1-18,
“(1) Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. (2) But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
(3) But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, (4) whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine on them.
(5) For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.
(6) For it is the God Who commanded light to shine out of darkness, Who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
(7) But we have this TREASURE in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
(8) We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; (9) persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— (10) always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
(11) For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
(12) So then death is working in us, but life in you.
(13) And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I BELIEVED AND THEREFORE I SPOKE,” we also believe and therefore speak, (14) knowing that He Who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.
(15) For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
(16) Therefore we do not lose heart.
Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.”
(Living by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God)
“(17) For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
(18) WHILE WE DO NOT LOOK AT THE THINGS WHICH ARE SEEN, BUT AT THE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT SEEN. FOR THE THINGS WHICH ARE SEEN ARE TEMPORARY, BUT THE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT SEEN ARE ETERNAL.”
So if transformation happens because of looking at and to Jesus as He is revealed to us, then failure to be transformed is due to looking away to other things!
Ephesians 4:17-30,
“(17) This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, (18) having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; (19) who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. (20) But you have not so learned Christ, (21) if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: (22) that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, (23) and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, (24) and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
Turn with me to Romans to see how death works in the heart…
Romans 1:18-32,
“(18) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, (19) because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.”
Ok so let’s unpack this because we can learn much from examining truth from both angles. We know how Christ is formed in us – how eternal life or intimacy with God transforms us, but how does ungodliness work?
God’s wrath is revealed due to human ungodliness and unrighteousness. These point back to our passage in Isaiah.
Men’s ways and thoughts make them wicked and unrighteous because they are not God’s ways and thoughts.
But it isn’t because they simply did not know. Here it says God has revealed it to them and they willingly suppress it in their unrighteousness. THIS IS VERY INFORMATIVE!
Have you ever heard someone say that the media “squashed the truth”. That is the meaning of this word “suppressed”. It means to restrain, hinder and withhold.
How do they do this – by their unrighteousness which is to say, by the way they think!
Romans 8 says it this way, “(7) The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (8) So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Let’s keep reading and learning…
“(20) For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, (21) because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
“Glorify Him as God” means to honor Him, praise Him, revere Him, invest Him with dignity, esteem Him and even includes the idea of celebrating Him as God.
Don’t miss this!
It points back to one of the first things we identified as cooperating with the inward work of the Holy Spirit weeks ago. We have to “revere Him and acknowledge Him”.
If we do not, we immediately begin to slide backwards into apathy and darkness.
Many believers wonder why it is that they can feel SO MUCH for God and yet constantly fail Him in terms of lives of devotion and obedience.
Well one of the most common reasons is because emotions are NOT what God called for or addresses. He tells us to keep Him as the center focus of our minds and thoughts, not to “feel” a certain way about Him.
We live in a culture which glorifies feelings above all else – even when it runs contrary to logic and common sense. This has been the fuel driving church messages and attendance for decades!
Let’s continue…
(Romans 1)
“(22) Professing to be wise, they became fools, (23) and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”
Their thoughts – their thinking suppressed the knowledge God freely revealed to them about Himself.
They recreate God in their own image if they acknowledge Him at all. This turns any faith they have into a form of idolatry.
That reminds me of a Psalm we just recently covered in our trek ‘Thru the Bible’. It is found in Psalm 50:16-23 and addresses the same things we see here.
“(16) But God says to the wicked:
“What right do you have to recite My statutes and to take My covenant on your lips?
(17) You hate instruction and turn your back on My words. (18) When you see a thief, you make friends with him, and you associate with adulterers.
(19) You unleash your mouth for evil and harness your tongue for deceit.
(20) You sit, maligning your brother, slandering your mother’s son.
(21) You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But I will rebuke you and lay out the case before you.
(22) “Understand this, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no rescuer.
(23) Whoever sacrifices a thank offering honors Me, and whoever orders his conduct, I will show him the salvation of God.”
Now all of that were the works and responses of mankind. Next is God’s response.
This is important because God is the Creator and Owner of our hearts so when He makes a judicial decision regarding our minds – it stands firm!
“(24) Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, (25) who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (26) For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. (27) Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.”
“(28) And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; (29) being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, (30) backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, (31) undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; (32) who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”
Everything regarding the heart, hardness and sensitivity of heart is taught clearly and plainly in scripture – there really is no mystery. We are all fortold and forwarned. God does not simply and arbitrarily harden hearts – He heardens hearts in accordance with their own choices and even then He does so with copious amounts of mercy!
For more on God hardening the human heart see – Hardening of the Heart.
Blessings!
