-Transcript-
00:28 Amen. Glory to God. Welcome to the program.
00:32 Welcome to the Cafe. Pastor Clark Covington here. Another edition of KJV Cafe.
00:37 Hey, you have a coffee, you got something good brewing there? Some decaf maybe or something not decaf? I wish I did. I had a cup early this morning and that’s it. I’ve cut myself off from the coffee for today, but there’s always tomorrow to look forward to.
00:54 Hey, either way, I’m just so glad you joined me here at KJV Cafe. We view ourselves as a Bible study, just like you’re in a cafe. You open the Bible, nice and relaxed, dig in there deep, learn great spiritual truths and leave a more mature Christian.
01:09 That’s really our goal here is to win souls to the Lord and edify the saints. And by God’s graces, we’re on two years here, two years of the ministry of KJV Cafe. All right.
01:23 So today we are speaking on, wow, a real tough one here to swallow, but a very important lesson. And it is this. Okay.
01:32 Imagine yourself saying this. I will not turn from your precepts even though they expose my sin. Okay.
01:41 God, I will not turn from your precepts even though they expose my sin. God’s ways are for our good and they often show us our sin and shortcomings. Think about that.
01:54 Think about that. God’s ways are for our good and at the same time, they often show our sin and our shortcomings. Now you may say, oh, I don’t, I don’t think so.
02:07 I mean, God says thou shall not lie and I don’t lie. So how does that show my shortcomings? Well, maybe not lying, but maybe another one, you know, maybe, um, the Bible says to even lust, uh, to look at another, uh, with lust is to commit adultery in your heart. Maybe that’s an issue or Paul even writes that, uh, he didn’t know sin until he knew what coveting was.
02:29 And so how often do we go visit a friend and say, oh, their house is nice. I’d like a house like this, or, oh, they have a boat. I’d like a boat or a car.
02:42 I’d like this car or whatever it may be. Or maybe it’s not coveting a material thing. Maybe it’s coveting a position at work or coveting the popularity of a friend at school or coveting, coveting in the ministry.
02:50 Goodness. I mean, you see, oftentimes, uh, you go into a revival meeting or something, say, oh, they have a nice fellowship hall. Oh, they have a big sanctuary.
02:59 Oh, they run so-and-so many people. Not that I’m speaking from experience. I think, you know, where I get caught up, I was at a revival meeting not too long ago and I had to repent before the Lord because I said, man, this is a really nice gym.
03:11 Oh, what I could do with this gym. And then I just said, Lord, forgive me. The point is, okay, here’s the point.
03:18 That open dialogue with the Lord and that not condoning the sin, not letting pride get in to condone the sin, but understanding that we are to serve a holy God righteously as we can here on this earth. And that understanding that the more that we get to know the Lord, the more it may expose our sin. We still should get to know the Lord.
03:35 These two truths are connected and they’re there for a reason. And this really is about mature Christians accepting them. This is the meat of the word.
03:50 This isn’t the milk of the word. This isn’t some simple theology here. This is pretty deep.
04:01 The idea that I will not turn from your precepts even though they expose my sin. Our text verse here is Psalm 119:104. Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way.
04:10 Psalm 119:104. Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way.So what are godly precepts? I found this from higher ground ministry.
04:26 I thought this was a good explanation. Any commandment, instruction, or order intended as a rule of action or conduct, especially a practical rule guiding behavior, technique, et cetera.
04:35 In the scriptures, the word which is translated precept is a general term for the responsibility God places upon his people.
04:43 Okay, responsibility God places upon his people, a commandment, instruction, order. You know, godly precepts are what God wants us to do, how God wants us to live.
04:53 And godly precepts, as you get to know them, expose sin in the world, but oftentimes sin in our lives.
05:02 And that goes back to the idea of getting the plank out of our eye before pointing up the speck in someone else’s eye, right? And we have to understand that it’s easy to say, oh, it’s always someone else’s fault and oh, we’re just living for the Lord, doing the best we can.
05:18 It’s much harder to look inwardly and say, you know what, this scripture really cuts to the core. You know, this scripture is talking about something that I’m really struggling with, you know, and again, God’s precepts are beyond just the 10 commandments.
