I'd like us to turn to Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3. You're used to 30 for the last few weeks. 3. Proverbs chapter 3. We're going to start on the first verse. This scripture reading is a little longer than usual, but I want to read it nice and slowly and carefully. And perhaps you'll find with me that Proverbs chapter 3 is a good summary of the whole book of Proverbs. It lacks a few specific special subjects that are dealt with in the book of Proverbs, but overall it has the main root of the matter. And so I thought it would make a good sampler as today we're considering what to do with your worldview. This is all for doing something. It requires transformation and change and action. So let's take Proverbs chapter three, verse one, My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments. For length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck. Write them upon the table of thine heart. So shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thine navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is everyone that retaineth her. The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth, by understanding hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion, so shall they be life unto thy soul and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid, yea, thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give thee, when thou hast it by thee. Devise not evil against thy neighbor, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause, if he hath done thee no harm. Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways, for the froward is abomination to the Lord, but his secret is with the righteous. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, but he blesseth the habitation of the just. Surely he scorneth the scorners, but he giveth grace unto the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the promotion of fools." May God bless this word to our hearts and our minds. We've been looking at the book of Proverbs, especially chapter 30, to reach the elements of a biblical worldview, values that constitute a Christian philosophy of life. Now, today's lesson, I'm trying to wrap up this thing on worldview. Aren't you going to be glad when I quit saying worldview? Oh, thank you. But yeah, we've had four parts in this, and this is the fifth one. And we're going to look at a potential outline, and not simply from the book of Proverbs, we're looking for a potential outline for you to form your personal worldview. Okay? Making it yours. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, but at the end of Romans, in chapter 16, Paul calls it my gospel. And the Lord is described as a shepherd, but David said, the Lord is my shepherd. And you can say, well, Northland Bible Church has a worldview, or you can say such and such here or there is a worldview, but you need to say, this is my view of the world. And then will come the subject of what are you going to do with it? Before we expand our search to other parts of the Bible and talk about worldview, how many times has the scripture talked about profitable knowledge and knowledge that does not profit? Developing a correct worldview will not profit you unless you make good choices and act upon them. You know that book, The Good Intentions of the Apostles? No, no, I got that wrong. It's the acts of the apostles. After they've been taught and trained throughout the Gospels that you can observe there, and Jesus even meeting with them at the beginning of the book of Acts, and he gives them a commission. And from there on we study their acts and how they fulfill what they've been taught, what they've been commissioned to do. Basically, the entire book of Proverbs is dedicating to give us a proper view of the world and of how we are to live in this life. And right at the beginning, we went right to Proverbs 1-7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. And those first seven verses talk about how Proverbs are written in a mysterious way. They're called dark sayings, not because they're evil, but dark because they're not easily understood or the full meaning is not easily understood. So you have to go back over and over and meditate So, Proverbs is one of those particular books that you really ought to read a lot, often. So, we are looking at this chapter 3. I'm not going to do an exposition of it. That's it. I read it. And hopefully you were looking for, yeah, there's something that would affect my worldview or how I live in this world. We have lots of that to go. And I just thought chapter 3 would be good to give it its special attention right now. But let's think of some other things in John 13, 17. Now, in context, Jesus had taught the disciples to wash one another's feet. to wash their feet, to love one another and minister to one another. He was about to leave in a short while after this farewell discourse he gives in chapters 14, 15, and 16, and then his wonderful priestly prayer in chapter 17. But then we go right on to the matter of him being crucified, and he is going to surprise some of the apostles. They were told, but they didn't really expect it. They're a little bit in confusion, but they have to get back to this, that you always have one another, and I will always be with you. I will come again. that where I am, there you may be also. Because I live, you shall live also." And so in verse 17 of John 13, after he