Grasping God's Guidance (Precepts Message 1)

Grasping God’s Guidance (Precepts Message 1)(Psalms 48:9-14)

Guide - to lead in a way, to conduct a course or path, to lead a person who is not acquainted with a road or course.

Think of going to a college campus. They have a specific day when they show you the campus.

When you want to catch fish at a new lake, you can have someone who is an expert to show you the best places to catch fish.

Another definition is to drive.

When you go to a city that you’re not familiar with, you can pull out your phone, plug in where you want to go, and it will give you a direct path to where you want to go.

While there can be many occupants in a vehicle, only one is driving. Those that are in the vehicle are under the complete guidance of the one driving. They have surrender their right to drive to be guided by one who is directing their path.

If one is wanting to be guided by God, they will have to totally rely on God to show them and drive them on their path.

The Significance of Precepts

God has given us His word to help guide us in our walk with Him.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

God’s word tells us what’s right, what’s not right, how to get right, and how to stay right!

God divinely breathed out his word!

Psalms 138:2 “I will worship toward thy holy temple, And praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.”

Turn to 2 Peter 1:12-21

Peter, James, and John heard the voice of God on the mount of Transfiguration say from heaven, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 17:5 “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” )

According to Peter, in vs.19, we “have a more sure word of prophecy.”

“More Sure”

more valid

more trusting

more stable

more firm

Though Peter heard the literal voice of God, he says that His word is better than his voice.

The Stableness of Precepts

Feelings change, circumstances change, a lot of things change. But the Word of God doesn’t change.

Adam and Eve were in a perfect place. God told Adam and Eve to not do one thing and they failed. THEY HEARD THE AUDIBLE VOICE OF GOD, yet EVE CHANGED HIS WORDS.

Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Genesis 3:2-3 “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

When we’re not sure what God has to say about something, we have HIS WORD to go to that doesn’t change.

Psalms 119:89 “For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.”

Settled - to make permanent

Psalms 119:159-160 “Consider how I love thy precepts: Quicken me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness. Thy word is true from the beginning: And every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”

The Word of God isn’t just true in some places, it’s true from the very beginning!

Both Genesis 1:1 and Revelation 22:21 have 44 letters, 17 vowels, and 27 consonants.

Amen. (Last word of the Bible) Capitalized is mentioned 77 times.

God and Jesus (in Genesis and Revelation) is mentioned 343 times (7x7x7)

In (first word) and Amen (last word) is mentioned 777 times in Genesis and Revelation.

In (first word of Gen 1) and earth ( last word of Gen 1:1) and the (first word of Revelation 22:21) and amen (last word of Revelation 22:21) is mentioned in the entire bible 77777 times.

FROM BEGINNING TO END, THE WORD OF GOD IS TRUE!

1 Peter 1:23-25 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”

Liveth - since God breathed it, it won’t die.

God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. The soul doesn’t die, it spends eternity in heaven or hell.

Psalms 33:6 “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”

Ever wonder why God doesn’t just destroy Satan? He’d be going against himself. That’s why Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire one day.

2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration (God breathed) of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”

Abideth, Endureth - not to depart, not to perish, to last, to remain as one, not to become another or different.

Since God breathed out his word for us, it will never change because he never changes!

The Steering of Precepts

Now that we know how inspired, infallible, inerrant, and important the Word of God is, how do we use it to guide us?

Through Adhering

2 Peter 1:19 “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:”

Heed

to bring near (James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” )

To turn the mind to (Psalms 119:15-16 “I will meditate in thy precepts, And have respect unto thy ways. I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.”)

to apply oneself to (James 1:22-25 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”)

Hold or cleave to a thing to devote thought and effort to. ( 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”)

Acts 17:10-11 “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

John 5:39 “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

Search - to investigate in a forensic sense

Something has happened and you have no idea how it happened, but your looking into all the details to see how it happened.

To Accompaniment

2 Peter 1:19 “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:”

When we adhere to the Scriptures, God can then guide us when we are in the dark.

Psalms 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path.”

Proverbs 6:20-23 “My son, keep thy father’s commandment, And forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually upon thine heart, And tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; And reproofs of instruction are the way of life:”

We don’t know what we don’t know. If we want to be led and guided by God in every aspect of life, we must adhere scripture. God uses scripture to guide every one of his children.

John 5:37-39 “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

John 5:44-47 “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”

If we don’t believe and know God’s words, how can we know what to do?

Always!

2 Peter 1:19 “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:”

We need the Scriptures to guide us every day of our life until the Lord comes back to get us!