Herbert W Armstrong

   Brethren, how satisfied are you with yourself? How satisfied are you with the progress you've made since you've come into God's church? How satisfied are you with the progress you've made in the last year, or 2 years or 5 years, perhaps in the last 6 months? If you look at your life, your family life, your handling of your personal affairs, perhaps of your own personal finances, of your relationship with your wife, with your children, your relationship with other people. You look at, as you examine your spiritual progress and your spiritual growth, how satisfied are you with what you see?

   Have you gotten familiar with things around you and kind of spun out a rut? Gotten stuck in it? You know, it's very easy to happen. Sometimes we can kind of have this built-in excuse in our own mind, you know, concerning our problem. Well, you know, I'm working on it, and we kind of cart our problem around with us and it's our old familiar problem. We don't want to really get rid of it. It's kind of like an old familiar friend. We get rid of that when we might have to focus in on a new one, and it, you know, the one we have is quite comfortable.

   It's easy to get kind of satisfied with ourselves because all of us, by way of our human nature, when it comes to comparison, we like to look around and find someone else to compare with. And inevitably when we look around and find someone else, it's always someone else who, at least in our own mind, from our own perspective, is a little worse off than we are. Because it's no fun to compare with somebody that, you know, is better off than you are - that takes all the fun out of comparing.

   Now Jesus Christ told us that if we compare ourselves among ourselves, we're not wise. See, that's not a wise approach. We need to compare with someone. We need to compare with the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ. We need to measure up against Big Brother, because he's the only one that has achieved perfection. But it's easy to become somewhat self-satisfied, a little bit complacent, to kind of spin out a rut and get in it. And let's face it, brethren, it's hard to see ourselves as others see us, and it is far harder to see ourselves as God sees us.

   Well, I'd like to go through some of these things today, and I'd like to focus in on some answers that God holds out to us and some things that he has to tell us. Now to begin with, I'd like for us to be aware of the danger of complacency. The final era of God's church, the Laodicean era, which is described back in Revelation chapter 3 beginning in verse 14, has several problems, one of which, which I think is really the central problem, prohibits them from solving the others.

   Let's notice here, Revelation chapter 3 verse 14 (Revelation 3:14): "Unto the angel of the Church of Laodiceans write: These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. So then because you're lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I'll spew you out of my mouth because you say, 'I'm rich and increased with goods, I don't have need of anything, I'm fine, I'm doing OK.' You don't know that you're wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich, and white raiment, that you may be clothed and that the shame of your nakedness do not appear, and anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten."

   Now notice here. Notice the problem as characterized in verse 17. Jesus Christ gave an evaluation of the Laodicean church. We read that evaluation here in Revelation 3, but I call your attention to the fact that Christ's evaluation of that church was not that church's evaluation of itself. The Laodicean church will not see itself as being wretched and poor and blind and miserable and naked. They won't see themselves in that way. Their evaluation of themselves is that "we're rich and increased with goods, we don't have need of anything, we're doing OK, we're fine, we're in great shape." They think they're doing fine. Jesus Christ tells them, "You don't know what you're talking about. I'm on the outside knocking to get in. I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open to me, I'll come in to him." And what's Christ doing on the outside? Knocking to get in! That's not the way they evaluate themselves though. They evaluate themselves as doing fine, as getting along OK. They do not see themselves as Jesus Christ sees them.

   And brethren, the people who eventually make up the Laodicean era of the Church of God, they think they're getting along fine. They'll think they're doing OK right on down until the day the bombs start falling, you know, until they realize what they're in the middle of. That's why God is going to allow them to go through some of these things, because they are individuals that have come to the point that God can wake them up no other way. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." And just as sometimes you have to spank your child because he won't listen to what you tell him, so God is going to have to spank some of these children, and He's gonna have to spank hard because they're not listening to what He's telling them, not listening to what He's telling them through the pages of His Bible, through the letters of His apostle, Mr. Armstrong, from the pulpits, from the visits, the counselings, the magazines, the articles, the booklets. Not really being perceptive, not really waking up and seeing things from God's perspective. A complacent attitude, a self-satisfied attitude, a problem of evaluation - unable to see themselves as God sees them. Complacency, lack of a clear perspective, is a very serious and a very dangerous pitfall.

   Now, brethren, we cannot depend on ourselves to see ourselves clearly and to understand and evaluate our problems. The prophet Jeremiah was inspired to write back in Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 23 (Jeremiah 10:23): "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to direct his steps." You know, Solomon says in Proverbs, "Lean not to your own understanding." They don't lean to your own understanding. You. "I know that the way of man is not in himself. It's not in man that walks to direct his steps." Jeremiah understood that if we depend on ourselves, on our own ability, then we're going to fall flat.

   Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9, the reason for that is explained (Jeremiah 17:9), "Because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?" The human mind, the human heart - heart used here in the context of being the mind, the seat of intellect of reasoning - it's deceitful, we deceive ourselves. Don't lean to your own understanding. Acknowledge God in all your ways, and He will direct your path. The heart is deceitful above all things. You deceive yourself if you depend on yourself for your perspective, for your reasoning, for your understanding. Who can know it? Well brethren, we're going to see there's only one who can really know and know everything about us from the inside out.

   Proverbs Chapter 28, Proverbs 28:26, "He that trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoso walks wisely, he shall be delivered." If you trust in yourself, if you put your confidence in yourself to figure out the way that you ought to go and how you ought to get by and you depend on yourself for your sense of perspective, the Bible says right here that you're a fool. That's a very foolish thing to do, because it's not in man that walks to direct his steps.

   This is the problem that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Man has sought to direct his own steps. Man wants to figure out his own course of action. Adam wanted to do that. He wanted to devise in his own mind, and man has wanted to do that way ever since. And man's approach, whether it be to religion, whether it be to politics, to government, whether it be to economics, whether it be to any subject under the sun, man has leaned to his own devices, to his own reasoning, to his own imagination, to his own intellect. Man has a lot of ability from an intellectual standpoint, but as far as being able to have the understanding and the discernment to properly put that to use, it's not in man that walks to direct his steps. He that trusts in his own heart is a fool. It's a very foolish thing to do.

   So we see that we cannot afford to rely on our own self-evaluation. We cannot afford to just look at ourselves and say, "Well, you know, I think I'm OK. I see myself this way," and we depend on ourselves and our own perspective, and that's as far as it goes. No, we need a true perspective, brethren. If we're going to really see ourselves, if we're going to get out of the ruts that all of us get into sometimes, if we're going to really make the kind of progress we need to make, we need a true perspective.

   Now let's go through and let's see some keys to getting that true perspective. There are three of them that I would like to focus in on. Notice the first one. Notice in the book of James, chapter one. We need to begin with, to ask God for counsel and for correction. That's the first step to get a true perspective, to ask God for counsel and correction, recognizing that God is the source of counsel and correction.

   Now notice James chapter 1 verse 2 (James 1:2): "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into different trials, knowing this that the trying of your faith works patience, but let patience have her perfect work, her complete work, that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that gives to all men liberally and upbraids not and it shall be given him." You need wisdom, you need to understand, you need to see, to have a perspective on things. How do you get that? Just ask of God who gives to all men liberally, but you have to ask in faith. You have to go to God, and if you go to God in faith, God will give you that understanding.

   The scripture tells us "a good understanding have all they that do my commandments." Certainly that is the basis of understanding - of obeying God - because that's again, that's who does God hear? You know, we have the things that we ask of him because we keep his commandments. John tells us to do those things that are pleasing in his sight. So if we're trying to live God's way, and we recognize our own lack, the fact that it's not within us to see, to evaluate, to understand, and we realize God has that and we go to God for the correction, for the counsel, for the understanding, the wisdom - God is the source of that.

   Back in Psalm 119, 119th Psalm, we notice a little bit more of that. The psalmist writes in Psalm 119:10: "With my whole heart have I sought you? O let me not wander from your commandments." So David here sought God with his whole heart because he knew that God was the source. God was the source we have to go to.

   He said in verse 33 (Psalm 119:33), "Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes and I'll keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart." It goes hand in hand with obeying God, with living by every word of God. "Give me understanding. Teach me, O Lord." And God will give understanding, and God will teach and God will instruct if we are sincere, if we really mean that, if we are doing our part and really trying to obey and trying to serve God, and we recognize we have to go to God for that.

   You know, it's interesting that, well, as you notice even in the book of Daniel, the closing part of it, you know, the book of Daniel was sealed up until our time. You know, Daniel was told "go your way, seal up these words until the time of the end, men shall run to and fro, knowledge should be increased." And then it stated there that the time would come when the wise would understand. Because the wise will understand. But you know, who is it that has the understanding, who are the wise? Well, you know, "the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Eternal." By the fear of the Eternal men depart from evil, "a good understanding have all they that do thy commandments."

