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Why Some do not Understand and Others will Never Understand - Part 2 of 2

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• Why is it there were some that understand and some that do not understand? Well, I pointed out last week that there is a natural blindness or a natural depravity. The Bible tells you in 1 Corinthians 2 and verse 14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." So the unsaved man has no ability to perceive or even receive or understand the things of God.

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• Then I also quoted in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 17 through 19, where the apostle Paul said, "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that henceforth you walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling," what? They walk after lasciviousness and all filthiness. In other words, God says, by nature, men are blind, they're dumb, they're darkened, they're alienated from God, they understand nothing. And of course, then I went on to show last week also, there was a judicial blindness that comes from God. We understand that. But let me show you another verse. I want you to look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of John chapter 8.

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• Here's a very interesting passage. John chapter 8, notice if you would please verse 43, because our Lord asked a question to these Jews who were standing in front of Him. Look what He asked. He says in verse 43, "Why do you not understand my speech?" And then He says, "Even because you cannot hear my word." Now look at that question. "Why do you not understand my speech?"

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• We're speaking the same language. You know the language that I'm speaking in. Why am I a barbarian to you in the sense of the word that you really don't hear and you really, really do not understand?

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• Now, I want you to note something. They did hear with their physical ears. They did hear audibly, but they certainly did not hear spiritually. They heard the sound of His words, but they did not understand the impact, the importance, and the spirituality of His words. So I want you to look at verse 44 after He says in verse 43, "Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word."

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• Ah, now He explains it. He says in verse 44, "You are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there's no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it." Now here's a short quote from John Calvin on these two verses.

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• Listen to this: "What is the reason why my speech appears to you barbarous and unknown, so that I gain nothing by speaking to you, and so that you do not even deign to open your ears to receive what I say?" Calvin goes on: "In the former clause therefore He reproves their stupidity, and in the latter He reproves their obstinance and ungovernable hatred of His doctrine. And afterwards He assigns a reason for both when He says that they sprung from the devil." But note, He asked this question, "Why is it that you do not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear my word." So we understand that the unsaved cannot understand. But here's the question, why is it many Christians do not understand?

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• Why is it some do but others do not? Well, the truth is we must be taught by the Holy Spirit. He must open our eyes. He must open our ears. He must open our minds and grant us understanding.

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• Now, there are plenty of Christians that can quote verses. They can memorize verses. They can read. But just because you can quote a verse and just because you memorize a verse does not really mean that you understand the verse. I know people put themselves on a reading schedule and they read their Bible all the way through every year, and I'm thankful for that. I'm certainly not against that. But I will tell you this, I'd much rather read one chapter and understand it than read 20 chapters and not understand the thing that I've read. Why is it that some understand and some do not?

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• Well, the answer is this. Illumination is the act or the work or the ministry of the Holy Spirit whereby He enlightens our minds, illuminates our minds to the truth that God has already revealed. So let me say this again. There is a difference between illumination and revelation. And most people get those two things confused. I've had godly individuals say to me, "Well, let me just share with you what God just revealed to me." And I shake my head and I say, "No, God did not just reveal something to you. What God did was He opened your eyes to understand what He'd already revealed." So revelation is the act of God whereby He reveals things never known before to the human. Revelation is ceased. The reason revelation is ceased is because we have the totality of the Word of God and Jesus Christ is the full and final revelation of God.

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• You can read that in Hebrews 1 verses 1 through 3. So anytime someone claims additional revelation, they're denying that Jesus Christ in the Bible is the fullness of God and His Word and His truth. So what is revelation? How did Moses know what happened at creation? He was not there. How did he know what happened to Noah in the flood? He was not there. How did he know what happened to Abraham? He was not there, but he wrote and told us everything that happened, or at least that which we need to know. And the way he knew was God revealed it to him, and the Holy Spirit inspired him to write it so that we have the infallible, inerrant Word of God. We have the Word of God without error, and we have it where it will never ever fail. So what God does in illumination, He just opens our minds to understand that which He's already revealed to us.