had instituted the matter of how they should serve one another and he used the washing of their feet as an example, he said, if you know these things, happy are you if you do them. So I built that as a kind of a maxim in my life. If you know, you're happy if you do it. Because you actually can make yourself more miserable if you strive to know things and don't do anything about them. And I'm very convicted all the time about that. And I've always pictured someday if I could talk to a lot of pastors or preachers, I would say our first job is not to pastor and develop all those skills. Our first job is to be a Christian. which means I read my Bible for my own soul's sake, and I apply it to myself, and I confess my sin, and I seek the Lord, that I might be a stronger Christian, and then a better husband, and a father, and if possible, a grandpa. Oh, then comes my vocation. Then I work at my skills of leadership, and teaching, and counseling, whatever else that may be, but Christian first. There's another one of those old spirituals I love. Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart, in my heart. Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart. I'll stop. I'll stop. But that's the pure seeking of the Lord. And it's not until I make sure my soul is blessed that I can bless anybody else's souls. And as I get older, I get more convicted of it. Romans 12, 1 and 2, after Paul had described 11 chapters of God's dealing with sinful man and God's dealing of grace in how he can justify guilty sinners and still be holy himself, not compromising his holiness. Yes, 11 chapters. how sin is defeated by the blood of Christ, how the principle of Christ living in me makes a working principle in me, and that nothing shall separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. And then there's this thought that comes up, now Israel was called God's people, and look, they fell. And so he takes three chapters, nine, 10, and 11, to talk in the context of God's plan for Israel. in the future, but also for Jews today. Of course, today, our call to them is not about some glorious future someday. Our call to them is, you need to believe in your Messiah. To the Jew first and also to the Gentile. They still need the gospel and God is saving a remnant of them in every generation. And one day, so shall all Israel be saved will make more sense. But after all of this, Paul gets caught up in a, I guess we'll call it a doxology, and he can't even finish the 11th chapter without breaking into a moment of worship. Though I know I said Romans 12, 1 and 2, but guess what? I'm going to back up just a little. Verse 33. Chapter 11, O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, by chapters 1 through 11 that I've just explained, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." We pointed out last week that chapter 12 is pretty good for the subject of worldview. and what to do with it. But just this part here, because of the mercies of God, because of the gracious actions of God, because of the promises of God, those fulfilled and those yet to be fulfilled, we need to take our bodies, which is a plural word, and present ourselves as a singular living sacrifice. That is implying the local church. That will be explained a little while later on there in chapter 12. What is it? Verses 4 and 5. That we being many become one. And it isn't just that I will figure out some ways to serve God on my little own, and I should. But I'm not supposed to be just on my little own. I'm supposed to have brothers and sisters in Christ and we work together as a team. We care for one another. When one member suffers, we all suffer. When one member rejoices, we all rejoice. And as a unit, we are the body of Christ and Christ is our head and he should lead us so that with one mouth, one mind, we will glorify the Lord, both to him and out to the world. Christian unity, Christian service. How great is that? And it's described in verse one as your reasonable service. And that word reasonable, now you may have another translation, but the word there has to do with that which pertains to the mind and spirit. You're serving him with your mind and your spirit, but you're also using your body. Yeah, I already said that, bodies. are rendered for service. We do it with a true mind and a true heart, with the inner man. The word there, and I don't always treat you to Greek things, but logikos here, same word that Peter used on desire the sincere milk of the word. And the word Logos for word actually isn't in Peter's statement, but Logikos and Logos look alike, so they're connected. So it's this inner working from God's mind and heart, the word of God, God's spirit comes into my mind and heart, my spirit, and I have now a spirit-led life that I'm living. And some people, I hate to be critical, but some people try to demonstrate a Spirit-led life by doing odd things. Unusual, odd things. And I don't want to elaborate on it. But what I see here in verse 2 is that you may prove or demonstrate what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We are to be a demonstration, an example. The spirit-led life is taking God's word from his mind and heart, through his spirit, applying it to our mind and heart, and his spirit living in my spirit. We now will be the demonstration for others to see. So I've got to do it with everything I've got. Just to do it outwardly with action is shallow