   You know, God opened Mr. Herbert Armstrong's mind to understanding the law of God first, understanding about the Sabbath, which is the sign that identifies God, and began to open his mind to understanding who God is and understanding God's law. And when he came to the point where he surrendered to God, God opened his mind and immediately began to understand prophecy - first, the key that unlocks Bible prophecy, the identity of Israel in prophecy, then the beginning of an understanding of who is the beast, understanding of the book of Revelation. Then the real message of the book of Daniel was unlocked. See, the wise had begun to understand. And that was something that was set for our time.

   But you have to obey God. You have to be serving God before God will give you that understanding. We have to be living by every word of God and recognize that God is the source. We don't have it within ourselves, and we go to God for it and God will give it to us. We need God's perception. We need that very badly.

   Back in Psalm 19, Psalm 19 and verse 7 (Psalm 19:7): "The law of the Eternal is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the Eternal is sure, making wise the simple, the statutes of the Eternal are right, rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the Eternal is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Eternal is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Eternal are true and righteous altogether, more to be desired are they than gold, yea, more than fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse you me from secret faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Eternal, my strength and my redeemer."

   So it talks about here God's way of life, recognizing that God is the source of correction and of counsel, and asking God here, saying "who can understand his errors?" Who as a human being on his own, by himself, can really understand his faults, his problems? Which of us can see ourselves as God sees us by ourselves? Well, the answer is that none of us can, brethren. None of us have that kind of perception, that kind of clear understanding on our own, but God can.

   And David here asked God to clean him up, to clean him from the secret faults, the things that he didn't even see and understand himself, to keep him back from presumptuous sin. You know, David recognized that he had to go to God as the source.

   Over in Psalm 39, Psalm 39 verse 4 (Psalm 39:4-6): "Eternal make me to know my end and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am. Behold, you have made my days as a handbreadth and my age is as nothing before you. Truly every man in his best state is altogether vanity." Well, that was David's understanding, that was David's perception. And he recognized that he needed God's help to see that, that he needed God's help to see himself and to recognize what a complete, short-lived, temporal creature he is. You know, that's kind of hard for us as human beings sometimes when we feel good, we feel great, boy you know we're ready to go out and conquer the world. It's kind of hard to see ourselves and exactly how frail and weak a state we are. David asked God to give him that perception, to help him to keep in perspective this physical existence.

   In verse 6 it says: "Surely every man walks in a vain show." The marginal rendering is "an image." Every man walks in an image. You know, we have this concept of ourselves, and we walk in that concept and this image. It's, you know, a vain show, an empty show, and really, really that's what it is. We walk in an image and people have different images of themselves.

   You know, this is the thrill of going and watching the movies. People vicariously identify with the hero, whether they're charging the beaches, you know, with John Wayne or riding tall in the saddle, or whether they're involved in various other and sundry things which I won't enumerate, and all that the hero or the heroine is doing, and you sit there and you identify with that and you know that's entertainment. Every man walks in an image and people have a particular image of themselves that they try to project. "Surely they are disquieted in vain. He heaps up riches and knows not who will gather them." All people busily working, running to and fro, as if we're building up something that's going to last forever, rather than there's only one thing we're building up that's gonna last forever and that's the character that we're building, the character that we're developing. That's what we're going to take with us and that alone.

   "Now Eternal, what wait I for? My hope is in you. Deliver me from all my transgressions, make me not the reproach of the foolish." So David here asked God to give him perspective, to help him see how temporary, how transitory, how passing everything was. David asked God to give him a right sense of perspective.

   Over in Psalm 90 verse 12 (Psalm 90:12): "So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." So we need God's perception, God's perspective. God needs to teach us, and we need to go to God and ask God to teach us. That means spending time on our knees in prayer before God, brethren. That's the only way we're going to get close to God, we're going to be able to walk with God and to drink in of God's Holy Spirit, which is what allows us to have that understanding. You know, the spirit searches the deep things, and the deep things of God, it makes us to understand spiritual things, and it is by God using his spirit in us that can bring to our minds and help us to see and to understand and have insight in ourselves as God gives us that insight.

   So we have to go to God for true perspective. In Psalm 139, David writes: "O Eternal, you have searched me and known me. You know my downsitting and my uprising. You understand my thoughts afar off. You compass my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. There's not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Eternal, you know it altogether." You know, God knows everything about us, brethren. He knows when we sit down, when we rise up, he knows what we're thinking. He knows everything about us.