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• Now, our Lord was the greatest teacher that ever lived. Our Lord not only could communicate truth, but He Himself was and still is truth. He spoke with absolute authority, and He spoke with clarity, that is for sure. Ah, but yet many people did not understand what He said when He preached. Even His own disciples did not understand. So, let me show you some scriptures. Let me just quote some for you. You can jot them down. Matthew chapter 15 and verse 17, and each of these Jesus Christ is speaking to His disciples, His twelve. He says this: "Do not you yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth in the belly, and is cast out to the draught?" But note, He says to His disciples, "Do you not yet understand?" He just taught them. Don't you understand? Matthew 16, verse 9: "Do you not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?" And how about this one, Matthew 16 in verse 11?

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• "How is it that you do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees?" Wow. How about this one in Mark 8 verse 21? And He said to them, "How is it that you do not understand?" So even His own disciples did not understand some of the things that He taught. If the disciples who were with Him constantly and consistently did not understand, how much more do you and I need Him and illumination and enlightenment to understand? Now, here's my question. What did it take for the disciples to understand what Jesus Christ taught? Did it take more concentration?

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• I've got to think harder. Did it take more education? I have to get my PhD. Did it take more determination? I'm gonna sit here and study this until I figure it out. What did it take? Well, let me show you. Look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Luke chapter 24, and let's begin reading there with verse 44. Luke chapter 24 and verse 44. Here's what it took. Luke 24 verse 44: "And He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me." Now look at verse 45: "Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures." Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.

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• Now the word "open" is a very important word and very informative. The Greek word happens to be dianoigo. And dianoigo literally means to open by dividing or by drawing asunder. It means to open thoroughly that which has been closed. And this word is used in the opening of the womb of a woman on her first child. In other words, the womb is open so the child may be actually delivered. So, when the Bible is saying, He opened their minds, He opened their understanding, He did so thoroughly, completely, so that they could grasp and understand. Now, the word "understanding," when He said He opened their understanding, is the Greek word nous, which refers to the mind, the intellectual faculties. In other words, it is in that area that we grasp the truth, that is for sure. Now, the word "understand" is the word suniemi, which literally means to bring together, to cause to stand together in the mind. So let me put it to you like this: It's only when we have things come together in our minds that we really thoroughly, completely understand. So I pointed out that

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• Casey is an electrician. He could stand up and tell us all about electricity. He could give us fact after fact about electricity. But until we can put these things together in our mind, we're not going to understand them. Steve could stand up and tell us all about mechanics. I'm not a mechanic. I have no mechanical ability whatsoever. And he could tell me all about combustion engines. He could tell me about the pistons. He could tell me all. I still do not understand it. But if I took all the facts and were able to put them together in my mind, then I would understand exactly what he's talking about. No one can understand anything until you put it together, until you're able not just to repeat it but to apply it. That's how. Now listen to me very carefully.

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• Our Lord opened the minds of His disciples so thoroughly, so completely, so totally, that they understood His word. Now the Bible tells you in Proverbs 2 and verse 6, listen carefully, "For the Lord giveth wisdom, out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding." The Lord giveth wisdom, out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. Another verse, Proverbs 9 and verse 10: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." So I want you to think about this. I just gave you two verses that tell us very plainly that the Lord has to give wisdom. The Lord has to give understanding. Those are His gifts. He may dispense them as He pleases, to whom He pleases, when He pleases, wherever He pleases.

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• And by the way, this is why many Christians do not understand the same truth at the same time. I mean, you know. I may be ahead of Steve in some areas. Steve may be ahead of me in other areas. Casey may be ahead of both of us. I may understand far more than all of us put together. You see what I'm saying? God does not give the same truth at the same time to the same people.

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• Now, hang on to that. Remember, if you would, please, if truth belongs to God, understanding belongs to God, out of His mouth comes these things. So here's a good question. Is God obligated to give you truth and to give you understanding, or are you obligated to seek God for truth and understanding? Of course, you know that you cannot bring God into obligation to you. So therefore it is your obligation. It is your duty. It is your responsibility to seek after God and His gifts. Now, you remember that passage in Matthew 6 in verse 33 where our Lord said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you." So, here we go. Why does some understand, and we're talking about Christians now, why does some Christians understand truth and others do not understand truth?

