When the Answer Is No

The hardest question in this whole study . . . and the Bible does not flinch from it.

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A note on the Scripture in this study: every verse is printed WHOLE. The words set in ordinary type are the ones this lesson leans on and emphasizes . . . the words in italics are the rest of the verse, printed so that nothing is ever handed to you as a fragment with the remainder missing.

I made a promise about this one from the pulpit back in September, and I have been turning it over ever since . . . because this IS NOT a study question . . . somebody reading this has a chair in the house that nobody sits in any more.

So we are not going to be tidy about it. We are going to go get the Book and see what it says about the prayer that was prayed and prayed . . . and the answer was NO.

THE BIBLE DOES NOT FLINCH

Here is the first thing worth noticing, before we look at one verse . . . it would have been the EASIEST THING in this world for the Bible to hand us nothing but prayers that got a yes . . . and it does not do that.

It hands us four men who asked and did not get it . . . and one of them is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

PAUL — a NO with the reason attached

2 Corinthians 12:7 — “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”

Now look at one word in that verse before we go on. The thorn was GIVEN to him. Paul does not say the thorn happened to him . . . he does not say the thorn slipped past God while He was looking somewhere else . . . it was GIVEN.

2 Corinthians 12:8–9 — “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Three times . . . this is a man who had raised the dead and been caught up into the third heaven, and he asked three times for one thing to be taken away . . . and God told him NO, and then God did something we ought to notice — He told him WHY.

Paul never did get the thing he asked for . . . what he got instead was God . . . and by the end of the chapter he is saying he would rather have it THIS way. Whatever that thorn was, Paul went to his grave glad about the answer.

DAVID — a NO with a grave at the end of it

This one is harder, because a child dies in it.

2 Samuel 12:16 — “David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.”

Seven days he stayed down there on the ground . . . and on the seventh day the child died . . . and now watch the servants, because they tell us something about how a man is expected to take a NO:

2 Samuel 12:18 — “And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?”

They were AFRAID to tell him . . . they fully expected the man to come apart . . . and here is what he did instead:

2 Samuel 12:20 — “Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.”

He got up . . . he washed his face . . . and he went to the house of the LORD and he WORSHIPPED. And when they asked him how in the world he could do that, he gave them the plainest answer in the Book:

2 Samuel 12:22–23 — “And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”

Two things in there and both of them will hold a man up. One — he prayed as long as there was any hope at all, and when the answer came he did not stand there and argue with God about it. Two — “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” That is not a man giving up . . . that is hope with an ADDRESS on it. David knew where that baby was, and he knew he was going there himself.

THE LORD HIMSELF — the prayer that was refused

And now the one that settles it for good.

Matthew 26:39 — “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

“If it be possible.” It was NOT possible . . . and the cup did NOT pass. The Son of God asked His Father for something in the garden and the answer was no.

Now put this verse beside it, because it is one of the most important verses in this whole study:

Hebrews 5:7 — “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;”

And was HEARD. He was heard . . . and the answer was STILL no. So let nobody ever tell you again – that a prayer which did not get what it asked for – was a prayer that God did not hear.

LAZARUS — the NO that was a “not yet”

There is one more, and it is the tenderest of the four . . . two sisters send word to the Lord about their brother – and John gives us three verses in a row that ought to be read together:

John 11:3–6 — “Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.”

Read those in order and do not soften it. He LOVED them . . . and He WAITED. John put those two facts in the same breath on purpose – because he knew we would need them in the same breath.

And when the Lord FINALLY got there, Martha met Him with the sentence every one of us would have spoken – if we had been in Martha’s shoes…

John 11:21 — “Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.”

He did not scold her for saying it. He did not correct her . . . and a few verses later - standing at a grave He was about to open – the Bible says the shortest and heaviest thing it ever says:

John 11:35 — “Jesus wept.”

He knew EXACTLY what He was fixing to do . . . and He cried anyway . . . so whatever else we learn about a NO; we can settle this much – it does not come from a God who is unmoved by what it costs us.