   Have you ever thought about the statement that Jesus made when he said even the very hairs of your head are numbered? You know what that tells us? You know, the number of hairs on your head is something that's constantly changing. If you ever thought about it, every time you run a comb through your hair, you know, it's changed. Two hairs are falling out. You know, maybe God has an easier time with some of us than he does with others, but the hairs on our head are numbered. God knows what the number is, but you know what that tells us? That tells us that God is keeping a constant check on us, that God is aware of us on a regular basis, on a moment-to-moment basis because that's something that's a changeable factor.

   It's not, you know, that God numbers them at birth, sticks a notice on the board and there, you know, he doesn't have to worry about you anymore because he's got that figured out. What he's telling us is that God is aware of everything about us down to the most minute detail on a continuing moment-to-moment basis. That God is aware of us as an individual, and he's aware of everything about us. You know, right on down to what maybe you would consider insignificant details. God knows it. He is aware of everything about you and about me. And he knows our thoughts.

   So since God knows that and since God has that perspective and that understanding, then God is the logical source that we go to in order to gain it for ourselves because we need to have some of that understanding. Verse 5, David says: "You have beset me behind and before and have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is too high, I cannot attain unto it." David realized he couldn't understand himself the way God did. "Where will I go from your spirit? Or where will I flee from your presence? If I ascend up to heaven, there you are. If I make my bed in sheol, in the grave, behold, you're there. Or you’re aware of what’s going on there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall your hand lead me and your right hand shall hold me."

   There's no place you can go to run away from God. Jonah found out about that the hard way. You know, he was going, he thought he could head for Spain, head for Tarshish. God sent a fish that brought him back and deposited him on the shore exactly where God wanted him to go. You know, he got him there in a hurry. So Jonah had learned the hard way - you can't run away from God. No place you can go, and you know when Jonah was in the belly of the fish, he was glad he couldn't run away from God because about that time he wanted God to know where he was and to get him out of the mess that he was in. And about that time he was real glad, you know, that by being where he was, he wasn't somewhere where God couldn't find him.

   And a lot of times, you know, we can do the same thing. We can try to get away from God or try to get away from what we think God wants us to do, and get ourselves in such a mess. And when we do, we find out, we come to the conclusion we're really glad God knows where we are and we can go to God and get some help to maybe get out of the mess that we've gotten ourselves into.

   Verse 11: "If I say surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me." You know, just because it's dark doesn't mean God can't see you. "Tell them they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with you. Surely you will slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore, you bloody men, for they speak against you wickedly, and your enemies take your name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Eternal, that hate you? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting."

   So David recognized that God had insight, God had perspective, and he went to God and he said, "Father, look at me. You see me right down to the depths of my being. You know everything about me, you know the way I think, you know the way I am. Help me to see myself, see whatever there is in me that's not the way it should be, any wicked way. Lead me in the way everlasting, lead me out of the problems that I’m in. Help me to see myself."

   So David recognized we have to go to God for correction and for counsel. And certainly when we go to God and ask God for correction, we need to ask God for His correction in His mercy. In Psalm 6:1: "O Eternal, rebuke me not in your anger, neither chasten me in your hot displeasure. Have mercy upon me, O Eternal, for I am weak. O Eternal, heal me, for my bones are vexed. My soul is also sore vexed, but you, O Eternal, how long? Return, O Eternal, deliver my soul, or save me for your mercy's sake."

   So we need to go to God as our source, realizing that God is the source of counsel. He is the source of correction. By going to God in prayer and walking with God, we can get God's insights because God is the one who sees us, who knows everything about us right down to the depths of our being. We can ask God for that and ask him to give it to us in His mercy. And certainly that's very important.

   Also, brethren, in order to get a true perspective, in order to see things as they really are, we need to study God's word, because God's law provides insight. In Psalm 119, once again, verse 9 (Psalm 119:9): "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to your word." How do you know the way that you ought to go? You want to clean up your life? You want to straighten out your life? You want to get problems resolved? How do you do that? By taking heed to God's word, the Bible, the revelation of God that he gives to us. That gives us a perspective.

   On down in verse 11 (Psalm 119:11): "Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you." You know, the Bible tells us what sin is. Sin is the transgression of the law. By understanding what God said, by understanding his laws, his commandments, his statutes, his judgments, his teachings, his precepts, we're able to understand the way that we ought to go. When it says "your word have I hid in my heart," in other words, he studied the Bible, studied it to the point that he's committed much of God's word to memory.