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• Now, I'm not going to sit here and say, "If you don't understand everything that I understand, then you're lost." That's hogwash. You know, like I pointed out, God is sovereign in giving wisdom and understanding and truth. But you also have to remember this: in 1 John chapter 2, John divided Christians into three categories. He referred to them as babes, young men, and fathers. A babe does not understand what a young man understands, and a young man certainly does not understand what a father understands. If you remember in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, the apostle Paul told those Corinthians, "I had to write unto you as babes."

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• "Are you not yet carnal?" He asked this question. And He said, "I had to feed you with milk and not with meat." He said the same thing in Hebrews chapter 5. He said, "You've become dull of hearing and you have need of milk again instead of meat." So you have different stages in the Christian life. So very obviously and clearly, a baby's not going to understand what a young man does, and the young man's not going to understand what the father does. So I'm not saying that someone's lost just because they don't understand everything. There is a period of growth and there is a period of what you and I would call real spurts in our life, because that's when we really truly grow. So here we go.

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• Let me put it to you like this. God commands us in Proverbs 23 in verse 23. He says, "Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, instruction, and understanding." So when it comes to wisdom, instruction, understanding, price is not negotiable for these things. We're to buy them regardless of how and what they cost. So the question has to be asked then, how in the world do we buy the truth? The word "buy" is the word qanah in the Hebrew, and it means to get, to acquire, to create, to buy, to possess, to obtain. So He tells you, you've got to buy the truth. You've got to obtain the truth. Don't worry about the cost, just get the truth. Okay. So, how do we get the truth? How do we buy the truth? Well, there are three main ways to acquire and understand truth, wisdom, and understanding.

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• The first way is an exceedingly hard and difficult way. And that is the truth that we acquire and the understanding that we acquire by experience. Experience comes mighty costly at times. Every father and every mother try to spare their children the heartache and the hard lessons that they learn by teaching their children, and oftentimes the children just will not listen and will not learn, and they have to experience the school of hard knocks themselves. So how many times do you have to put

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• your finger in the fire before you understand you're gonna get burned? How many times do you have to stumble and fall flat on your face, maybe breaking your nose or breaking your arm, until you realize, you know, I need to pick up my feet. I don't need to scrub my feet. How many times? So for those who will not listen and for those who will not receive truth, they're going to go through the school of hard knocks. They're going to the university of experience, and they're going to be hurt over and over, I can assure you of that. Now, listen, if you would, as I give you some scriptures concerning those who try to learn by experience. Okay, here we go. Proverbs 9 in verse 6, God says, "Forsake the foolish and live, go in the way of understanding." So if you're not going in the way of understanding, you're going the way of foolishness and you're gonna die. You're gonna get hurt. It's just that simple. Then Proverbs 12 in verse 11, the Bible says, "He that tilleth the land shall be satisfied with bread, but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding." In other words, there is no work ethic. Note what he said: "He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with

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• bread." It's difficult many times to get up at five o'clock in the morning and get up and go and work in the fields and do whatever needed in this necessary to make a crop. But there are some people that say, "Well, I'm gonna follow vain persons. We will beg, we'll borrow, we'll steal, we'll do whatever." God says you don't have any understanding. You don't have a work ethic. You're not gonna work. You're not gonna eat.

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• You'll learn the hard way. How about this one? Proverbs 18 in verse 2: "A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself." All he wants to do is party. All he wants to do is play. That his heart may discover itself. I told you before, the word "muse" in the Bible means to think. When you put the alpha or the "a" in front of it, it is "amuse," which means not to think. It negates the word. So that means amusement is that in which you don't have to think. You don't have to think when you're watching TV. You don't have to think when you're watching movies. You can get subliminal messages, but you don't have to think. So that's what God says a fool is: he has no delight in understanding. All he wants to do is play. How about this one? Proverbs 21 in verse 16: "The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead." God says you're dead if you have no understanding. Do you realize how dangerous it is to live without understanding? How

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• dangerous it is to live and do something absolutely stupid. For instance, how about handing a loaded pistol to a four or five-year-old child? Wouldn't you call that dangerous? Because he has no understanding. He doesn't know the danger of that pistol. He doesn't know that it'll end up killing him or killing someone else. And this is what God is saying. And how about this one in Proverbs chapter 13 in verse 15: "Good understanding giveth favor."

