Be A Wise Guy - #234

The commands of Scripture are not up for our own personal interpretation; they are words of wisdom from the One who sees the whole battlefield and understands the movements of the enemy. Your role in this battle is to be wise.

Learn more about the ministry of The Purity Coach at  http://www.thepuritycoach.com

Transcript

The commands of Scripture are not to be taken lightly; they are to be followed to the letter. They’re not up for our own personal interpretation; they are words of wisdom from the One who sees the whole battlefield and understands the movements of the enemy. Your role in this battle is to be wise.

Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast. A powerful weekly study filled to the brim with the all the tools from Scripture you will ever need to build a lasting life of Biblical purity and godliness. I’m your host Steve Etner – author, National Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry and this is Episode #234 entitled “Be a Wise Guy.”

Psalm 19:7 says, “the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”

Typically, a “testimony” is considered to be a statement someone gives to tell others about a specific event or experience they had. We often hear people give their testimony in church, sharing how they came to know Christ as their Savior and all that He has done in their life.  

Here in our text, the “testimony of the Lord” simply refers to what God has to say about Himself. It is a phrase David uses to speak of Scripture, for it is in the Bible where we learn about God. So, in essence, David is saying that God’s Word is sure—it’s reliable, it is 100% trustworthy. When God says something, you can always take it to the bank. You see, (Psalm 111:7-8) “All his precepts are trustworthy, they are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.”

I challenge you here to take a close, hard look at your life. Can you honestly say (as David did in Psalm 119:24) that God’s “testimonies are (my) delight; they are (my) counselors”? Do you delight in God’s Word “as much as in all riches” (Psalm 119:14)? Is the Bible your “heritage forever … the joy of (your) heart” (Psalm 119:111)? It should be. Why? Only through Scripture are we able to grow in Christ and be victorious over the whims, wishes, and sinful desires of King Me.

To win our battle against temptation, we must grasp the vital necessity of growing in our relationship with God. In fact, let’s take the word “grow” and make it into an acrostic. Each letter of the word will give us an important aspect of growing in Christ. To grow in Christ, you must daily:

G - give Him your heart and mind. 

In Proverbs 23:26 God says, “O my son, give me your heart. May your eyes take delight in following my ways.” Watch this now: it is vital for your spiritual growth that you daily follow the command of Proverbs 4:23 which says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 23:19 commands you to “keep your heart on the right course.” Why? Because, as Proverbs 28:26 says, “One who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” This is why in Matthew 22:37 Jesus commands you to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all our soul, and all your mind.” 

So, let me repeat this point: To grow in Christ you must (G) daily Give Him your heart and mind. Secondly, (continuing in our acrostic of the verb “grow”) to grow in Christ you must also daily ...

R - Read your Bible. 

Jesus reminds us that “People don’t live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4. And in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 the Apostle Paul writes, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

OK, so, to grow in Christ you must daily (G) Give Him your heart and mind. You must also (R) Read your Bible daily – and then you must (O) ...

O - Obey what God reveals to you from His Word. 

In John 14:15 Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” In other words, the best way to show God ... and others ... that you love Him is to not just read His Word but obey His commands. Put into practice what God is teaching you, daily live out what He is revealing to you. In John 14:23 Jesus goes on to say, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.” In 1 John 2:4-5 we read, “If someone claims, ‘I know God,’ but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him.” And then in 1 John 5:3 we also read, “Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.”

OK, so, to grow in Christ you must daily (G) Give Him your heart and mind. You must also daily (R) Read your Bible. You must faithfully (O) Obey what God reveals to you from His Word. And finally, you must then (W) ...

W - Work out your faith. 

Paul instructs us in Philippians 2:12 to “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Another way to put that is like this: Work hard to let your life continuously demonstrate to the world around you the results of your salvation. Do this with deep reverence and fear. 

Galatians 6:7-9 gives us the solemn warning to not “be misled – you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own flesh will harvest decay and death from that flesh. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up” (Galatians 6:7-9). 

Let me remind you of our point here. To grow in Christ, you must not only daily Give God your heart and mind, Read your Bible every day, Obey what God teaches you from His word, you must also Work out your faith. Live it out every moment of every day of your life.  G-R-O-W, you must grow.

Psalm 19:7 says that God’s Word is not only trustworthy, but it will make you wise. Great! So, what is this wisdom and how do I get it? Simply put, wisdom is the skillful use of knowledge. In other words, when you study God’s Word, you gain knowledge—you learn who God is and what He expects of you. When you choose to invest your time every day in the study and memorization of Scripture, and then throughout the day meditate on what the Holy Spirit is revealing to you, God promises that you will become wise. You will understand how to apply what you have learned to your own life. You will begin to actually live a life that glorifies God. 

In Psalm 119:130 David reminds us that “The unfolding of (God’s) words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.” In Psalm 119:9, 11 we see that when you memorize Scripture, and when you hide God’s Word in your heart, it becomes a great deterrent to sin. Why? It is God’s Word that “makes (you) wiser than (your) enemies, for it is ever with (you).” As you dig into Scripture, you will “have more understanding than all (your) teachers, for (God’s) testimonies are (your) meditation” (Psalm 119:98-100).