   You know, how did Jesus Christ deal with Satan when Satan came to tempt Him? Back in the account in Matthew, you remember? He quoted scripture to him. And Satan would tell him, "Well, listen, why don't you bow down and worship me?" And Christ, of course, would tell him, "Well, look, you know, it's written, you're not to worship any but the Lord your God, Him only shall you serve." "Oh, why don't you turn these stones into bread?" And Christ, of course, would tell him, "Well, look, you know, it's written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." "But why don't you put yourself up here on the pinnacle of the temple and throw yourself off?" "It's written, you shall not tempt the Eternal your God."

   Jesus Christ, of course, knew and understood exactly, totally, perfectly what the Bible said, but that's the way Jesus Christ dealt with temptation because he knew what God's word says. Now that's what the psalmist says here: "Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you." In other words, he spent time studying the word of God, studying it to the point that he committed a lot of it to memory.

   He had memorized portions of God's word. And he did that because he wanted to have the kind of understanding, the kind of perspective that would keep him back from the sins that so easily we can get into.

   On down in verse 15 (Psalm 119:15): "I will meditate in your precepts and have respect unto your ways," thinking about God's law, turning it over in your mind. On down in verse 105 (Psalm 119:105): "Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." You know, the Bible is your spiritual flashlight. You want to think of it that way. The world is pictured as being in darkness, you know, the whole world is concluded in darkness until now.

   We’re pictured back in Paul you know tells the church at Thessalonica about the fact that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, yet he says it doesn't have to come on us like a thief in the night. But it'll come on those who are asleep that way because they're in darkness. We're not in darkness, we're not to be asleep, we're to be awake and alert to what's going on, but the world as a whole is asleep because the world as a whole is concluded in spiritual darkness. We're living in a world that from God's standpoint is completely enshrouded in darkness and there are only little pinpricks of light around.

   We're told, you know, to be a light to the world. Like God looks down on a blackened globe with little pinpricks of light around in different areas. And all those are Christians who would be a light to the world, and the light you know that we're able to be to the world comes from the fact that we're using the word of God, which is a light to our feet, a lamp to our path. It illuminates the way that we ought to go.

   You know, you get up at night maybe in a dark spot, maybe in a strange place and you're spending the night, and you get up during the night. And it's kind of handy to have a little light, to see where you're going lest you fall over everything in sight and perhaps crack your shin or stub your toe or something. Well the Bible provides that, it provides a way to illumine the path that we ought to travel. So it's only by studying the Bible, by drinking out what God said, that we're able to know and to determine the path we ought to travel in. To give us that kind of a perspective, that kind of an insight.

   Back in II Timothy, book of II Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16 (II Timothy 3:16), the apostle Paul told Timothy: "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, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." You know, an interesting thing to consider here. In the context in which Paul stated this, he told Timothy in verse 15 that "from a child you have known the holy scriptures." Which holy scriptures had Timothy known from a child? You think Timothy had ever read the New Testament as a child? Don't kid yourself, New Testament wasn't even written yet. It was in the process of being written when Timothy was a grown man. One of the letters he received made up later a part of the New Testament.

   The scriptures Timothy had studied from a child had been the Old Testament scriptures, frankly. In the context that Paul stated this, he says, "From a child you've known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

   So according to what Paul told Timothy here, the scripture which Timothy had known as a child, which was the Old Testament, even is able to make you wise unto salvation. "All scripture," which certainly includes the Old Testament in the context specifically refers to it, "is given by inspiration of God and it is profitable for doctrine." You know, there are those who think that unless you can find something in the New Testament, it doesn't apply. Well, according to II Timothy 3:16, the Old Testament is profitable for doctrine, along with the New Testament. They're both profitable for doctrine.

   But you don't just have to - you know, the Church of Christ boxes themselves into a corner on that. That's their approach and they take it to its logical conclusion or its illogical conclusion depending on how you want to look at it. They don't use instrumental music in their churches because they say that's not scriptural, at least not in the New Testament. Now sure, you can go back in the Old Testament, you can find example after example of instrumental music. That doesn't count - that's Old Testament. Find me an example in the New Testament. You might try that, you know, go through the New Testament and look for all the examples of instrumental music mentioned in the New Testament on earth. You know, don't go back to Revelation and get the ones up in heaven, we're talking about on earth, you know, among people. Well, it's an illogical point. See, the point is they don't understand even what the New Testament says because the New Testament itself tells them to look to the Old Testament also for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

   So the Bible illumines to us the path we ought to go. It points out the way that we ought to serve God. We have to serve God the way that God wants to be served, not to conjure up in our own imagination some way. So God's word provides insight. God's word also must be applied. It doesn't do any good just to know that well, the Bible is a good source to go to. That's right, sure is.

