Hello, I’m Mack Lyon. The program’s a Bible study program “In Search of the Lord’s Way to become a Christian and to live the great life afforded those who are in Christ Jesus. We’re so glad you have joined us and we pray that we’ll both be blessed.
Greetings to you my friend! It’s so very good to have you join us now for Bible study “In Search of the Lord’s Way” to become a Christian. Perhaps you have heard me say it before, but it’s worth repeating now: the Lord’s way to live is the best way that has ever been introduced to the family of man. I believe that; and I whole-heartedly recommend it to you.
You won’t hear us asking you to send us money or to buy anything on this program because we’re presented here by members of some churches of Christ in the area served by this good station. They are your friends and neighbors. And, say, when you see them would you thank them for this program? Or better yet, why not attend worship with them or Bible class with them real soon?
Phil Sanders has prepared and will deliver the message for us today. It is titled “Saying ‘No’ To God.” If you think you might want a printed copy of it, or CD or an audio cassette tape, they’re free if you would mail your request for it to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may prefer to call us. In that case, we’ll even pay for the call. You see, this program is not a money-making scheme for me or for anybody else for that matter; it’s a ministry for Christ. Well, as I was saying, our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. It’s also streamed on our website at www.searchtv.org. Ken Helterbrand’s going to direct the Edmond Church of Christ in a hymn; and then, Phil Sanders will be here for the reading of 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 4 through 9.
Thank you, Mack. Hello, I am Phil Sanders and today our Bible reading comes from the epistle of 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 4 through 9. “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.” This reading is from the New King James Version. Let’s pray together. O Lord, we are grateful that You know how to deliver us from temptations; and, Father, help us never to say “no” to the things that You ask us to do and to live the life that You ask us to live. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
There is nothing in this world sweeter than a newborn baby. I love the thought of something so fresh from heaven. Just a short time ago Jackie, my wife, and I enjoyed the birth of our fifth grandchild. Jackie and I had four daughters of our own, and now we’re enjoying the blessing of grandchildren. But you know, when a little one gets to be about 18 months to 2 years old, they learn a word that starts a battle that lasts for a lifetime. They learn to say the word “no!” Now, they have heard it from their parents and now they’re telling their parents “no.”
Well, the battle of a lifetime is one that is inside our hearts. Will we do our own will or will we do the will of an authority? The first authority is our parents; but at an early age we learn that God is also the supreme authority in our lives; and the Bible urges us to be careful how we deal with this inner person. Our hearts are important. Proverbs 4 and verse 23 says, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” Now if we let our hearts grow selfish and indulgent, we can ruin our lives by a moment’s foolish choice.
Rebellion is an act of the heart and will; it is an act of defiance or resistance to one in authority. God gives us all freewill, and we can say yes or no to God. We can do God’s will or we can follow our own desires; God won’t stop us. My friend, you can choose to do what you wish. You can say no to God, but you have got to pay the price. God is gracious to the penitent and the willing; but when people rebel against him, there is a price to pay. That price is always higher than you think.
In the Old Testament, the people of Israel often drifted away from God and began living lives that pleased themselves. The Bible says in Isaiah 1, verses 18 to 20, “Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, the Bible says, you will be devoured by the sword. Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
The history of the Bible shows that people said “no” to God; they shut Him out of their lives and paid a very high price for it. God, you remember, gave Adam and Eve only one boundary in the days that they were in the Garden of Eden. They couldn’t eat of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” And God said, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” But they listened to the lies of the devil and were cast out of the garden, where there was eternal life and the fellowship of God. You remember that the woman bore children with pain, and the man would eat his bread by the sweat of his brow; it says “till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3 and verse 19).
Now in Noah’s day people also rebelled against God. The Bible says in Genesis 6, verses 5 to 7: “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Bible says the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and that He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I created from the face of the land, from the man to animals to creeping things and the birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.’” Oh, you remember that God sent a great flood and destroyed every person except those on the ark, eight souls in all.
Well then, Bible students will remember what happened to Israel as the people came into Palestine. In Joshua and Caleb’s day, the people refused to do God’s will. In Numbers 13, verses 1 and 2 the Bible says: “Then the LORD spoke to Moses saying, ‘Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; and you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.’”
And the ten spies who brought back a bad report said in Numbers 13, verses 27 and 28, “We went into the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit (and they showed them the fruit). Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, they said, we saw the descendants of Anak (that is giants) there.” And they were afraid; they thought they were grasshoppers, and they counseled the people not to go into Canaan. Numbers 13, verses 32 and 33 says: “So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, ‘The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.’” Oh, my!
Numbers 14 verses 1 through 4 says: “Then all the congregation (you can just imagine), they lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept all that night. All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in the wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?’ So they said to one another, ‘Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.’” Oh, such a lack of faith, such grumbling, and such rebellion! And Num. 14, verses 5 and 9 says: “Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel. Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, and they tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, ‘The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into the land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.’”