05:31 They go very deep, amen. And so we need to think about that in detail. I mean, look at Job, right? You look at Job and he went through so many problems, all that he went through as he was afflicted by the devil, right?
05:49 And Job 13:15 is an incredible verse, Job 13:15, though he slay me, yet will I trustin him, but I will maintain mine own ways before him, Job 13:15, wow, though he slay me.
06:06 And so as we get deeper into God’s word, you know, one of the blessings of being a preacher and preaching on the radio is constantly spending time in God’s word.
06:15 I’m preparing a message for Sunday service, I’m preparing a message for Sunday evening service, I’m preparing a message for Wednesday service, and then those messages are the root of messages typically on the radio for Monday through Friday, also Saturday and Sunday.
06:29 And so what does that mean? That means that this old boy spends a lot of time in the word, studying the word.
06:35 Well, guess what? Sometimes I read it and say, yep, I knew it. That person over there is doing that thing over there that God says don’t do. But there’s other times that I’ll read it and I’ll study it and say, ooh, wow, now that’s me right there.
06:50 Oh God, help me. I mean, you start reading about things about having idols in your life, about turning away from the unclean thing, again, about coveting, a lot of these things you start saying, man, I gotta be really careful, you know, but that’s what God wants of us. He does not want perfection.
07:03 He knows we’re incapable of that, but what he desires is obedience. Obedience is greater than sacrifice. And so God desires us to number one, study His word.
07:17 How can we know what his precepts are if we never study his word? And then number two, as we study his word and we get to know these precepts, that we don’t just go running, you know, away.
07:31 And I heard an athlete say this one time that, and he was giving a testimony online. I think he was a pro athlete, but he said that a lot of times before he got saved, he would go to these like Christian events, seminars or whatever the players would go to with a chaplain or whoever it was.
07:45 And he says that immediately afterwards, they’d all run to the bar and get drunk or something. They were rebelling, right? So they were so put off by the idea of accepting the Lord and making him Lord of your life and living for him that they would go run the other direction. And yet we need to be so mature as Christians that we need to accept it.
08:08 You know, why do God’s precepts expose our own sin? I mean, firstly, God’s precepts don’t play favorites. God is no respecter of persons. God is not going to say, okay, well, this individual has had a tough life and this individual is very educated and this individual is very well connected.
08:21 I guess my precepts don’t apply to them. No, God’s commands apply to everyone and especially those that much is given to, Amen. But God’s precepts apply to all.
08:33 He’s no respecter of persons. What is a person to God? Amen. He is the creator of all.
08:37 He knows us. Amen. We’re fearfully and wonderfully made, but at the same time, we are not greater than our master.
08:42 Jesus Christ says that. The servant’s not greater than his master. God’s precepts, they cut going both ways.
08:48 Again, we can cut another with the Bible, but we also can cut ourselves. And if we’re careful, we’ll understand that we don’t want to club people with the Bible. I love that.
08:56 I heard that recently. The Bible makes a terrible club and I agree because I have a teenager. So I’ve thought about it.
09:02 Okay. I’ve thought about using the Bible as a club, not a literal club, but I have a teenager and I’ve thought about this. So, you know, you can’t make it a club.
08:58 It’s not going to be effective. It’s just the Bible says this. Get right.
09:12 The Bible says that. Get right. It’s got to be more of an understanding, right? That we’re not perfect, right? And that then, by the way, how will someone call you a hypocrite if you call out your own shortcomings, right?
09:26 It’s much easier for them to call you a hypocrite if you’re clubbing someone with the Bible and then you’re doing something unbiblical in your life.
09:33 And that was the whole point of the law in the old Testament was to show the Israelites that they couldn’t keep the law, that they’re not good enough. Amen. And that’s the whole point of the law to show that we don’t measure up.
09:43 So we’re saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. We’re saved. And now what? Now we go through sanctification, the idea of cleansing, the idea that we don’t need our whole body washed anymore.
09:54 We just need our feet washed. We just need that cleansing, that sanctification. The idea is once we’re saved, we’re not going to lose our salvation over messing up or sinning, but we’ll lose that closeness with God.