THREE THINGS A “NO” IS NOT

One — it is NOT PROOF He did not hear. Hebrews 5:7 already settled that one. He was heard, and the cup did not pass.

Two — it is NOT PUNISHMENT. Paul's thorn was given to keep him from being lifted up in pride, and not to pay him back for anything. A NO is not God settling an account with us.

Three — and hear this one carefully — it is NOT a failure of our faith . . . nobody in the history of this world has ever prayed with more faith than the Lord Jesus in that garden . . . and the answer was still no… So when somebody tells a grieving mother that her baby would have lived if she had believed a little harder – that person is handling the Book wrong – and he is laying a load on a back that is already carrying more than it can hold... Do not let anybody EVER do that to you – and do not ever do it to anybody else.

WHAT WE ARE GIVEN INSTEAD OF THE REASON

Now here is where I have to be honest with you . . . most of the time we are not told why. Paul got told – we usually DO NOT...

Deuteronomy 29:29 — “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

There are TWO PILES in that verse, and we have to learn to live with the size of them – The SECRET things are His . . . & the REVEALED things are ours . . . and a great deal of what we most want to know about a NO is sitting over in His pile.

Isaiah 55:8–9 — “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

And then there is the verse everybody quotes at a funeral, and it is a good verse — but it is worth reading slowly – because most of us hear it wrong:

Romans 8:28 — “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

It does not say that everything IS good . . . it says all things WORK TOGETHER FOR good . . . and there is a world of difference between these two.

Illustration — What Is On The Counter. Set out what goes into a cake before IT IS a cake – Raw flour – A raw egg – Baking soda – A spoon of bitter vanilla… Not one of those things is any good BY ITSELF and a couple of them will turn your stomach . . . but they are not FINISHED yet, and they are not meant to be eaten off the counter one at a time . . . they are meant to go in the oven TOGETHER – Romans 8:28 does not ask us to call the raw egg good . . . it tells us Who is doing the mixing.

FROM THE PULPIT

We could look at that prayer for good health — that prayer to never hear the word CANCER. I have been really — really sick — literally to the point of death . . . and I will tell you the honest truth. You can say what you want . . . you can say you love God . . . you can say that you depend upon God — but until you see that SINGLE set of footprints in the sands of life – realizing that Jesus did not desert you in your hour of need – but that He in fact CARRIED you in your hour of need — your relationship with Him will be less than it would be otherwise.

So is sickness a good thing? All by itself the answer is no – it is not a good thing — but then neither is a raw egg a good thing all by itself... Sickness may not be a good thing . . . but what sickness teaches us is priceless – and what sickness does to our relationship with God is not a thing that can be bought or purchased any other way… Good health every day of our life would be a fine thing to experience — but there are things that sickness taught me – about leaning on God that good health never would have.

And here is where I want us to think about ETERNITY – because this is the part most of us never consider... Paul says there are things waiting for us that we cannot even imagine…

1 Corinthians 2:9 — “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

Read WHO those things are prepared for — “them that LOVE him.” Now put that beside what Paul says two chapters later about the day our work is tried by fire:

1 Corinthians 3:12–15 — “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

Every one of us who is saved gets THERE — that is settled – and nothing in this life can undo it… But not every one of us gets there having built with the same material . . . one man's work stands and he receives a reward, and another man's work burns and he suffers loss . . . YES – he IS saved – but he stands there with empty hands.

That is what I mean about eternity – If we never learn to love Him — and hard things are one of the ways He teaches us TO love Him — then we will get to heaven and MISS OUT on things we could have received – Not lose our salvation – But miss a reward. There will be things prepared for them that love Him – that we simply will not have, because we NEVER let Him build that love into us down here.

So “a no” on this earth may be God trading us wood and hay for gold… To work together for our good does not mean that every step on the road of our life WILL BE GOOD.

SO WHAT DO WE DO WITH A NO?

