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Eugene Prewitt

Home Studies

Finding, Knowing and Being Yourself

This is going to be the first of a series of messages that I'm going to call the Home Studies.

Studies on Christian living in the home may be appropriate for use in family worship.

This 1 is going to be on finding yourself.

I title it Finding, Knowing, and Being Yourself.

We're going to begin today by looking at Proverbs 18.

It says, a fool has no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.

A fool is happy when he can find himself, when he feels like he's found himself, when he knows himself.

I don't want you to misunderstand me or misunderstand the Bible.

There's nothing wrong with really knowing yourself.

In fact, the Bible says that we should examine ourselves, that we should know ourselves.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 115.

This is back probably about 40 pages for you.

Speaking of idols, it says, Why should the heathen say, Where now is their God?

For our God is in the heavens, He has done whatever He pleased.

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

They have mouths, but they speak not, Eyes they have, but they see not, They have ears, but they hear not, Noses have they, but they smell not, they have hands but they handle not, feet they have but they do not walk, neither do they speak through their throats.

They that make them are like unto them, so as everyone that trusteth in them.

He is their help and their shield." It's an interesting idea.

The idea, of course, is true that idols have no eyes, no hands, they don't smell, they don't speak.

But what about this idea that those are like them, that trust in them?

And what sense is an idol worshiper like an idol?

It's not that he can't see, or that he can't speak, or that he can't smell.

It's that idolaters end up adopting the character, or being molded into the character of the gods that they honor, those gods that are deceptive or cruel or power-hungry or greedy.

And this is why the pagan gods, with their terrible characters, led the pagans into moral debauchery.

Now, I want you to think about this for a minute, because you and I live in an age when the most common idol is self.

And what happens when you spend your time honoring self, thinking about self, serving self, when you give self the kind of attention that the heathen used to give to their idols.

Because the part of self that we indulge is not our high moral nature.

The part of self that we think about is not our reason, our conscience, our judgment.

So when we think about ourself, when we are trying to discover ourself, when we're trying to figure out where do I fit in or what is my passion or what do I what am I really like or who do I really get along with, when we're looking at those things those are not our virtues.

We fit in naturally with people who share our vices.

Our passions naturally are the things that we're to resist when we deny self and take up our cross.

The people we get along with naturally are ones who are like us.

They would be going the wrong way if it wasn't for the Spirit of God.

So what's wrong with trying to find yourself?

When you try to find yourself in a way that delights you, it means you're trying to affirm the way that you are.

The fool has no delight but to find himself.

In other words, when he finds himself, he's happy with what he finds.

He's discovering himself, not to change, but for the purpose of learning how to be himself.

That is just the opposite of the way that the Christian finds himself.

Turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 5.

The Bible says, examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith.

Don't you know your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates or rejects?

I want us to see that to find yourself is a good thing to do.

I want to know who I am, what I'm like, but I don't want to find myself for the purpose of affirming myself.

Quite on the contrary, I want to find myself for the purpose of improvement.

That is, the fool finds himself to become static or to stay the same, but the Christian discovers himself for the purpose of changing, improving in a better way.

Turn back maybe 12 pages to 1 Corinthians 11.

It says in verse 28, but let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup." In other words, before I take part in communion, I want to examine myself and see, am I being properly reverent?

Am I relating to this ordinance in a way that shows the high regard I have for the sacrifice of Jesus.

Now look down at verse 31, for if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

That's the real benefit of knowing yourself.

The real benefit of finding yourself is that you can modify your behavior so that you will not be condemned.

So what we've shown so far is that there are 2 different philosophies of finding oneself.

There's the fool's philosophy of finding himself for the purpose of self-affirmation.

There's the Christian's philosophy of finding himself for the purpose of making changes now to avoid judgment later.

When you are searching your own heart, I want to give you 2 diagnostic tools that you can use.

1 is that you want to check to see, when you examine yourself, have you been following your feelings or have you been living by faith, doing what God says in his written word?