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• "But the way of the transgressor is hard." So this is what you learn by the school of hard knocks. You learn everything is difficult when you refuse to listen and refuse to be taught. So those that will not listen will discover that experience without counsel and without truth will always take you to the school of hard knocks, always. Now the second way to acquire truth and understanding and wisdom is simple and easy: it is to ask for it. Pray and seek the Lord's blessings and ask Him specifically for His truth, for understanding, and for wisdom.

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• You remember David did that. Psalm 119 in verse 34. He said, "Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart." Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law. Do you realize that? There's no way in the world that you can really understand the totality of God's law. There's no way that you can understand the totality of God's word unless He enlightens your mind and illuminates your mind what that word actually means. You cannot keep it unless you understand it. Psalm 119 verse 104, David said, "Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way." How do you know what is the false way if you do not know what truth is? Wow. It's only through God's Word that we get understanding. Psalm 119 verse 125, David said, "I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies." I am your servant, give me understanding. And then of course in Psalm 119 verse 169, David says, "Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord: give me understanding according to thy word." You remember what our Lord said in Matthew 7 in verse 7? He said, "Ask, and it shall be given unto

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• you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." And the truth is that most Christians never ask, never seek, and never knock when it comes to truth, understanding, and wisdom. And consequently, we don't have either of them. You look around today at all the immorality that's going on, even in professing Christians. Look at the adultery, the fornication, and yet the Bible says in Proverbs 6 and verse 32, "But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul." God said if you do that, you lack understanding. So the truth is, anytime we sin against God in any way whatsoever, it's a demonstration, a manifestation of a lack of understanding. If we really understood the way of the transgressor is hard, if we understood the consequences of our sin, we would not be doing it. That is for sure. So the second way is to ask. Now, the third way to acquire truth and understanding and wisdom is to be combined with the second way.

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• We're not only to pray and ask and seek for it, we are also to consider the Word of God. David mentioned this, he said, "Through thy precepts I get understanding." But Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2 in verse 7, listen to this: "Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things." Now it is true that understanding is God's gift. Truth is God's gift. Wisdom is God's gift. And yet God does not give those gifts willy-nilly. He does not give those gifts to the slothful, the indolent, the lazy, and the unthoughtful people.

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• And it is absolutely impossible to go to bed dumb and wake up smart. It's impossible to go to bed ignorant and wake up intelligent. No. That's impossible. And yet that's what a lot of people think is going to happen. They think that somehow they acquire knowledge through osmosis. Put the Bible under a pillow, I'll get it through osmosis. No you won't. No. So, we have to consider. Now, I want you to think about the word "consider." Paul said, "Consider what I say." The Greek word is noeo. Literally it means to think upon, to heed, to ponder, to consider, and to perceive with the mind. We would probably use the English word "meditate" for the word "consider." You know what meditation is? That's when we think about something and we turn it over and over in our minds and we consider

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• it from every angle possible. Another good illustration is how a cow chews her cud. She eats that grass and then she lies down and just chews that cud, chews that cud, gets what she thinks I guess most of the nutrients out of it, and then she swallows it. A little while later she thinks, maybe I didn't get everything out of that cud, so she regurgitates it, chews it some more, swallows it. A little bit later regurgitates it and chews it more.

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• Well, that's what we're talking about. Consider what I say. We turn it over and over and over in our mind and finally something might come up to distract us. But a little while later we come back and say, "You know, I never finished thinking about that. Let me see if there are any more implications or applications." And you start chewing it over and over in your mind. You're meditating upon it. By the way, when the Apostle Paul said to Timothy, "Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things," the word "consider" is a present active imperative. Present active imperative. An imperative is a command. Active means you're actively involved in it, and the present means it's something that is being done consistently and continually. So when he says, "Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding," he is saying, "I am commanding you to consistently and constantly consider what I say."