One — keep praying while there is anything to pray about… David fasted and wept as long as that child was alive – and he was right to . . . “who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me.” We are not told the outcome ahead of time, and we are not supposed to pray as if we KNEW the outcome…

Two — then get up and go worship . . . that is the hardest sentence in this whole part – and I am not going to pretend otherwise… But David washed his face and went to the house of the LORD . . . and the man who does that is going to “make it” – or continue to live IN FAITH – BUT the man who lies on the ground in anger or bitterness – he will be man who will not continue living in faith...

Three — quit demanding the reason. The secret things belong to Him – We can ask . . . but we cannot make the asking A CONDITION of our trust, because that is not trust at all — that is a trade.

Four — take the grace that IS being offered. God did not give Paul the thing he asked for… He gave him something – and He named it… “my grace is sufficient for thee.”

That grace is on the table for us too . . . and a man can starve to death with food right in front of him – if he refuses to eat it because it is NOT the meal he ordered.

Five — do not let it TURN to bitterness . . . this is the one I worry about the most . . . when the answer is no – we will either believe that God is good and we could not see the whole of it . . . OR we will get bitter — and bitterness will walk a man right out of the faith and take his family with him.

Job 13:15 — “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.”

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

A NO from God – is NOT a failure of prayer . . . and it is NOT the silence of a God who was not listening . . . it is an ANSWER — given by a Father who loves us – out of a wisdom that is as far above ours as the heavens are above this earth – and we are simply not able to read it yet from where we are standing.

Paul got his answer explained to him… David did not – and he worshipped anyway… Martha got hers explained four days late – at a graveside . . . and the Lord Jesus got a NO in the garden – so that we could have a YES that lasts forever.

Simple truth: God has NEVER one time told a child of His no – out of anything except love . . . and one day we will have the WHOLE of it explained – and when that time comes - there is not going to be a one of us – who would wish He had answered differently.

TRY IT THIS WEEK

If you are carrying a NO right now – do the David thing . . . and do it in this order... Wash your face – Go to the house of the LORD – Worship BEFORE you understand.

And if you are NOT carrying “a no” this week — then find somebody who is – and go sit with them . . . you do not have to explain anything to them – Job's friends did fine for seven days – right up until they opened their mouths.

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NEXT — Part Five: Lord, Teach Us to Pray. The disciples watched Him pray every day for three years, and what they finally asked Him for was lessons. So He gave them a pattern . . . and it is not the chant most people have made of it.

The Go That Never Stops — What the Great Commission Commands

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Wednesday evening service, September 23, 2026 The Great Commission · Matthew 28:18-20 · Matthew 10:7 · Acts 8:1 · Acts 13:2 · 1 Peter 3:15

► Watch this lesson on video (43:20)

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This evening we are going to talk about the Great Commission . . . and if we were going to give a title to the lesson, it would be “The Go That Never Stops.” And I will tell you up front - I am going to be man enough to admit some mistakes that I have made about this passage in the past. I am not going to hide my error and sweep it under the rug . . . I am just going to come right out and say it - I was WRONG about this.

Now this is the kind of question that anybody who has been in church for a while has at least thought about in his own mind. The Great Commission of Matthew 28 says GO. The church at Jerusalem was told to go - and history shows us that God even used persecution to pry them loose when they began to drag their feet. But the gospel has already arrived at Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church . . . we are HERE, and we have no other address. So where - and when - does the command in the Great Commission to GO stop governing us, and stop governing our church?

Well, some will answer that question the way I did before I learned better. I have been quoted in the past as saying the Greek really says “as you are going” - so it is not really a command that we reach back and bring into our present day. Or we could answer the question with a guilt trip, and say that every believer who does not pack his bags and move to a foreign country to do mission work is being disobedient - after all, the command does say GO. But neither one of these is entirely correct based upon the scriptures.

So what we are going to do this evening is let the grammar (the original Greek) . . . and history . . . and the Bible itself answer this question. When we answer it, this is not what your preacher thinks - and this is not what some commentary thinks. By the way, in case anybody is interested, I do not use commentaries . . . We have been learning that it is the Holy Spirit who will teach us all things if we are really interested - not a school, not a seminary, not an education. Now somebody will say, well preacher, you are just saying that because you have never been to the seminary - no, I am saying it because that is what the Bible says. I do not care if you take a person who is as dumb as a box of rocks - if he will humble his heart before God, he can outshine any Bible scholar that has ever been born . . . because it is the Holy Spirit - and the Holy Spirit is who we do not give enough CREDIT to. You will notice that the authors of MOST of the commentaries that are available – do not have the same type of Baptism that we have in this church… They do have education – but outside of proper baptism – they do not have “spiritual education”. Well, that rabbit caught my attention - let’s go back to the text.