When you're examining your life, What Paul said is examine yourself to see if you be in the faith.

That was 2nd Corinthians 13 and this is what it means.

Examine yourself to see, am I living by what God says or am I following my feelings?

But there's another way you ought to examine yourself, and we can see that best if we go to James chapter 1.

James chapter 1, we're looking at a second diagnostic tool for discovering my own self.

It says, but be you a doer of the word and not a hearer only, deceiving your own selves.

For if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a mirror.

For he beholds himself and goes his way and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues therein, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in his deed.

If any man among you seem to be religious, embroidle not his own tongue.

This man's religion is vain." So if our first diagnostic was to see if we're in the faith, to see if we live by feeling or whether we're living by what God has written in his word, whether we're following our impressions or whether we're doing what he says.

Our second diagnostic is to consider whether we are an attentive listener or a forgetful listener.

In other words, in our devotional life, in our Bible study, even in our listening to audio-verse sermons, we're going to be confronted with weaknesses and defects in our life.

To see those things is like that man who sees his natural face in the mirror, we see, when we look into God's Word, defects.

Come Let Us Reason Regarding Justice and Pain

Let's have a prayer and then we'll begin.

Our Father in heaven, I ask that you would be here as our teacher, that you would show us what is right and what is true, and that you would use your holy Bible to break the spell that is on the mind of some and teach us something about yourself.

Turn your Bibles to Revelation chapter 14.

Revelation chapter 14 and today we're going to be speaking about justice.

Something about the justice, the righteousness of God.

When Joshua was leading the conquest of Canaan, after the victory at Jericho, there was that defeat at Ai, and then there was the victory at Ai.

And so you had a, under Moses, a victory over Egypt and then over 2 other kings on the way to Canaan and then under Joshua a victory at both Ai and Jericho.

And the result was that the people of Canaan were scared.

They were frightened, they feared for their very existence, and they didn't even know what to do or how to organize to oppose the movement of God's people.

1 of those groups, the 1 that was next slated for annihilation, the Gibeonites, decided that they could not oppose Israel successfully by war.

You remember what they did, how they collected from their camp old sandals, they collected old dry bread that was moldy, they collected old garments, they put dust on those garments and on that bread, and they laid these on animals, and then they made that short little journey to the camp of Israel and presented themselves as admirers of the people of Jehovah.

The Gibeonites said that we've come from a great distance.

We've heard about the great things that Jehovah has done.

We're asking that you would make with us an agreement to not molest us or not to hurt us, in turn for our service.

And the leaders of Israel were sensibly doubtful.

Instead, they said, why should we trust you?

And At that point, the Gibeonites pulled out their evidence, and that was the bread and their provisions.

And the elders ended up taking the bread and trying it, and sure enough, it was very dry.

And when they realized that the evidence was there, they decided that these people were telling the truth, and they made a covenant with them.

You know, it was only 3 days later they found the truth.

I think for many people who get married, they have a similar experience.

A similar experience where they are questioning if they should marry someone, but then after a short investigation, they conclude that it's for the best, and they say, I do.

And then a few days later, they discover that they have been deceived in some way or another.

They had promised not to hurt the Gibeonites.

And 3 days later when they came to the camp and discovered that these were their neighbors and that they had Canaan, part of Canaan was under the Gibeonites.

Now, you should know this agreement wasn't made by all the people together.

If the people had acted in concert, maybe there would have been a different story, but the agreement to treat the Gibeonites politely was made entirely by the leadership.

And when the common people discovered what the leaders had done, the common people who were hoping to inhabit those Gibeonite towns, the common people were angry with their leaders.

And there was a division now among God's people because of the covenant made with Gibeon.

But Joshua stood up at that point and let it be known that Israel would be a nation as true as steel, as strong as steel, as true as the needle to the pole, that their word could be trusted, and they were not going to molest the Gibeonites.

However, the Gibeonites would also have to keep their end of the bargain.

They would become the servants of Israel.