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• So why is it then that some understand and others do not? Here's one answer. Not only because God is sovereign and dispenses His gifts as He pleases, but some use the means that God has ordained to acquire truth, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Most people do not have any of these things because they do not pray and ask God for them. They do not seek Him for His gifts.

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• They do not meditate or consider His word. The problem is this: we're like the Pharisees. You remember what the Pharisees were concerned about? You can read it in Matthew 15, Mark chapter 7. They came up to our Lord and they asked Him, "Why do thy disciples transgress the traditions of the elders?" We all have our traditions. We all have our little ceremonies, our little rituals that we go through. And we tend to value those many times over and above the word of God, just like those Pharisees did. I have been in churches and I've been explaining things and I've had someone say, "But we've always done it another way." Well, just because you have done something traditionally one way does not mean that it is a biblical way, the right way, or the correct way. Let me point something else out. We don't want to be wrong. We don't want our families to be wrong. We don't want our friends to be wrong. We're oftentimes afraid that if we really learn truth, if we really get understanding, it's going to get us out of our comfort zone. It's going to change us. It's going to make us more obedient in areas that we've never been obedient in, or maybe sometimes

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• we do not want to be obedient in. And consequently, we just don't really study, we don't really pray. Because we don't want to be changed. And yet the truth is, you can't live without change. It's impossible. There's a change in all of us. Change in our lives, change in our homes. Things change for you. Did they not, Dinah? Clearly. You can't live without change. But so many people are so uncomfortable with it. And of course, you know, hey, we just don't want to get out of our comfort zone. But the truth of the matter is this: when Paul said, "Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things," he not only was giving a command, he was telling us this is a way to get understanding: praying and seeking and considering what God has said.

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• David said it like this in Psalm 119 and verse 130. He said, "The entrance of thy word giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple." The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. When we perceive the word of God, when we grasp the impact of it, the implications and the applications of it, that's what gives us understanding. David said it began like this in Psalm 119 verse 144. He said, "The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live." You remember earlier I quoted where he said, "He that does not understand walketh in the ways of death and destruction." Wow. Now David said, "Give me understanding, I shall live." Life, real genuine life, is understanding God and His word. It's true. We'll never understand it perfectly in this life. That is true, but we can understand to the degree that God gives us His truth and His wisdom and His understanding. And we can understand to the degree that we study and ask and seek for those things as well.

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• Okay. Now I'm going to make some applications. I want you to listen carefully. The very first one is this: the two things that you need to receive understanding are first, a disposition to believe God. God is right. He's always right. Our traditions are wrong. We're wrong. Our family is wrong. Our friends are wrong. Whatever God says is right. We're going to believe Him. We're going to put Him first and foremost. The second thing you need is this: a strong and overwhelming desire for truth. Most people do not want truth.

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• I will tell you this. When I discovered years ago that most everything I was taught in school was a lie or half-truth, and when I discovered that a number of preachers, when I was a young boy that had just been saved and called to preach, they took me under their wings and they taught me certain things. When I discovered that what they taught me was wrong, in error, although they were genuine and sincere themselves, it upset me greatly. It made me angry because I'd wasted my time and part of my life listening to them and believing what they said when I found out it was totally, completely wrong. I found out that old black preacher was right when he said that their Bible showed us shed a whole lot of light on them commentaries. That's a fact.

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• You know, when you stop and think about history, it's the same thing. I know what I was taught, and then I find out that everything I was taught was totally, completely wrong. The victor gets to write the history. And of course, they write it to please themselves and to praise themselves, when in reality history is something totally different. I'll tell you what, when I found out I'd been lied to, I not only was angry, but then it gave me a strong desire to really know the truth in every area.

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• And so what initially I thought hurt me turned out to be a big help to me. So it's just like years ago I mentioned this when our church was attacked by the state, absolutely stupid. They wanted to give us a license to drink water out of our own well. The well had been in the ground over 40 years. There's never been a complaint. No one had ever been sick. Do you know what a license is? You can find it in Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Black's Law Dictionary. Here's the definition.

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• Permission from a competent authority to do that which otherwise would be unlawful to do. You mean to tell me I have to have your permission to drink water out of my own well? I don't think so. One of my men came up to me and he asked me, he said, "Can they do this?" And my answer was, "I don't know, but I'm going to find out." So that's what got me studying Romans 13. That's when I wrote my first book. That's what got me studying constitution. That's what got me studying law. You know, we need to know the truth. We need to know the truth in every area.