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power (authority) is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” - Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV)

So we are talking this evening about the GO that never stops . . . it does not stop - but it does change address.

The GO never stops - but it does change address . . . and today the GO is living at OUR address here in Dardanelle.

What the Greek Actually Commands

Now the grammar is going to tell us what the Greek actually commands - not what we think it is saying, and not what we have always been told it is saying, but what it ACTUALLY says.

The word “teach” in verse nineteen is mathēteusate (ma-thay-TYOO-sah-teh) - and it literally means MAKE DISCIPLES. And here is what I discovered from the grammar first . . . the verb “teach” is the only command-form verb in the whole Commission. So the center of gravity in the Great Commission - if you will - is not packing our bags to travel . . . the center of gravity is DISCIPLE-MAKING. Baptizing and teaching are how the disciple-making gets done.

However - the command to make disciples does not make the GO optional . . . and here is where a common mistake is often made - and I know this because I am one who has made it. Some say the text really reads “as you are going.” But the fact is, “Go ye” is poreuthentes (por-yoo-THEN-tess) - a finished-action form of the verb - and it is standing right in front of a command. And in the Greek, when you have this form standing right in front of a command, that is a very common pattern – and it means that the going is what takes on the FORCE of the command it is standing in front of. GO - and make disciples.

Well preacher, how is the church supposed to make disciples? By GOING with the gospel into other places.

Now this is not something we have to guess about, because Matthew uses this exact same construction several different times. For instance - seven verses before our text, we see an angel at the empty tomb:

“And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.” - Matthew 28:7 (KJV)

Now those women at the tomb were standing STILL . . . the word is what created the going. They were basically being told - leave here, and GO tell the disciples. And that is the same form that we find in the Great Commission.

And here is the clincher - Matthew KNEW how to say “as you are going” . . . and he used it when he meant it. Go to Matthew chapter ten, and there is the exact phrase that I mistakenly attached to the GO in the Great Commission:

“And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” - Matthew 10:7 (KJV)

“As ye go” is poreuomenoi (por-yoo-OM-en-oy) - and I know I am butchering the pronunciation, but that is the way it is . . . this is the ONGOING form of the verb, as opposed to the finished form. Now Matthew had both tools available to him - and at the Commission, when he was recording the Great Commission, he picked up the COMMANDED go. That is what the Bible indicates.

So - the grammar gives us both of the truths we are talking about this evening, and each truth is found in its own verse. In Matthew 28 the going is genuinely COMMANDED - just like the ladies at the tomb. Leave here and go tell the disciples that you have seen Jesus . . . leave Jerusalem, God told the church, and go to these other places and tell them the gospel. If you picture a horse carrying a rider - the command to go is like a rider that has hopped up on the back of a horse named MAKE DISCIPLES . . . the going is literally riding on the back of make disciples. And in Matthew 10 there is also an “as ye go” - which is what I have in the past mistakenly assumed was the same kind of command we find in the Great Commission . . . but it is NOT.

Comfort, a Crowbar, and Antioch

For several chapters of the book of Acts, the Jerusalem church stayed HOME - stayed right where it was first established. Thousands were saved . . . the apostles were busy preaching . . . and everything was comfortable for them. Now what I am describing is their comfort zone - and it all took place in the one city where they were commanded to START . . . the one city they were commanded to go FROM, instead of hibernating and staying in their comfort zone the way they had.

“And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.” - Acts 8:1 (KJV)

Now I noticed the fact that they were all scattered abroad - the church and everybody - “EXCEPT the apostles.” The men who had actually been commanded to go and make disciples were the LAST ones to leave. And God used persecution as a crowbar, for lack of a better example, to pry the church loose from the place where obedience had begun to drag its feet.