   We're told in James chapter 1 verse 22 (James 1:22): "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. He beholds himself and goes his way and straightway forgets what manner of man he was." You know, you get up in the morning, you go into the bathroom, you look in the mirror and your hair is all disheveled and you need to shave and you need to brush your teeth and you look and you see, you know, the way you look. And you walk away and go your way, you know, go to work, never do anything. You just went in and say, "Yeah, there I am, boy, you know, sure is a mess," and you turn around and walk away.

   What good did it do to go look in the mirror? You know, it makes just as much sense to look into the Bible, close it up and go your way, not doing anything about it. "Whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty," and that's what the Bible is, the perfect law of liberty - it gives us liberty from the penalties of sin, the physical penalties of sin here and now as well as the spiritual penalties of sin hereafter, eternal death.

   "Whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues therein, not just look and see that's oh yeah that's what it says, that's interesting and goes and go your merry way, but continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, this man shall be blessed in his deeds." You see, we have to continue in the Bible. We have to look into God's word for insight, for perspective, for understanding to see ourselves as God sees us. And we have to apply God's word. Not just look into it, not just be aware of it, not just realize, "Yes that's the source to go to alright, well that's a good one." But to go to it and to do it and to live by it.

   And realize, brethren, when you do, it's going to get a little uncomfortable sometimes. If the Bible doesn't ever make you a little bit uncomfortable, then perhaps you're not using it right. Because you see, you don't fully measure up to the standard the Bible holds out. I know you don't, I know I don't, I know that no human being ever has except for Jesus Christ, perfectly, totally measured up. And I know that if we look into the Bible, that God would have us to, it's going to make us a little bit uncomfortable and if you don't get uncomfortable, then you're not looking the right way, you're not looking the right point.

   In Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 (Hebrews 4:12): "For the word of God is quick and powerful." The word quick means alive. It's not, you know, some dead musty book somewhere, it's alive, it's powerful, "it's sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

   I'll tell you, when you have something so sharp that it can divide the joints and the marrow - you know, that's pretty sharp. That's pretty sharp when you got something that you can go in between the joints and the marrow and not leave any of the marrow left on the bone and not scrape off any of the bone in with the marrow, but just divide right in there. That's a pretty slick trick. That's pretty sharp. Well, you know, it just, the Bible is like that. So that's a physical analogy to being a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, to just piercing right there and getting right at the heart of the matter.

   Now, just an interesting aside to point out here, the word that is translated "discerner" here in verse 12, Hebrews chapter 4, comes from the Greek word "kritos." K-R-I-T-O-S in the Greek, Greek word "kritos," which is the word from which we derive our word "critic." So we're told in effect that the Bible is a critic. The Bible is the critic. Now this is, you know, there are individuals who think they're the critics. This is why they don't understand the Bible, you know, they think they're higher critics. In other words, they're up here, the Bible's down here and they're looking down criticizing. They've got it all wrong. They're down here, the Bible's up here and it's looking down criticizing them. And if they don't see it from that perspective, then they don't even begin to understand the way of God, the plan of God.

   You know, a lot of people think that just by going through and by going into some technical study of the Bible, they can understand the message of the Bible. Oh no. You know, the Pharisees had quite a technical understanding of the Old Testament. They read it in Hebrew. They didn't need, you know, any English translation. They were very learned men. They had studied and they had spent years and years studying it and studying it in the original languages. They knew all about it from a technical standpoint, but they didn't get the point, because they didn't look at it from the right perspective.

   We need to look at it from that perspective to realize that the word of God is alive, that it's powerful, that it'll pierce asunder, that it will divide the thoughts and intents of our heart, it will discern them. So we have to go to God's word. God's word has a cutting edge to it. Frankly, we're going to get cut a few times. That's fine. We need that. We need to see ourselves, we need to be alert and aware to the standards God has, and this is the way that illumines our path, if we'll apply it, if we'll use it.

   So we need to go to God and ask God for counsel. We need to ask God for correction. We need to study God's word. And frankly brethren, we also need to understand and realize why God has placed a ministry in the church. Back in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1 (Ephesians 4:1): "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called."

   And on down in verse um... going down a little bit further in verse 7 (Ephesians 4:7): "But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." So Christ gave gifts. What were these? Well, verse 11 (Ephesians 4:11): "He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers." So various ranks, various offices in the ministry Christ sent in the ministry.

   For why? Why did he do that? "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying, the upbuilding, the building up of the body of Christ, until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God and to a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."