They would haul the water, they would haul the Wood.

So that arrangement was going forward, it didn't satisfy everyone, but a short time later, it looked like the problem was going to solve itself.

You see, the Canaanites were furious that Gibeon had made a covenant with the invaders.

And they decided that if they could not destroy the invaders, at least they could destroy Gibeon and prevent any other losses of this nature.

So several of the kings of the Amorites gathered together and they began to march on Gibeon.

Gibeon sent a delegation to Joshua and said, your servants are in trouble, please come help us." And I'm sure that there was at least a faction who breathed a sigh of relief and said, let the Amorites kill the Gibeonites.

Let them annihilate each other while we watch, then we can be free from our promise and the problem will be over.

Listen, I want to say something about justice, about promises.

When we make a promise, when we say what we're going to do, we are obliged to keep our promise even if it is against our best interest.

The wise man said it this way, the man who makes a promise against his interest and changes not, that's the kind of person that we should be.

And Joshua conferred with the Lord and they decided to defend Gibeon and they destroyed those other Amorite attackers.

Now that story, you can read about it in the book of Joshua, that story, I left out maybe the key point, and that is that when they tasted the dry bread, when they examined the provisions, they neglected to ask God.

You see, brothers and sisters, God does not err, and He is not deceived by pretensions.

He knows what is right and what is true, and He keeps His promises.

And when in this Bible we find the things that God has said, those things are reliable.

When we find His promises, we can depend on those.

And if we want to know what is right, it's not sensible that we would trust any other source than the Holy Bible as an ultimate, accurate, reliable source.

Let me stop speaking in metaphors and speak plainly.

There are in the church today, teachers and preachers that are speaking about the justice of God in a way that is subtle and wrong.

They're speaking about the justice of God in a way that makes light of justice, in a way that confounds justice and mercy.

And I just want to say as we begin our study that if you want to know what's right, go yourself, consult what God says, and see what he says.

You know that America has a Food and Drug Administration.

And more than that, we have an entire department of justice aimed at the prosecution of drug criminality, especially of drug organized crime.

But in Mexico, the death of drug lords is very often at the hand of other drug lords.

That is, even if we feel ourselves somewhat hindered in our ability to get the bad guy, yet the bad guys are getting each other.

And frequently, men that we would love to put behind bars are instead being killed in Mexico by their competitors.

You could say that there is a parallel to that even in the Bible.

And some people view that this is the way that God executes justice.

What I mean is that instead of executing the sinner himself, instead of taking a hand and punishing wickedness with a judicial or a just system, that he lets the demons do it.

That he withdraws himself and let the demons have their way.

In other words, there is an idea or a rumor about God's justice that it works like this.

Here is the room of sinners and God withdraws and the demons come in and the demons cause the suffering and the pain.

But let me ask you, can the demons be trusted to act fairly?

Can you expect the drug lords in Mexico to act in a way that is just in the execution of other criminals?

The answer to both questions, of course, is no.

And if the devil was choosing who to punish, you can bet that he would punish those who resisted him more than those who cooperated with him.

I asked you a few minutes ago to turn to Revelation 14.

I want you to look at verse 6 and 7 because our first real Bible point in this lecture is that justice is a big part of the first angel's message.

I want to title this message, Come and Let Us Reason About Justice.

Revelation 14 verse 6, And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come.

And worship him that made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of waters.

The first angel's message is about justice.

It's saying that you live in a special time when you ought to be respectful of God because the hour of his judgment is come.

You can read about that judgment in Daniel 7.

You can read there about how the beast ends up being punished for its evil work.

The second point I want to make with you is that justice is a big part of the third angel's message.

You're here in Revelation 14, look down at verse 9.

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast in his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.

And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." As we come to reason about justice, Let's begin with these ideas that justice is a big part of the reason that we exist as Seventh-day Adventists.

Justice, the announcement of the judgment, is part of the first angel's message, And the announcement of justice in relation to the mark of the beast is a big part of the third angel's message.