But here is the part that actually answers our question. When does the GO stop - or does it stop? If we follow those who were scattered by the persecution from Jerusalem, we will follow them to a church at ANTIOCH - a city that had received the gospel as a direct result of the persecution against the church at Jerusalem. You see, Antioch was a church that had already arrived . . . just like our church in Dardanelle is a church that has already arrived.

“As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” - Acts 13:2 (KJV)

Now Antioch became a SENDING church. If you read about all that Antioch did, it is looked on in just about all your research material as the place where missionary work actually began. The arrival of those who had been persecuted at Jerusalem did not allow the church they went to - to retire the Great Commission . . . but what it did do is to make that church a new STARTING place.

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” - Matthew 24:14 (KJV)

So - the GO is not something that stops when the gospel reaches our country, or our state - it only stops when the end of the age finds us.

Now I believe it is landmark number seventeen - of “those things most surely believed among us” (I think there are twenty-one of them). We believe that Jesus Christ established His church during His personal ministry on earth . . . we believe that the church is in a covenant relationship with Jesus to carry out the Great Commission . . . and we believe that Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission to the New Testament CHURCHES only. Now notice - in this landmark of what we believe, it is not church singular, it is the plural form, CHURCHES. So our own landmark number seventeen pretty much settles the question of whether the Great Commission was given only to the church at Jerusalem, or to other churches in addition to that first church at Jerusalem.

The GO never stops - it does change address . . . and the GO in the Great Commission is living at OUR address today.

That is the second time I have said it - and remember the significance of saying something three different times . . . the third time means it is PERMANENT. The Go we are talking about has never stopped being in effect, and it still governs our church here in Dardanelle.

The Rope - How an Arrived Church Goes

So if the GO governs our church, like I am saying it does - then what does the GO look like for a church whose members are settled in the community and obviously are not going anywhere?

Well, I thought about a rope - and I think I have mentioned in a lesson or two before how “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12). The GO of an arrived church - a church that already has the gospel and is not going anywhere - is just like a cord with three strands . . . and we are already holding all three strands of that cord in our church this evening.

The first strand is SENT. Every month this church sends money to the Philippine Islands to support young churches/pastors on the islands – in their efforts to spread the gospel.

“Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.” - Philippians 4:17 (KJV)

Now the key phrase in this verse is “your ACCOUNT.” When those missionaries in the Philippines stand at the judgment seat of Christ - fruit from the islands of the Philippines, fruit that you and I have never laid eyes on . . . at least part of the fruit of their labors will be credited to OUR ledger in the judgment. Whether it is a missionary, or whether they have organized into a regular church - that is all beside the point.

Part of our name is MISSIONARY Baptist - and that is one of the reasons we claim to be Missionary Baptists instead of some other kind of Baptist, because there is no board that directs us regarding what missions we should support and what ones we should not. Again, it goes back to that Holy Spirit that we so often do not give proper credit to . . . the Holy Spirit is who leads us and guides us to endeavors like this. So the sender GOES in the sent, if that makes any sense . . . this is Antioch’s strand of the cord - and we hold ‘that particular strand’ in our hand every month - when we send support to the Philippines.

The second strand is SHOWN. Now this might make us uncomfortable, but it is the truth - every single member of this local church is on display before this town every single week. We are on display if we go to the co-op . . . if we are at a ball game, or at the funeral home, or in the checkout line at Walmart or wherever - we are ON DISPLAY.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” - Matthew 5:16 (KJV)

This is Matthew chapter ten’s strand - this one actually fits the “as ye go” phrase. The world reads a church the same way it reads a lighthouse. I mentioned in a previous lesson that a lighthouse does not fire cannons - it does not make a lot of noise to call attention to the light shining up at the top . . . a lighthouse just SHINES. Well, our church is to be a lighthouse in this community - we are told to shine, and the shining is what saves men from the rocks.

And that leads us to the third strand - SPOKEN. This is the strand that actually finishes the three-strand rope we are talking about, because the people who are on display - the church members - have to be ready to SPEAK.