   So Christ has placed the ministry in the church for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the building up of the church, in order to provide to bring the church together in unity. God is not the author of confusion. God is not the author of everyone going his own way and doing his own thing. That's anarchy. That's confusion.

   You know, Babylon means confusion. God is not the author of this world's Babylonian confusion. That's what you have in religion in the world today, you have a Babylon of confusion. And that should not be named in the church of God, that should not be named among the people of God, because God is not the author of that. He placed the ministry in the church to serve the church, to build the church.

   I Peter chapter 5, the charge was given to the ministry. I Peter chapter 5 verse 1 (I Peter 5:1): "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, not because you have to, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Don’t do it because well it’s a job, you know, the ministry is not just a job. Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fades not away."

   So Peter gave here an exhortation to the ministry to feed the flock of God, to take the oversight of God's flock, the sheep of God's pasture. In II Timothy chapter 4, Paul told Timothy: "I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and be turned unto fables." The God's ministry is not to be a part of that.

   So, you know, even in sermons, even in counseling, you know that's a source sometimes of getting a perspective. And you get a little uncomfortable in that sometimes. Let's do it. That's right. That's proper. God has set it so. God has established a ministry in the church for that purpose, for the purposes of edifying and of teaching.

   It tells us back in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 7 (Hebrews 13:7): "Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow considering the end of their conduct." Going on down verse 17 (Hebrews 13:17): "Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account." You realize that the ministry is going to be called into account concerning you? Concerning the local congregation, I realize, you know, very deeply and I know that other ministers do as well, but I'm very conscious of the fact that I'm going to have to give an accountability for my responsibility for the churches under my charge. And God is going to judge me as to how I carry out that responsibility that he gives me.

   "For they must watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that's unprofitable for you." So, you know, take advantage of the correction, of the counsel, of the advice, of the admonition that comes to you from God's ministry.

   You know, how do you get a true perspective? When you look to God directly, first and foremost for counsel and for correction. You go to God in prayer, you seek God, you walk with God. You study God's word. You apply what you read there. And you look to God's ministry whom God has placed in the church for that purpose. That's a way to get a true perspective. And brethren, when you get that perspective, what are you gonna do with it? Well, what you're gonna have to do is you're going to have to love and you're going to have to apply the truth or it's not gonna do you any good.

   There are many examples of people in the Bible who were told the truth and didn't like what they were told. And I have an idea that probably has applied to all of us here in this room at one time or another. You know, sometimes the truth is pretty unpleasant. Sometimes we don't like to hear the truth because it's not comfortable. It's not pleasant. It's not easy.

   Back in Acts chapter 7, Stephen told some people the truth. Acts chapter 7 verse 51 (Acts 7:51): Stephen told some people the truth. "You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One, of whom you have now been the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it."

   "When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. They didn’t like what they heard. And he being full of the Holy Spirit looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.' Then they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city and stoned him, and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul."

   They murdered a man of God here because he told them the truth. They didn't like the truth. They were upset by the truth. Brethren, that's human nature. That's human nature.

   You know, you read an account, kind of comical in a way, back in I Chronicles chapter 18 - you don't have to turn back there, you can if you want, I'll just recount the story - of an alliance between King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah. And they were going up to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or at least that's what Ahab wanted to do, wanted to go up to Ramoth-gilead to battle against the Syrians. And he got Jehoshaphat to join him, or wanted Jehoshaphat to join him in an alliance to do that. And Jehoshaphat said, "Well, sounds good to me, but I'd like to inquire of a prophet of God before we undertake this."

   So Ahab called in all the prophets of Baal. And they got out there and they danced around and did their thing. And one of them, he was real feeling real sharp that day, he put on little horns, went fighting across the room and said, "Thus shall you do to the enemy, O king!" So he went on and put on quite a little show. And Jehoshaphat sat back and watched it and when they got through, he turned to Ahab and he said, "Yes, you know, that's fine, that's well and good, but I'd still like to talk to a prophet of God. Don't you have a prophet of God around here close we can get in touch with?"

   And Ahab said, "Well, yeah, there's one - Micaiah, the son of Imlah, but I don't like him because he never has anything good to say. You know, he's always bad-mouthing everything I want to do. I don't like him." Jehoshaphat said, "Well, don't talk that way. Let's go send for him. I'd like to hear what he has to say."

   So they sent one of the servants to go get Micaiah, and the servant went in there to Micaiah and he said, "Now listen, before you go to see the king, I want to warn you about something. They're gonna ask your advice. Now they already asked the advice of everybody else and everybody else says 'Great, go do it.' Don't go in there and be a spoilsport this time. You know, just for once, say something nice to the king."