10:06 The Bible talks about in James, draw nigh to him, he’ll draw nigh to you. And prior to that, it says, cleanse your hands, you filthy sinners. You know, we got to get right with God.
10:17 You know, we have to be willing to repent before God. The idea of repentance is acknowledging a sin is a sin and giving it to God. I acknowledged it here publicly on the radio broadcast.
10:25 You know, if we have listeners, I’m in trouble, I guess. But I said, hey, I went to this revival meeting. I’m looking at this gym.
10:32 I’m like, this is a nice gym. And I was, I had to acknowledge before, Lord, Lord, I’ve been coveting this a little bit. Help me.
10:38 Right. Forgive me. And then I realized that that was that what that was.
10:42 And I realized that you’ve given me every little bit that I can handle. And so I’m going to be just content with where I am. I’ve heard preachers of large congregations do the opposite.
10:51 They’ve desired a little congregation because I can’t imagine what it’d be like pastoring a big one. And they’d have to repent before the Lord. And I’ve heard preaching on that.
10:59 And it’s beautiful because what it does is it shows that we are acknowledging the sin. And that’s what true repentance is, acknowledging the sin and then turning from it, acknowledging it is not right with God and then turning from it and asking God for the strength to do so. God’s precepts are there for our own good.
11:17 You know, think about this. Jesus said he came to heal the sick, right? Not the healthy. Right.
11:21 Well, how do you heal the sick? You know, if I’m really sick and I go to the doctor, what is the doctor going to do? They’re going to take my weight, in which case I take the keys out of my pocket and maybe my shoes off because I’m trying to shed a few pounds, but he’ll take my weight, my blood pressure.
11:37 He’ll take my temperature or she, you know, will take my temperature and so on. What are they trying to do with all these little things they’re doing? They’re trying to diagnose the problem.
11:47 Did the individual lose a lot of weight quickly? Do they have a temperature? Are they, you know, are they running a fever? Are they experiencing, you know, a buildup in their ear canals or in their nose or whatever it is? And they’re looking to diagnose the problem through certain signals that they find as you go to the doctor.
12:05 Well, God is helping us diagnose our problems through the sin in our lives that is exposed when we get into his word. And as our text verse says, through thy precepts, I get understanding.
12:16 So we get understanding of what is holy and what is not through God’s word. God’s word is incredibly specific. You know, when you really study God’s word, he gives us so much information on how we should live our lives.
12:28 Not because we’re under the law, but because he desires us to live a fruitful life, a productive life for him and to grow more like Christ each day. And he gives us information. And we should hate sin.
12:39 Therefore, I hate every false way. We should hate the false ways. Well, how can we hate the false ways if we don’t know them? How can we heal if we don’t know we’re sick? You know, we have to go to the spiritual doctor, the great physician, Jesus Christ, our Lord, and we got to go to what? The word.
12:52 The word is eternal. It lasts forever. Amen.
12:55 That’s a good place to go. And as we study it, he’ll give us what we need. Finally, here, the mature, faithful Christian doesn’t turn away because it steps on our toes.
13:06 Our Lord expects us to bear the chastening well. Our Lord is merciful, knowing this is for our good. How else will we correct our ways if we don’t ever get approached with how to correct our ways?
13:16 If I had a child and my child was misbehaving, and I never told my child that he was misbehaving, how can I expect my child to change, right? Our Father can’t expect us to change, our Heavenly Father, if he doesn’t show us through His word.
13:28 To turn from sin is to repent, and to repent is to identify with God of that sin. And to do this, we must seek to know him. And this is why many don’t want to hear it, but it is good for us.
13:38 Hebrews 4:12, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13:50 That is our word, a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. And just because the word does that does not give us license or reason to turn from it, but instead, we should be brave and know that our God loves us and seek diligently in His word to learn about what he’d have us to do and how he’d have us to live.
14:11 And when we stumble upon things or when God reveals things by the work of the Holy Spirit that we need to change, we need to be willing to change. We need to turn to God and say, God help us, and through the work of the Holy Spirit, he will and we will be blessed. I thank you so much for listening today.
14:26 Tune in next time for great truths from God’s word. Take care. God bless and Amen.