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” - 1 Peter 3:15 (KJV)

Be ready always to what? To give an ANSWER. Now notice the order - the shown life is what brings on the question . . . and if our lives are on display, then according to First Peter 3:15, our mouth needs to be ready to do something.

“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?” - Romans 10:14 (KJV)

Faith comes by HEARING. Now I think it is fair to say that a lost person is probably not going to be saved simply by watching how kind a Christian is to other people. Watching that Christian’s behavior will no doubt get the lost person’s attention - but for him to seek Jesus as his Saviour, there is probably going to have to be some talk going back and forth . . . there is going to have to be an explanation of WHY we as Christians are being kind to those who are not kind to us in return. A lighthouse is what draws a ship close to the shore - but somebody still has to explain where the harbor is. Yes, I see the light on the lighthouse over there, and I will go toward it . . . but somebody needs to tell me where I need to dock this boat once I get past these rocks.

So there are three strands - and if we braid these three strands together, then the Great Commission is still ALIVE, even in a church like ours. Now the rope does not break the very instant we cut one of the strands - a three-strand rope with one strand cut is still going to hold for a while. So the church that cuts a strand does not fall apart that same Sunday afternoon . . . but the rope is strained, and it continues to fray - and it may take several YEARS before it finally snaps and the whole thing falls apart.

So let’s cut each one of the three, one at a time, and look at what will happen.

Cut the SENT strand - we are just not going to send anybody anything. Well, after it is cut, we can still behave the way we should behave . . . and we can still answer anyone who asks what the reason is - that we have the kind of faith that we do. But if we cut the sent strand, the Great Commission takes on a PERMANENT address. It basically stops - it is not carried any further. The Great Commission goes exactly as far as our conduct can be seen, and only as far as our lips can be heard . . . part of Yell County, maybe a little bit over into Pope County and a little bit into Logan County - and that would be the permanent address of the Great Commission.

Now cut the SHOWN strand. You remember we talked previously about how our behavior is the badge that we wear - it identifies us as Christians . . . love, even for those who do not love us in return. This is the one that really does the most damage - because now we are still sending money across the ocean to the Philippines, and we are still ready to talk the talk . . . but when we open our mouth on Sunday about the Lord, what we said at work on Tuesday is LOUDER than what we are saying in church. You see what that means? The Philippines gets a missionary - and Dardanelle gets a hypocrite. That is just the plain truth . . . nobody is going to ask about a badge that they have already seen dragged through the mud. You see, if we cannot get along with one another, how in the world are we expected to get along with those out in the world? If I cannot get along with Brother Kenneth, how in the world am I going to get along with my neighbor? I am supposed to love Kenneth - and I am supposed to love my neighbor too, but not to the same degree as we love those in the house of God.

Now let’s see what happens if we cut that third strand - the SPOKEN strand. I think most people would feel safest cutting this one, because after all, we are still giving money to the Philippines . . . and we are still living the way we should live, practicing love toward those who do not necessarily love us in return. But that is what gets us caught in a TRAP. We become a good, decent and quiet people that nobody ever gets closer to God around. The one who has been watching us - be ready always to give an answer to those who ask a reason of the hope that is in us - that individual finally works up the nerve to ask . . . and all we can think to do is to talk about the weather, or talk about hunting season. He walked right up to the door of the gospel - and we never OPENED the door.

Now of the three strands - which one is in our grip the loosest? Which one do we have a lighter grip on than the others?

I was raised - and I have always been taught – that you have the door knockers, but that you don’t want to force the gospel on anyone . . . and I think that intent is in the scriptures. Because we cannot get past First Peter 3:15. Now what does it say? It does not say go to the airport and witness to everybody you see - but if you are at the airport, be READY to answer. Why do you worship the way you do? Why do you have the faith that you do? Be ready to answer when someone sees a difference in the way you live your life than how they live their life. And that is kind of what got me off the truth about “as you are going” . . . I thought, well, as I go through life I will be a witness - and when somebody recognizes Christ in my life, they will ask me. So - you can see how a man can make that mistake - but that is not how the Great Commission is written. Matthew knew exactly what that phrase was . . . he used it in Matthew chapter ten, and he did NOT use it in Matthew chapter twenty-eight.

