Weekly Sermon

Proverbs 3:5-6 reads, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Brethren, it is our responsibility as God’s own children to walk and live each day by faith, not by sight; for without faith it is impossible for us to please the Lord our God. (2 Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 11:6)  The life that we are now living in this flesh, we are to live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us and give Himself for us. (Galatians 2:20)   Just as we received our Lord Jesus Christ through faith as our eternal Savior, even so we are to walk and abide in Him through steadfastness of faith, being rooted and built in Him thereby. (Colossians 2:6-7)  We are to stand and become established in the things of the Lord by faith, and through such steadfastness of faith in Him we shall obtain a good report. (Acts 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:13; Hebrews 11:39)  Although we do not see our Lord with physical sight, yet we are to look unto Him with the sight of faith and thereby to rejoice in Him with joy unspeakable and full of glory. (1 Peter 1:8)  Even so, the four lines of Proverbs 3:5-6 present four important truths concerning this matter of walking by faith and trust in our Lord.

Meditations in Exodus

In Exodus 3:9-10 the Lord God called Moses unto Himself that He might send Moses to serve as the deliverer of His people Israel from their affliction and oppression under the hand of the Egyptians.  Therein the Lord God declared unto Moses, “Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.  Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.”  In Exodus 3:11 we find Moses’ response to the Lord God’s call – “ And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?”  Herein Moses expressed his humility, and even his hopelessness, concerning his own ability to fulfill the Lord’s call.

Weekly Sermon

This sermon is a companion to three previous sermons:
            By the Renewing of Your Mind (Part 1) - Romans 12:2     
            By the Renewing of Your Mind (Part 2) - Romans 12:2     
            By the Renewing of Your Mind (Part 3) - Romans 12:2      

Romans 12:1-2 reads, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

In Romans 12:1 God the Holy Spirit pleads with us to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto the Lord our God.  Then in verse 2 God the Holy Spirit gives two commands that we must obey if we are truly to present ourselves as such a living sacrifice unto the Lord our God.  The opening portion of the verse presents the first command – “And be not conformed to this world.”  Then the second command follows – “But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  Brethren, we are not to be “conformed to this world.”  We are not to be in the same form or in agreement with this present evil world.  Rather, we are to be “transformed.”  We are to be changed into a different form and a different character than this present evil world.  Yea, we are to be changed into the same form and character as our Lord Jesus Christ.  Even so, 2 Corinthians 3:18 declares, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image [as the glory of the Lord] from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

In addition, Romans 12:2 reveals that the means of this transforming work is “by the renewing of your mind.”  We are commanded to be “transformed by the renewing of [our] mind.”  This means that we ourselves must involve ourselves in the renewing of our minds.  We ourselves must seek out, and commit ourselves to the things that will make for the renewing of our minds.  What then are the things that will make for the renewing of our minds?  Already in the first three parts of the message, we have considered six answers to this question – (1) We must commit ourselves to the truth of God’s holy Word; (2) we must commit ourselves to put away from us any and all sin; (3) we must commit ourselves to live wholly unto the will of God; (4) we must commit ourselves to the truth of our new life in Christ; (5) we must commit ourselves to walk in and after the Holy Spirit; and (6) we commit ourselves to walk always in prayer and thanksgiving.  Now in this second part of the message, let us consider one additional answer to this matter.

Outlines in Psalms

Psalm 30:5 reads, “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”  Only as we walk in the favor of our Lord's fellowship can we experience and enjoy the abundant Christian life.  Therefore, it is important that we not walk in self-confidence; for the Lord our God "resisteth the proud, but giveth grace [favor] unto the humble." (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; Proverbs 3:34; Psalm 138:6)

Meditations in Exodus

Exodus 2:11-15 reads, “And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.  And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.  And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?  And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?  Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?  And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses.  But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.”

Furthermore, Acts 7:22-29 reads, “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.  And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.  And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.  And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?  But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?  Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday?  Then fled Moses at this saying, and was a stranger in the land of Madian, where he begat two sons.”

These two passages speak concerning a choice that Moses made when he was forty years old.  He had been adopted by Pharaoh’s own daughter and had been raised in the palace as her own son.  Yet at the age of forty, it came into Moses’ heart “to visit his brethren the children of Israel” and to look “on their burdens.”  This Moses did because he recognized that Lord God had called him for His work of deliverance on the behalf of His people.  In fact, he even supposed that the children of Israel themselves “would have understood how that God by his [by Moses’] hand would deliver them.”  Indeed, Moses visited the children of Israel, attempting to find a way to bring about this deliverance on behalf of his brethren.  Yet at that time Moses failed in his attempt because he made the attempt in dependence upon his own ability, rather than in dependence upon the Lord his God.