In fact, both the beast and God end up making justice-oriented threats to the people of the world.

The beast says if you do not follow my way that you will not be able to buy or sell and eventually you will be killed.

God says if you will follow the way of the beast you will in the presence of holy angels and of the Lamb, be tormented with fire and brimstone.

You're in Revelation 14, you've read verses 4 and 9.

I'd like you to look now all the way down to verse 19.

Deliver My Soul

Our Father in heaven, I ask that you would be here.

But more than that, that you'd be with those that hear this message wherever they are.

That you would use your truth to make a difference.

I ask for the gift of your Spirit to work and speak through me in the name of Jesus.

I'd like you to turn your Bibles to Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 3.

The title of this message is Deliver My Soul And I'll get right to the point, this passage will get right to the point.

I'll begin reading, we'll be here for a while so you can keep turning, you may get there while we read it.

When I say to the wicked, you will surely die, and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, that same wicked man will die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.

Yet if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness nor from his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die.

Because you did not give him warning, he will die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done will not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand.

Nevertheless, if you warn the righteous man that the righteous man should not sin, and he does not sin, He shall surely live because he took warning and you also have delivered your soul." It's clear in this passage that for me to deliver my soul I need to give warnings to people, both righteous and unrighteous, to those that will take heed and to those that will pay no attention.

I must give the warning or I will be held accountable.

I know Many of my friends who listen to sermons and audio verse are people who are also in ministry and to you I speak these words as I read them to myself Unless we give people warning We are partially accountable They are accountable for what they've done, but we're accountable for not having warned them against their danger.

This year in 2013, I've been speaking a number of times about a precious book, De Sozo, And I've been preaching from the chapter Isaiah 58.

Isaiah 58, that chapter full of precious promises, promises of God's continual guidance, of his saving help, of him turning darkness to light, promises the most precious, but in speaking those messages this year, I have usually started somewhere around verse 2 or 3 or 6.

But Isaiah 58 begins in verse 1 with that phrase, cry aloud and spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions and the house of Israel their iniquities.

In other words, before God calls us to join Him in ministry to those who are poor and needy, He calls us to turn away from our sins.

Before He invites us to labor with Him, He invites us to cease being his enemy.

And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them, that is to the 10 tribes, by his messengers, rising up early and sending them, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.

It was because he had compassion on them.

And when we don't give fair warning, it shows a lack of compassion in us.

Verse 16, But they mocked the messengers of God, they despised his words, they scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy." Recently, I've preached against the idea that God has no wrath.

And here is a verse that speaks about a wrath that rises until there is no solution.

Don't make light of the messengers of God.

And when we mock his warnings, when we make light of his testimonies, what we're despising is his compassion, and when we despise his compassion, what remedy is there for us, since it's his compassion that leads us to repentance?

To save some time I'm going to read it to you now.

He who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy.

Did you hear it when we read in Ezekiel that when a righteous man turns from his iniquity, that God may lay a stumbling block in his way and he may die, that a righteous man may die as a wicked man unless he gets fair warning?

What we read here is that it's not just any righteous man turned wicked that is suddenly destroyed, but it is that man who being often rebuked hardens his neck.

Frequently though for these men, that often rebuke has come from their own reading and what they need is an appeal from someone else, from a human to give them a warning to turn from the wickedness.

Don't think the Spirit hasn't been telling them, but you know like I know that sometimes we need more than the Spirit.

We need the Spirit speaking to us through a human that will call us to our knees and show us our need.

In Acts chapter 18, you know what happened?

It happened that Peter, excuse me, Paul and Silas and Timothy in fact, the 3 of them were compelled by the Spirit and they testified to the Jews there that Jesus is the Christ, that's Acts 18 5.

But let's go on to verse 6 Acts 18 verse 6, But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, Your blood be upon your heads.

I don't want anyone's blood to be on my hands, and I'm willing to go to whoever is willing to listen to the gospel message and to take instruction.

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Deliver My Soul

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