Check Your Grip

So where does the command to GO actually stop governing us? Well, the answer is - it never stops being our responsibility to obey it.

The GO never stops - it changes address . . . and today the GO is living at OUR address.

And one last example - and I made a conscious effort to trim the length of my lessons, my first go at this one was a little bit longer, so I am just about done . . . the mail carrier does not stop his route because the mail has already gotten to HIS house. Oh, my mail is in the mailbox, I can just stop and go home - that is not the way it works. Even after he gets his mail, he still continues to deliver to others.

So our homework this week is aimed at the strand that most of us are holding the loosest - which is typically the last one, the talking part. This week, write out our answer on a piece of paper. Pretend someone has just asked - “explain to me why you have the faith that you do.” A little short paragraph, one or two sentences - it does not have to be elaborate. Write out the reason of the hope that is in our heart.

Write out what we were before God pulled us out of that pit . . . write out what the Lord did for us when we repented - that is a good reason to explain to somebody . . . and write out what God is to us. What I mean by that is - write out the kind of relationship that exists between us and God that gives us more PEACE than yielding to temptation gives us. I am just like anybody else - I do not have to read in the Bible that there are “the pleasures of sin for a season” (Hebrews 11:25) . . . I know that. But I also know that a proper relationship with God outshines the pleasure that is found in sin.

When we get it written out, read it over and pray that it is ready to share with others - because somebody in this town has been watching our rope, and probably watching us longer than we are aware of. And the day that we are finally asked a reason for the hope that is within us is the WRONG day to start composing an answer. Be ready always . . . be ready BEFORE.

I do not know why - when we are asked about God or something spiritual, all of a sudden we get tongue-tied . . . but I could be asked what my favorite hobby is, or who my favorite quarterback is - oh, no hesitation at all, I could go on for days and days. So be ready - rehearse the answer. There is nothing wrong with that. We do not want to come across as being ashamed of God when somebody finally asks us about our relationship with God.

Scripture Used

Matthew 28:18-20 · Matthew 28:7 · Matthew 10:7 · Acts 8:1 · Acts 13:2 · Matthew 24:14 · Philippians 4:17 · Matthew 5:16 · 1 Peter 3:15 · Romans 10:14 · Ecclesiastes 4:12 · Hebrews 11:25 (all KJV)

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Every lesson is kept on the Lessons page.

How to Read the Bible — Lesson 5: Let the Clear Explain the Deep

HOW TO READ THE BIBLE — a short course from Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church • Pastor Chuck Trusty • Lesson 5 of 13 • a new lesson every two weeks

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Last Time

Last lesson you took Matthew 6:24 home:

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." — Matthew 6:24

We handed you an odd word — mammon — and told you not to guess. Did you let the verse frame it? Read to the end, and the two masters are named: God, and mammon. Ask what the verse sets mammon against — God Himself. So mammon is the rival master: money and goods, served like a god — the verse handed you its shape. And do not miss the step you took: no man can serve two masters — and you have a new Master now. Now, one more tool.

The Verse

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." — Hebrews 6:19

The Question

Look at that one word — hope. In our everyday talk it means we are not sure: "I hope it will not rain" — meaning, it might. So is our "anchor of the soul" anchored to a maybe? Is Bible hope a wish that might fail, or a sure thing?

The Tool — walked together

First, bring the tools you already have, and ask your questions — this is a statement, not a command, so we ask what it declares. WHO? "we" — every believer; if you are saved, this hope is yours. WHAT? Our hope is "an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast." WHEN? The verse gives no time — an empty box. It is not telling us when; it is telling us what we hold. WHERE? Read on to the last word, and the verse answers: "within the veil." Hold that word — it is the sweetest in the verse, and the study will open it. WHY? The verse does not say outright — another empty box, and so our shovel — but everyone knows what an anchor is for: the storm.