I cannot overemphasize the importance and the necessity of investing your time daily to be in God’s Word. If you want to know how to defeat the beast of temptation in your life, read God’s Word. If you want to live a life that honors and glorifies God, fill your mind with the testimony of the Lord that is trustworthy, found only in God’s Word. As you apply the truth of Scripture to your life, as you walk in obedience to God’s standards, you will be wise—you will be free!

Psalm 19:8 goes on to say, “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart …” Did you know that God has a code of conduct for His children, a certain behavior He expects from each and every of us? David called them “precepts.” Precepts are the Scriptural guidelines that provide us the principles of life.  

Do you understand why God gave us His precepts? God’s code of conduct gives you the tools you need to maintain a close relationship with Him. They reveal God’s boundaries - boundaries that give you an amazing freedom in serving Him. Please, my friend, don’t look at Scripture as a set of rules handed to you by a God who is distant, detached, and doesn’t care about you. Don’t look at God as someone who is sitting up in Heaven just waiting for you to screw up so He can zap you.

God isn’t out to make your life miserable; He has amazing plans for you, plans to bless you beyond your wildest imaginations (Jeremiah 29:11). I know that when you are in the thick of the battle against temptation to give up and give in to your sinful desires it sure doesn’t seem that way. That is the time we must desperately cling to God’s promises and trust Him completely. That is the time we must fight and fight hard to be in God’s Word and let God’s Word dwell in you richly (Colossians 3:16)!

To know God’s blessing and to experience victory over sinful behavior in your life, God has given you a set of guidelines. These precepts are trustworthy—in other words, they actually work! (Psalm 111:7). They show you how to live in a way that is not only free from sin but will ultimately glorify Him. He wants you to keep these precepts diligently (Psalm 119:4). Why? When you choose daily to follow them no matter what, you will be free. God’s precepts are right, my friend, they will never lead you wrong. In Psalm 119:128 David writes, “Each of your commandments is right. That is why I hate every false way.”

We should strive to be like King David who deeply desired to know God’s code of conduct. In Psalm 119:40 he cries out, “How I Iong for your precepts!” In fact, David didn’t just long for God’s precepts, He loved them (Psalm 119:159) and he daily meditated on them, always fixing his eyes on God’s ways (Psalm 119:15). This is why he was described (Acts 13:22) as a man after God’s own heart. In Psalm 119:63 we see that he kept company only with others who were seeking God’s precepts as well. Oh, my friend, what are your eyes fixed on? With whom do you associate and keep company? Who do you spend your time with?

When we seek out God’s precepts and walk in them, we are walking in freedom. Psalm 119:45 says, “I will walk about in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments.” When we seek out God’s precepts and walk in them, we will know God’s richest blessings on our life (Psalm 119:56). Oh, that doesn’t mean we will be free from temptation, and it doesn’t mean we won’t have to fight the battle anymore. However, it does mean that God is always there as our refuge, our fortress, and our solid rock who will save us from destruction (Psalm 119:94).

Listen one more time to David as he talks about God’s wonderful precepts:

“Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” (Psalm 119:104) And in Psalm 119:128 he says, “I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way.” It is my deepest hope and prayer that you are able to open your Bible daily, read and study God’s Word faithfully and cry out with David “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” (Psalm 119:97) It is my challenge to you to “delight in the law of the Lord, and on his law (meditate) day and night.” (Psalm 1:2) You see, God’s promise in Scripture is that when you “let the Word of God dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16) then “wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.” (Proverbs 2:10)

OK, I’m going to hit the pause button here until next week’s episode. In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about today’s study, or if you’re interested in learning more about The Pure Man Ministry (what we do to help men across the globe find freedom and victory over sexual sin), be sure to visit our website to see the multitude of resources we’ve made available to you – you can find our website at ThePurityCoach.com

One of those resources I would like to highlight for you here is my book entitled “The Point of Purity” Workbook! Available on Amazon. This Point of Purity Workbook is the accumulation and culmination of 13 years of coaching, mentoring, and counseling men in the area of porn addiction and sexual purity.

“The Point of Purity” Workbook is a 12-week accountability study of God’s Word focused on equipping and training men and women on how to overcome an addiction to lust, porn and masturbation. Throughout this workbook you and your accountability partner or small group will walk through Scripture together, discovering from God’s Word how you can be free. 

Each week you are equipped with powerful tools from Scripture that will help you not only BE free, but LIVE free. You will learn how to effectively change your thought process when faced with temptation (not just sexual temptation, but actually any and all temptation). You will discover how to submit yourself to God, standing firmly against the temptation and successfully resist it every time. 

“The Point of Purity” Workbook is a powerful journey through Scripture to help you discover the point of purity. Why should I be pure? What's wrong with a little "forbidden pleasure" from time to time? You will also learn how to get to the point of purity - living daily in freedom and victory over temptation. 

You see, the real problem we struggle with is not lust, porn, masturbation, or any other form of sexual temptation. The real problem is a worship disorder. Who is sitting on the throne of your heart? Whom are you choosing to worship and why? “The Point of Purity” Workbook is a deep dive into Scripture to help answer this all-important question and discover how to dethrone King Me, allowing God to be Lord and leader of every part of your life.

So be sure to visit Amazon.com today and get your copy of “The Point of Purity” Workbook” or just look up my name, Steve Etner, and purchase your copy of any of my books today.

And if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, let me encourage you to do so today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming episodes! So, until next time this is Steve Etner – author, National Speaker, Certified Professional Mentor TM and Purity Coach for The Pure Man Ministry – reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.