In the following short sermon, Dr. MacArthur provided some excellent biblical encouragement and admonition about walking with God.
His main outline points seemed to be as follows:
- Remember who owns you: He is Lord and you are his slave
- Renew your covenant oath frequently: when you sing praises; take the Lord’s supper; study scripture; confess sin….
- Know the word of God and be faithful to it
- Fellowship is a relationship
- Embrace adversity and face it biblically
This brief sermon was a great explanation about how to walk with God; view oneself and God; recover from sin…about everything a believer needs to know in his daily walk with the Lord.
Of course, believing what he said intellectually and then getting an experiential understanding of it are two different things. But I am finding that will come as one becomes aware of his own depravity (self-observation and examination) and of God’s holiness, mercy, goodness…in the course of the struggle that is the Christian walk (see Romans 7).
There is a longer version of this sermon, by the same title on YouTube. I chose this shorter version because of the intro and closing, I think it is important for new Christians to know how to get in touch with Dr. MacArthur’s ministry and to have an intro to it.
Near the end of his sermon, Dr. MacArthur talked about the conscience and how God designed it to operate for the believer; I was reminded of the first book I received from his ministry about 14 years ago, The Vanishing Conscience; that book basically made the point that our consciences operate according to how we program them. That is, if you fill your mind with God’s word, then your conscience will operate as God intended it to work, assisting you to live the Christian life; but if you fill it with worldly ideas, desires…then you will be guided by those.
In other words, be attentive to what you put into your mind, that will impact what you value.
So, valuing the things of God will not happen without an abiding in the means of grace (reading the word; prayer; taking the Lord’s supper; fellowship around God’s word as in Bible / prayer groups; and hearing preaching: Acts 2:42); prayer for correct affections seems to be instrumental in one being able to abide in His means.
Consider the following verses that promote biblical attitudes, and interests in the things of God:
Psa 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Pro 2:1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,
Pro 2:2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;
Pro 2:3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,
Pro 2:4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,
Pro 2:5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
Heb 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
[I think that we can also stir up ourselves towards interests in His means of grace.]
1Th 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Psa 116:1 I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Psa 116:2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
Psa 116:12 What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?
Psa 116:13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
Psa 116:14 I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.
Professed believers don’t really appreciate God’s mercy or seek it until they become aware of how depraved they are — reading the Bible regularly will enable you, as you encounter biblical truth, to understand that; and as the Holy Spirit reveals your sinfulness to you when you abide in the means of grace, you will come to a biblical realization of your depravity.
If you have been a Christian a long time and think you are a good person, then you have definitely been neglecting the means of grace; or not practicing self-observation and examination, as commanded in 1 Cor. 11, e.g.
1Co 11:27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.
1Co 11:28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
[More verses about self-examination: 1Co_11:31; Psa_26:2-7; Lam_3:40; Hag_1:5, Hag_1:7; Zec_7:5-7; 2Co_13:5; Gal_6:4; 1Jn_3:20-21]
Consider these verses regarding your depravity, as God sees it:
Eze 36:27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
Eze 36:28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Eze 36:29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you.
Eze 36:31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.
Eze 36:32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. [Ezekiel was talking about the new covenant that would be confirmed in Christ’s blood, the one we are under.]
Rom 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
Rom 3:10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
Rom 3:11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
[Read the first 3 chapters of Romans with a study Bible to understand that Paul is saying what is said in Ezekiel about our depravity; but Paul gives the solution to this helpless state in chapter 3: 21 – 31.]
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Jer 17:10 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
What promotes unbiblical attitudes and interests (idolatry):
- Setting worldly things always before us
- Treasuring worldly pursuits (for example, Jesus stated in the beatitudes that His kingdom citizens would be poor in spirit, or spiritually bankrupt; mourn their sin, admit it, confess it, mourn it because it is harming their fellowship with Christ…. To treasure worldly things is to value material objects; fame; prestige; power; that is, the lust of the flesh, eyes, and pride…things the world values and God disdains. After observing such idols, ask God’s help in turning from them and having affections that value Him and kingdom things: see psalm 119: 29; 36, 37, e.g.
- Things of God must be sought as though they were gold, and you were in the CA gold rush; as the dearest things in your life
- When you have learned to honestly acknowledge sin, confess it, talk about it with some other human, understand why you are moved to commit it…then your love of God and appreciation of His mercy and love will be magnified; and your realization of your state, as revealed by God on the pages of scripture, will also be magnified — your mourning will increase as you mature in your faith because His Spirit will enable you to see it more clearly.
STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS:
See Beatitude Life Posts in categories, for narratives on the beatitudes; and see True Kingdom Citizen, for video posts on the beatitudes; therein you can learn more about how the beatitudes define Christ’s kingdom citizens.