and could be hypocritical. Just to say, oh, I've got it in my heart, that also could be hypocritical and shallow. Because if it's in here, it ought to get out there. The salt ought to get out of the salt shaker. When Jesus reprimanded the Pharisees for only washing the outside of the cup and not the inside, he never implied that we can wash the inside of the cup and leave the outside filthy. It kind of makes sense, you wash it all, inside and outside. Okay, with that in mind, James gives us some important thoughts. I'm just going to read a little bit here. If you get scared of me, I'm going to put more time probably in this part right here than the list that I've created for you afterwards. I'm going to touch that, but let's go over to James chapter 1, verses 18 through 27. James chapter 1 verse 18. Of his own will begot he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Let's just think about that. Of his own will. God is the initiator. We love him because he... Okay, for anybody else listening, because he first loved us. God's the first cause of all effects. And he used his word, which is the sword of the spirit. So his spirit, his word, he caused us to be born again. And the outward results, the fruit of this, it says that we should be a kind of first roots of his creatures. Okay, so Jesus came and lived a holy life. Then he sacrificed it so that guilty people could be forgiven and receive from his account of righteousness, and they can receive righteousness on their account, but we don't stop there. That's called imputed righteousness. It's bookkeeping. Your debts are paid. Jesus paid it all. He has so much grace that he'll never run out, and he can save any sinner that comes unto God by him. but after imputation, there's imparted holiness. That's where the rubber meets the road and Jesus himself gets into the control seat and starts working with you to live out a life. Now, one day we're going to have new bodies, new heavens, new earth, no devil, no temptation, no more weeping and wailing and no more dying and all of that. In the meantime, first fruits, is when certain trees and vines give a sample ahead of time. The fig tree that Jesus cursed, it put out its leaves and it wasn't the season for the fig tree to do that. So Jesus went up to look at the fig tree because the early figs are nestled in those new leaves and you can get a little sample. It wasn't there. Some people misunderstand and think the scriptures are not consistent, that Jesus cursed a fig tree for not bearing fruit out of season. It wasn't the season for the tree to put forth the leaves. And if it had had the early fig, that's first fruits, then Jesus wouldn't have condemned it, but it had nothing. It purported something, look at me! And Jesus says, I'll check you out. Hence, we need to examine ourselves whether we be in the faith. Now, I'm not with the new body yet. I'm not in the new environment yet. So in this world, Christ in me is a series of up and down struggles, spiritual warfare, sanctification, ups and downs. It is imperfect in its performance, but it's real in its substance. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." That's first fruits. We are already offering to God the fruit of the Spirit that's in our lives, and we have to cooperate with that. And so Jesus, gave us new birth. Of his own will, begot he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures." In other words, fruitful people. The whole harvest hasn't come yet. This is just a sampling. And sometimes when I'm enjoying my Christian life, I think, oh, how much better when there isn't that interference with temptation and with other things that drag me down, the weakness of my flesh. Now we've got some wherefores. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath." You know the old thing, there's two ears and one mouth. Sort of a symbolic thing, I guess. It says in verse 20, for the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God. And that's what we're interested in doing, is working the righteousness of God. Another wherefore, verse 21, lay apart, set aside all filthiness and superfluity. Okay, that word means overabundance. The superfluity of naughtiness, and you know, naughty, we use that as a word for little children, and we're smiling when we say it. most of the time. This word here is not nice. Naughtiness here means wickedness and evil. So lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness means set aside all filthiness and overabundance of wickedness and evil. That doesn't mean God says you can do a little bit on purpose. He's just saying you're going to slip up and fail. And if any man says he has no sin, he's a liar. But don't go overboard and turn the grace of God into lascivious and say, hey, I got a license, Jesus paid it all, toot toot, let's go. Now, we're to be constantly trying to put those things aside. In Hebrews 12, we're to lay aside the weight and the sin that doth so easily beset us. And it says here, as I get back to James 1.21, and receive with meekness the engrafted word. Some of your Bibles will say implanted word. which is able to save your souls." Built into us, becoming a part of us, is the Word of God. It's the living Word. It's Christ. He's the Word of God. And we're to receive, meekly, attitude of a servant, the engrafted or implanted Word which is able to save your souls. Now, just in case you think that your salvation is sort