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• And anytime, anytime we are told a lie, it destroys us. It enslaves us. Our Lord said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." Now, here's another truth. Listen carefully. We must learn the truth of Proverbs 21 in verse 30. Listen carefully: "There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord." There is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the Lord. So let me put it to you very plainly.

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• You can fight against Him all you want to fight against Him. You can deny His Word all you want to deny His Word. It doesn't do you one little bit of good. It does not change reality. God is the determiner of reality, not you. I know wives who fight against their husbands when I say that. The husband is supposed to be the head of the house according to the Word of God. The Bible does say, "If any woman, any wife, wants to learn anything, let her ask her husband." He is supposed to be the one teaching her. And yet I can tell you wife after wife that sometimes fights against her husband, said, "No, no, no, I'm not gonna listen to you. I'm not gonna believe that. I know how I was raised." May I tell you something else? Children do the same thing.

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• They rebel against their parents, and it's the mama and the daddy that's responsible to teach children. Many times parishioners rebel against the pastor. I know that not every pastor is a godly man. I understand that. And not every preacher has been called to preach. I understand that. But the truth of the matter is most of us want comfort. We don't want to be disturbed. We don't want to be pushed out of our comfort zone. And consequently, we'd rather fight than submit to the truth. So, I want you to look at two passages. I will quote one final verse, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 3 and look if you would at verse 15. Then we're going to go to 1 John chapter 5. So look first of all in Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 15. So God is telling His people there that when they repent and when they become obedient, here is a promise that God is going to give to them. Watch if you would Jeremiah chapter 3 in verse 15. God said, "And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge

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• and understanding." So you can be fed with knowledge and understanding if you will listen to the Word of God expounded, explained, and applied. Now if you look in 1 John chapter 5 and verse 20, the Word of God says this: "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." So notice if you would, "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true." Now, what is that understanding? Well, if you go back to John chapter 17 verse 3, listen to what the Bible says: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." What is the understanding? The understanding is that we know God the Father through

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• Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, is the Redeemer, is the Savior, is the Lord. We know that He's come to give us that understanding. And we know that we are in Him, that is true. So although Christians may be divided into little children or babes and young men and fathers, every true Christian knows the Father in truth through the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever your stage in the Christian life, whether babe, young man, or father, you know the Father. Let me point one other thing out. Jesus Christ said in John 17 in verse 3, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." You do not get eternal life when you die. You have it now. It is an intimate relationship with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you do not have eternal life now, if you do not have that relationship with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ now, you're not gonna get it when you die.

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• So we are going to be enjoying and experiencing our intimate union and communion with God the Father through Jesus Christ now in time and history, and when we get into eternity, it will be magnified. Who in the world would stop and think that you could ignore God, hate God, despise God, despise His word, never pray, never study, never go to church, never hear preaching, and all of a sudden, when you die, all of a sudden you love those things? It doesn't work like that. If you love those things now, you're gonna enjoy them much more in eternity. If you despise them now, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed in eternity. Because eternal life is a personal, intimate knowledge of God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ.

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• Why is it that some understand and some don't? Because some use the means that God has ordained and seek Him and ask Him for truth, while others do not. Do not be one of those who fail to pray and seek Him for wisdom, understanding, and truth. And consider His Word. Meditate upon it. Contemplate it. Chew the cud of it over and over in your mind while you're seeking God for understanding.

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• What did He say again to Timothy? "Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things." But God does not give that understanding without your consideration. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. And we pray, Father, for understanding. Give us, Lord, a heart that seeks thee, that knocks upon thy door, and a heart that asks continually for wisdom and understanding and truth. And Lord, enable us to consider, to meditate, to chew the cud of thy word. Enable us, Heavenly Father, to bring that word to bear in our lives through obedience and the application of it. We pray that you would make us holy, make us godly, and Lord, that you would indeed make us obedient. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, in whose name we ask and pray, amen.

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• you you

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-04T17:06:19Z