INTRODUCTION

1.               Read 2 Corinthians 4:1-4

DISCUSSION:

I.                I would like to begin our study today by asking you to consider two examples of shocking behavior.

A.              The first example: In the 8^th century BC, we begin with the case of some sincere, zealous and devout Israelites.

1.               We know they were deeply dedicated because many of them took their first-born sons to Topheth in the Valley of Hinnon.

2.               Some scholars believe the word Topeth is Hebrew for to drum. They believe the place received that name because there they beat the drums to drown out the cries of their of their first born children as they threw them into the fire of the pagan God Molech.

3.               Are you shocked and horrified by their conduct? So am I. But, how could devout religious people do such a thing???

B.              The Second case:  One you are more familiar with. It is the young man Saul of Tarsus.

1.               He was a Roman citizen from a city of great note. Yet at a young age he left his family and his beloved city to journey to Jerusalem and study in one of the most prestigious religious schools of his day the School of Gamaliel.

2.               He must have been an uncommonly bright and tenacious student. The first time we meet him he doing the bidding of the Sanhedren.

3.               And what is that bidding? He stands by and holds the expensive coats of the men who murdered Stephen.

4.               How could he listen to the sickening sounds of the stones finding their mark and the cries of  pain as Stephen dies?

5.               Listen to his own account of his life as an inquisitor.

(Acts 26:9-11 NKJV)  "Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. {10} "This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. {11} "And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

C.              How could the Israelites have cast their children into the fire?

D.              How could a devout man like Saul persecute and even help execute Christians and their families?

E.              They were trusting their hearts and doing what felt right instead of following the word of God. They were confusing their feelings with the will of God.

II.              Be careful of your feelings.

A.              Consider what the Bible Says about the heart.

(Jeremiah 10:23 NKJV)  O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.

(Jeremiah 17:9 NIV)  The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

(Proverbs 14:12 NKJV)  There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

(Proverbs 3:5-7 NIV)  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; {6} in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. {7} Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.

(Proverbs 28:26 NKJV)  He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.

III.            The solution: know the truth of God’s word.

(John 8:31-32 NKJV)  Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. {32} "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

(John 17:17 NKJV)  "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

(2 Peter 3:16-18 NKJV)  as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. {17} You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; {18} but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

(1 Corinthians 2:13-14 NKJV)  These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. {14} But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

(John 16:13 NKJV)  "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

(Psalms 119:105 NKJV)  Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

(Psalms 119:11 NKJV)  Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!

(Acts 17:11 NKJV)  These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.

(Luke 8:15 NKJV)  "But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

APPLICATION:

Good news! you don’t have to trust your feelings!

(1 John 5:13 NKJV) These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.