of in the balance, Let's understand the word saved is used different ways and every now and then I like to bring this up. Here's another one. First of all, saved means delivered. The first thing you get saved from or delivered from is the penalty of your sins. It happens in a moment when you receive Christ, when you believe the word of the gospel, when you come unto the Father through Jesus Christ, your sins are washed away and that's settled. Now, the second level of salvation, we're being delivered from the power of sin, from the deceptive power of sin, from the way sin deceives us into thinking, this is fun. This is nice. Hey, that was good. And we get fooled into doing things. And just because we have been saved from the penalty of our sins, doesn't mean we have a license to keep on sinning. Little by little, in every way, little by little, in every day, Jesus is changing me, and I am overcoming the deceptive power of sin in my life. And that's where he's talking here. And we have other places in Scripture, if I were doing the full-blown sermon, that would say the same thing. The final salvation, or deliverance, is when we're saved from the presence of sin. One day we die, or he says, come up hither, and we're transformed in the twinkling of an eye, and we'll have these new bodies, and we'll have this new environment, that we won't be suffering the consequences and the pressures and the temptations and the deceptions of sin. We'll be in the glorified state. And that's why Paul said in Romans, what was that? 13, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. So you have every right, if you've trusted Christ for your salvation, if you've received Him, you have every right to say, I'm saved. And heaven will be your home. And you're having an ongoing relationship with Him that verifies it all the time. And the battles and the struggles, they can bring sorrow. They can take away joy. There's a lot of things they can do. But ultimately, we're being sanctified, set apart more and more, becoming like Christ until one day we get the body to match that. So I said all of that so that James doesn't get people too Distracted, discouraged, because a lot of people pick arguments thinking James is teaching salvation by works and Paul taught salvation by grace. I think Paul and James would be shaking hands the whole time. They emphasize things. at different times, different ways, but I firmly believe James' theology and Paul's are the same, and I can't get into the rest of why James is such a unique book. I'll just say this, it's the first book that was written, without any doubt in my mind, and it was predominantly addressed to the Jewish believers. And they had a lot going on between persecution from Jews that weren't Christians to being persecuted by the Romans just like they had been before, except now it seems like they're surrounded with persecution. And there's this getting accustomed to grace and the grace teaching and to not forget The ditches are either side of your life, not to fall into those, but to still maintain good ethics. So James, I was going to say this next week, James is called the Proverbs of the New Testament. So he has a lot of practical things about obedience, good living, and reaping the good results of good living, and bad results you'll reap if you do bad living. And so he's trying to keep them between ditches, that they don't get over much sorrowful, or that they don't misinterpret the doctrines of grace and throw holiness out the window. So anyways, if you want to study James sometime, let me know. But right now, I need to keep reading. Verse 22, Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any man be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." That should be nice and clear. If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, But to deceive his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world." And this is consistent with the gospel of the grace of God. Chapter 2 of James. I'm going to start with verse 14. What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him?" Now, here's one time when newer translations caught something and got it in the text. It's been there in the Greek. Because, can faith save him? I've had people call me up and want to argue that you're not saved by faith alone. And they're trying to make a doctrine and they use James sometimes to say it's faith plus works. God forbid. It's not faith plus works, it's faith that works. And there's something here in verse 14. Let me read it a little differently. What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he have faith and have not works? Can that faith save him? That kind of faith. That's the implication here. So he makes examples, if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto him, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things needful to the body, what does it profit? Okay, a call to action here. First John has something about that too, about how does the love of God dwell in us if we don't minister to the needs of our brothers and sisters? And just saying, be warmed and filled and God bless you is not profitable. Verse 17, even so faith if it has not works is dead being alone. It's a kind of faith, a faith that works. Galatians 5, 6. circumcision availeth nothing, uncircumcision availeth nothing in Christ, but faith that works by love." That kind of faith that works by love. Yea, verse 18 says, a man may say, thou hast faith and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble, but wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" Now, the subject, the example of Abraham. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by his works was faith made perfect? And notice in verse 23, And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. Now, the act of offering Isaac on the altar, that's in Genesis 22. The promise that Abraham believed and he was declared justified, that's in Genesis 15, verse 6. And that's why the word fulfilled is so important. Abraham believed what God promised him about his seed multiplying and a blessing to the whole world and so forth. And then because of that kind of faith, later on when God said, take that son and offer him, According to Hebrews 11, Abraham believed that God would just raise him again from the dead because he believed that promise that his seed from Sarah and not Hagar, that his seed would multiply and grow into a great nation. And so he was willing even to offer his son on an altar at God's command. And you know how it goes. Just as he was about to, God says, stop Abraham. Now I know. And actually he's saying now you know, but now we know that you will follow me and that you will follow me and teach your children and you'll be faithful. So there's a ram over in the thicket. Take that instead of your son and sacrifice that. And now we have a picture of Christ, the substitute for us. Okay, it's a great story. But when it makes a statement here in verse 24, you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. We're talking about the quality of that faith, what kind of actions that faith produced. And we rarely get to this one, but he also compares Rahab the harlot. She was justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way. She believed that the true God was with Israel and she was scared to death to be with people who didn't fear God and believed in false gods. She risked her life. to let those spies out safely, and they made a covenant, and that scarlet cord's gonna be in their window, and they won't be harmed. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Okay, this is some basic strong teaching in the context of grace, that faith that God gives, faith that delivers you from the penalty of sin, will also be working in you to deliver you from the power of sin, ultimately delivering you from the very presence of sin. And so back to the subject at hand, what are you going to do with your worldview? All the things you're learning about God, and the world, and destiny, and responsibilities, and all these different values, what are we going to do? I'm going to give you just one more because I just plump feel like it. And that is 2 Peter chapter 1, verses 2 through 11. 2 Peter 1, verses 2-11, Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add." Okay, now Peter is going to help us see what a real faith should look like, and we are to consciously be working on these other elements. Add to your faith virtue, moral excellence, action. To your faith, virtue, and to virtue, knowledge. And to knowledge, temperance or self-control. To temperance, patience, endurance. And to patience, godliness. Again, actions implied. And to godliness, brotherly kindness. Now my faith needs to have social applications to others. to brotherly kindness, charity, which is that divine sacrificial love like God had for us. 4, verse 8 says, for if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that important? Barren faith, unfruitful faith, not saving faith. You want to make your own calling and election sure, like Peter's going to say, In verse 10, you need to see these things coming from you out of faith. You're going to have these things. If you lack these things, you're blind. You cannot see afar off. You have forgotten that you were purged from your old sins. And this forgetting thing doesn't sound too good. James talked about it too. When you look into a mirror and see yourself and you forget what manner of man you were, you act like you're something else. And here he's saying, people have forgotten why Jesus died. Wherefore, the rather brethren, verse 10 says, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. You shall never fall. For so an entrant shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If you do these things, happy are you. You know these things and do these things, happier are you. If you know these things and do these things, Peter's saying, you shall never fall. So we're not working to stay saved. We're working out our salvation, Paul tells us in Philippians 2. Working it out, not working for it. Demonstrating what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Okay, now you see the list. And it's quite comprehensive. I spent time looking at scriptures that if I were deliberately looking for something that pertains to this thing called worldview, I need scriptures that teach me high principles and values and give me responsibilities and a call to action. And so, this is up to you. to take this and work with it in the times to come. Notice some of them are pretty comprehensive, like Genesis 1.1 through Genesis 12.3. Yeah. And then Exodus 20.1 through 17. And then some comments on the law and works from Paul in the book of Romans. And we got a list of some Psalms. And just as I have said, Proverbs is a basic workbook for worldview. You can say