Well, verse 10 says, “But all the congregation said to stone them with stones.” Well, just as they were fearful of their lives, “then the glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.” The Lord was angry with Israel and thought about smiting them all with pestilence. But Moses interceded for the people, asking for their pardon. The Lord pardoned the people, but they had a price to pay. In Numbers 14 verses 21 to 23 the Lord God says, “Indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD. Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means enter the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it.” Everyone in that generation twenty years old and upward perished in the wilderness and never saw the Promised Land; of course, except Joshua and Caleb.
Now in Jesus’ day there were a group of disciples who had seen many miracles. And when they heard Jesus teach something that they didn’t understand or they didn’t like, they turned away from the Lord. Now, the Bible says in the book of John chapter 6 and verse 66: “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’ Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.’”
My friend, people lose more than they imagine when they say no to God. They may think they have gained their freedom to do as they please, but what is the cost? Adam and Eve did as they pleased and they were cast out of the Garden of Eden. The people in Noah’s day lost their lives. The people in Caleb’s day died young and lost their inheritance. The people in Jesus’ day lost “eternal life.”
Let’s say “yes” to God. Let’s be obedient to God’s will. We need to be like Moses. The Bible says in the book of Hebrews chapter 11:24 to 26, “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.”
Oh, my friend, we need an attitude like the generation who did enter the Promised Land after the forty years in the wilderness. The Bible says back in the book of Joshua chapter 1 and verse 16: That they (that is that younger generation that was under twenty at the time of the bad report) answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as He was with Moses.” My friend, anyone who rebels against Your command, they were saying, and doesn’t obey, that is the words of God, in all that He commands them; they said we are going to put that person to death; only Joshua, you be strong and courageous. Isaiah also showed a marvelous spirit when he said to God in Isaiah 6 and verse 8, “Here am I. Send me!” We need the faith and love for God that says, tell me what You want me to do and I’ll do it. Tell me what’s true, and I’ll believe it. We’re not going to give any “ifs,” and “ands” or “buts.” We are simply going to trust God enough to obey whatever He instructs us to do. We aren’t going to argue with Him or try to change His words.
You remember the church began on the first Pentecost after the resurrection, and that was fifty days after Jesus was crucified. Peter preached a really compelling sermon to the people proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and how the Father in heaven has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus, and then he said, whom you crucified. Well, when the people heard that, that they were guilty of his death, they were pierced to the heart, because they realized that they did indeed crucify Jesus and that He was indeed the Lord and Christ. They were guilty, pierced to the heart; they cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Well, in Acts 2 and verse 38 you remember that Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Well, the Bible says in this same book, the book of Acts chapter 2, verses 41 and 2, “So then, those who had received his words, they were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. Now they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, and the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
My friend, we ought to do the same. When we realize that we have sinned, and the burden of sin is on our souls, we ought to repent and to be baptized. No “ifs,” no “ands,” no “buts” about it. No substituting what we would like to do for what God asks us to do. You see, obedience in doing God’s will is doing it in God’s way. Let’s say with our hearts and lives, “Yes, Lord! We will come to you; we’ll serve you by obeying what you have taught us to do. We will out of faith and out of love repent of our sins, and confess Christ, and be baptized.” My friend, baptism is an immersion (that is a dunking, a submersion) in water for the forgiveness of sins. Saying no to God or trying to change the instructions would be the worst thing that we could do; but saying yes, and doing it the way God asks us to do it, is the very best thing we can do. Let’s say yes to God and make things right with Him.
Let’s say yes to assembling with the church, yes to giving of our means, and yes to serving and teaching others. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.” Let’s get involved in being God’s people, doing God’s will, in God’s way. Let’s give God our hearts, our obedience, and our lives. Saying yes to God is always the right thing to do! And, I hope and pray, my brothers and sisters, that in everything you do you will say yes to God. Let’s pray. O Lord, give us strength to be obedient to your will in everything. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Thank you, brother Phil for a very thought-provoking message about saying “no” to God. If you should decline an invitation from me or from Phil to come go with us somewhere it would indeed be disappointing, but to say “no” to God;” well, the consequences are incomprehensible in this world, or for the world to come. Oh say friend, well, you simply must not do that. I beg you: Confess Christ; repent and be baptized at once, even today if possible! If we may help you find someone who can and will assist you, give us a call. Our telephone number is 1-800-321-8633.
If you need more study, if you need someone to come to your home to study the Scriptures with you, you need to understand more about what you are doing; well, that telephone number’s a free number and we’ll find someone who will come, someone from right here in your own viewing area, the viewing area of this station. So call us. If you didn’t get our number; it’s 1-800-321-8633.
Now don’t put off giving God an affirmative answer! But if you would like a private Bible study in your home, or if you need a free printed copy of this program, a CD or an audio cassette tape, mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 or by e-mail to searchtv@searchtv.org. Today’s message is being streamed along with a lot more valuable information on our website at www.searchtv.org. We’re planning to be back next week at this same time. We hope you will, too; and this will give you some time to encourage some of your friends to see the program. Tell them about the program and maybe they, too, will want to say yes to God and become a Christian and prepare for meeting him on judgment day; and we pray that that will be so. May God bless you now. We love you.
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