   So Micaiah went in there and the king asked him, he said, "Well, shall I go up to Ramoth-gilead to battle or shall I forbear?" Micaiah said, "Oh sure, go ahead!" Ahab looked at him and said, "How many times have I told you to tell me the truth?"

   Micaiah looked at him and said, "OK, I'll tell you the truth. I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, because you're gonna get killed today, King." At which point Ahab turned to Jehoshaphat and said, "See, didn't I tell you so? He never has anything good to say!" So, you know, Ahab didn't like the truth, and that was the truth. Ahab did die that day. But Ahab didn't like it. Ahab didn't like God's prophet.

   You know when famine came on the land because of the sins of the people, mainly instigated by Ahab and his wife Jezebel, when Ahab found Elijah again, Ahab said when he saw him, "Are you he that troubles Israel?" "You're the cause of all this trouble!" And Elijah said, "Oh no, you got that wrong, King. You're the one that troubles Israel. You're the cause of the problem." Well, he didn't like that. He wasn't pleased by that. He didn't have a love of the truth.

   Brethren, the truth hurts. And you find time after time in the Bible when some of God's prophets were imprisoned, when they were beaten, when they were murdered. You know, John the Baptist told Herod the truth that it was not lawful for him to have his brother's wife. He lost his head. Herod didn't like the truth. Herod's wife liked it even less. You know, Herod just put him in prison - she's the one that wanted his dead. She wasn't gonna be content with leaving him around.

   We’re told that ultimately even applying to God's church, Matthew chapter 24 verse 10 (Matthew 24:10): "Then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall arise and shall deceive many. And because lawlessness shall be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved."

   Many will take offense, even in the Church of God. They'll be offended, they'll be turned off. They'll betray one another. Now the truth hurts. It's kind of hard sometimes not to be offended. But, you know, we saw back what Stephen did, what he told the people - they didn't like it, they murdered him. That was their solution to the problem.

   You find another account that has quite a different ending though. Acts chapter 2. Verse 36: (Acts 2:36). The apostle the apostle Peter was speaking. He said, therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

   Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts. It cut to the quick. And they said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? They didn't take the approach that the others did, stopping their ears and running at him to try to murder him. It hurt, it cut, it cut deep. But their attitude, their approach was, what can we do about it? That's the truth. I know it's the truth. I realize it's the truth. I don't like it, but I know it's the truth. What can I do about it?

   And Peter said unto them, repent. And be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you and unto your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God has called. And with many other words, did he testify and exhort saying save yourselves from this untoward generation.

   Then they that gladly received the word were baptized. And the same day they were added unto them about 3000 souls, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. And in breaking of bread and in prayers.

   So they continue In the apostles' doctrine, they continued to be taught and instructed. They continued to grow. Brethren, we have to love and we have to apply God's truth. Or it doesn't do us any good to him. We have to realize the danger of a complacent attitude. That if we depend on our own resources, we're not going to see ourselves as God sees us.

   You know, the whole problem, really. The central problem of the Laodicean churches, is their lack of proper self-evaluation because if they could properly see themselves as Christ sees them, then maybe they could do something about the other problems they have. But if you don't even see what the problems are, you can't work on them. You have to see what they are before you can work on them.

   And if you're going to see what, what they are, you're going to have to go beyond yourself. You're gonna have to go to God. You're gonna have to spend time on your knees before God. You're going to have to study God's work, you're going to have to look to God's ministry in the way that God has set the ministry in the church. And that, that can give you a true perspective, but if you don't love and apply the truth, if you don't take that perspective, you get, if you don't take what you learn. And what you receive. And if you don't apply it in your life and if you don't live by it day in and day out and allow it to come in and it's gonna hurt sometimes and it's going to cut. But that's fine. You know, you take it, you act on it, you change from it, don't get bogged down, don't get in a rut. Don't allow yourself to become familiar, with your problems and just get bogged down with them.

   We need to realize brethren, the reality of Satan, the subtlety of our own human nature, the way in which we can deceive ourselves. We need to understand and realize the meaning of the times we're living in. We need to understand what's going on, where we stand. All of the pressures that we're going to be subjected to. We can't afford to lose sight of where we are. We can't afford to be clouded in darkness. We can't afford to lose the perspective that God holds out to us and makes available to us, just for the asking, for the seeking.

   Brethren, we need to take heed to these things. We need to apply them. We need to act on them in our lives.