that also for Ecclesiastes. I gave a few just to prime your pump there. The Isaiah passages, oh man, do I want to talk about them. The fact is I already have over and over. But let's take two little ones that really are dear to me, and I want them to be dear to you. They may already be, but in the book of Hosea, get past the big prophets, get past Daniel, And there's Hosea chapter 6. Hosea chapter 6, verse 6 through 8. Oops, I'm sorry. I said that wrong. Hosea chapter 6, verses 4 through 6. Hosea chapter 6, verses 4 through 6. Oephraim. Now that's a name for the 10 northern tribes of Israel. Oh, Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? Oh, Judah. Now that's the southern kingdom. There was two tribes in the south where Jerusalem was. What shall I do unto thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew, it goes away. Have you ever seen that? Been up early and there's mist over everything and the sun comes up and whoosh! It really goes. And do doesn't last long either. And he's saying your righteousness is about like that. About any time there's any indication of heat, you're out of here. And all those good intentions are gone. Therefore, verse 5, I have hewed them by the prophets as if the prophets were like a broad axe. So I come chomping down on you. By the prophets I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." Now we stop there. But verse 6 is a classic passage. Jesus will refer to this, I desired mercy and not sacrifice. true, genuine, godly affections, intentions, compared to technical obedience outwardly. And then he says, the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings, which is to say, I am freshly wanting you. I want, in other words, you to freshly Receive my words, learn of me, learn of my ways. Receive my blessings through the word that you become like me. Be ye holy for I am holy, not just performing ritual sacraments. This is a big danger and any denomination can have a form of doing things that can become shallow and surface and not from the heart. So that I have an active, living, loving, knowing relationship with God, and that I desire mercy, not just for myself, but this is what I want for others. It's only right. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. If I want God's mercy, I ought to be able to show mercy. If I believe I've been forgiven much, I ought to forgive much. And Jesus taught all about that. But now just go a little farther through these minor prophets, minor only because of their size, not because of their importance, but Micah chapter six. Micah chapter six, verses six through eight. Micah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, whoops, go back to Micah. Chapter six, verse six through eight. Wherewithal," in other words, with what, shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? So, so far we've got this rhetorical questioning going on. How shall I approach God? What should I bring to him? What's he want? Is it just about sacrificing animals or oil or, you know, different kinds of offerings? What if I just could have rivers of oil and I gave God that and herds of cattle? I gave him that. Is that going to please him? Now comes the real punch. Verse 8. He has showed thee, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Now there's the payload. To do justly. Obedience from the heart. To love mercy. Yet like Hosea was saying, mercy. Righteous, root word is right. That's good. But by itself can be very bad. Pharisees were real big on being right. But godliness, the root word is God. And this is going to make the other profitable or not profitable, is are we being like God? And how do you find out what that's like? Second Corinthians 3.18 says that we beholding in a glass darkly the glory of the Lord. Now what am I doing? Am I just searching for doctrines to argue with the other people down the street? Am I just learning Bible stories? Am I just learning rules, do's and don'ts? No, I'm beholding the glory of the Lord. I'm looking for evidence of Him. What is He like? What does He do that makes a difference? That I know it's God and not somebody else. So we beholding in a glass darkly the glory of the Lord are changed. That little word change is a big word in the Greek, metamorphosis. Be ye transformed, Romans 12, same word. Jesus on the mount of transfiguration, same word. I'm to be transformed into the same image. Doesn't happen all at once, from glory to glory. to glory, to glory, to glory, to glory, even as by the Spirit of our God. He has showed thee, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." Here's the root of the matter. Here's the way to have a litmus test of our religion. James gave us some, but Micah's given us one here also. Well, I'll just draw attention to, but not say anything really. 1 John 2, 15 through 17, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. That's really important to your worldview. You know what? And I'm going back to high school days, Susie. I look at a girl and first in reflexes, you know, like, oh, wow. And then they open up their mouths and start saying things, and they start doing things, and I see the people they hang out with, and all of a sudden, ugh, no. No, that's not the way I want to go. And so it is the world. First impressions, it's appeal to our inner nature, our lower nature, I mean. Mm-mm-mm, look at the world's offering. Oh, peace, prosperity, lots of fun, wealth, sex, everything a guy could want. But then we wise up and we say, no, This whole world is like the adulterous woman. And so, we're to love God supremely. And what I did is after I put 1 John 2, 15 through 17, Galatians has a whole bunch of references to the world and this life that I think are really good in view of that. But I got to let that be your homework because I have one more thing I want to do. Now, you know, last week I put the notes out. I had this naivety to think I could talk through all of this real quick, but I got snagged. I got grabbed. The Scriptures have hands that grab me and pull me down, and so I couldn't get to all that. So you who were here last week got the notes for this week too, and you came anyways. Well, I modified a little, as I usually do if I have more time to think, but I'd like to just look at this, just talk it through quickly. What subjects might be included in a complete worldview? What is truth? Is truth absolute or conditional, situational? What is the source or foundation of truth? Who gets to say so? Who or what is God? I had to throw what in there because of the way some people think, but who or what is God? Is there a spiritual side to life in the world? How do we learn or know spiritual things? Who or what is man? And we got fine words here like anthropology, sociology, psychology. How do we understand ourselves in mankind? I like this one, what is a soul? Do we have a soul or are we a soul? And I'm not saying right now. I could, but I'm keeping my word. These are the questions you've got to answer. and search for. So what is the right use of our bodies? What is our responsibility to our fellow man and to God? How do we interpret history and what is our future destiny? Concerning philosophy, ethics, values, or very plainly sin, who determines what is right and wrong? What is the order of things for sexuality, marriage, and family? Those are certainly hot topics today. What are good work and business ethics? Concerning the arts and entertainment, why are we attracted to beauty? Is it essential to the survival of the species, as some like to talk? Why is there music? Why is there things that make people stop where they are and drop their jaws and stare like at a sunset or something? Why do we have calendars with all these lovely pictures of scenery and animals? What is this inspiration? What is good or bad entertainment? That's a big subject too. What is good or bad culture? Is everybody's culture okay? Is there something wrong or right about any of them? How about government? Who makes the rules and enforces them? How much do I get involved or cooperate or not cooperate or resist? Should nations be sovereign, operating on their own? Or should the world be united politically and economically? Anything wrong with that? What is the relationship between church and state? And so many people in the world have no idea what that answer is. What is science? How do we gain knowledge of our physical world, our physical universe? The subject of origins. How did life begin? Creation, evolution, something else. Stewardship. And we appeal to science here on how we take care of the planet. Are we in charge of our future? Are we accountable for our actions? This is just questions and topics. We have done the truth project and that's like 13 weeks of considering these things. And I want you to notice at the bottom of the page, before you put this away, I came across something really well done. It's called truthstory.org. Truthstory.org. The person behind this, his theology, the people he partners with, and his material, very sound, and he does also reference the Truth Project, and there's a particular reference here to a blog of his. truthstory.org, blog, what is a worldview, really wonderful things you could go over. You'll think he and I were in collaboration sometimes because, wow, he agrees with me. But he also agrees with the truth project and he makes really strong connections to that. It's nicely done. And then also focus on the family.com faith the truth project. You can get actually in contact with the material. Used to be only certain people could get the DVDs and lead the studies and pretty much I think anybody can get those now. Very valuable. Many of you in this room have done the truth project either with us or somebody else and I think you will verify how really important that is. So today's message was get a worldview that's yours and then do something about it. Heavenly Father, I thank you for truth and that you are true and that you communicated truth to us by your spirit and some of the amazing ways you did that through using humans to write it or speak it. It requires faith, and that again is something you have to give us. Help us to make sure we have the faith that saves, Lord, not just an intellectual faith in facts, ideas, and doctrines. If there's anyone here who is struggling on the matter of their salvation, that you would please speak to their hearts. and that things that we've said today would help in ministering, that they would find that peace with you through your Son, Jesus Christ. And then help us to work together, Lord, the many bodies as one living sacrifice to demonstrate what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Help us to use our minds, our hearts, and our bodies to send a message into this world and to glorify you. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.