Every box accounted for. Now run the rest of the toolbox. You read the whole verse to its last word, and it gave up "within the veil." This is no command but a statement, so the address tool rests this time. And when the weight fell on one word — hope — the tool that says let the Bible define its own words sent you looking for it elsewhere; it turns up in Titus 1:2. That brings us to this lesson's new tool — the one that says which verse gets the final say. TOOL #5: when one verse is hard, stand a clear one beside it, and let the plain light explain the deep. (Not sure where the plain verse is? The Helper page shows how to find every verse that uses the same word.) Hebrews 6:19 is deep — anchor, veil. Titus 1:2 is plain as day:

"In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." — Titus 1:2

There is the daylight. Our hope is "of eternal life," resting on a promise — made by a God "that cannot lie." The plain verse settles the deep one: Bible hope is no wish, but sure, because the One who promised cannot lie.

ONE WORD

So take that word HOPE and hold it: in the Bible it is not a wish that may fail, but a confident expectation — a thing certain. The world's hope is a coin in the air; the Bible's is an anchor set in rock.

And what is the anchor made fast to? It reaches "within the veil" — into the very presence of God. But do not assume what that veil is; let the Bible say it. Further on, the same letter tells us plainly: "the veil, that is to say, his flesh" (Hebrews 10:20). The veil is the flesh of the Lord Jesus. So your anchor is made fast to Christ Himself. That is why it holds: an anchor is only as sure as what it grips, and yours grips the Lord. Let the wind blow; the soul anchored there does not drift.

Try It This Week

Here is your verse. Bring your questions, and read the whole thing to its last word — and when a heavy phrase looms up, find the plain one standing right beside it:

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." — Luke 9:23

The heavy phrase is "take up his cross." It can frighten a new believer — it sounds like dying. But do not build on the shadow. Stand the plain words next to it, there in the same verse: "follow me." And one plain word more: "daily." So the great, heavy cross is explained by the plain command — follow Him, one ordinary day at a time. Not one grand and dreadful day, but this day, and then the next. That is how the cross is carried: by following.

Your Toolbox So Far

1. Start with the questions — WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY.   2. Read the whole verse — all the way to its last word.   3. Every command has an address — ask who it was spoken to.   4. Let the Bible define its own words — the Book is its own dictionary.   5. Clear explains complex — let a plain verse light up a deep one.

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Next lesson, in two weeks: a verse has neighbors — read the ones just before and just after, and a familiar saying turns out to mean more than we thought.

‹ Lesson 4 — Let the Bible Define Its Own Words  •  The Course Index — all lessons

How the Book Is Built — and Who It Is Addressed To

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday evening service, September 20, 2026 The Route 66 Journey · On-Ramp 2 · Psalm 147:19-20 · Romans 3:1-2 · Deuteronomy 5:3 · Romans 15:4 · 1 Corinthians 10:11

► Watch this lesson on video (49:32)

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A couple of Sundays ago I mentioned the Route 66 series - and what is behind that is my intention to preach at least one message on all sixty-six books of the Bible. We will get finished, assuming the Lord does not come back any time soon, because if you count up the Sundays it will take a year or two . . .

We said then that all sixty-six books of the Bible make one Book, one Author, one story - and the one story of the entire Bible is centered on JESUS CHRIST . . . well, this evening is like the second half of our introduction before we actually start the series, and I want to point out two things about the way the Bible is put together before we get started.

The first thing is the MAP we are going to follow - how all sixty-six books are organized, and why the way they are organized is not random at all . . . you can actually see a message in the way they are arranged. The second thing - and I started to say it is more important, but I do not guess it is . . . I think it is more MISUNDERSTOOD than anything else - is the ADDRESS. By that I mean who each half of the Bible, the Old Testament half and the New Testament half, has actually been written to - because we do not read a letter that was written to somebody else the same way we read a letter with our own name on the envelope.

If we understand, or begin to understand, just these two things this evening, then much of the confusion that many people have with the Bible is just going to evaporate.

So here is the thing I will say three times, and this is the first time - the Bible is one Book . . . it is built like a library, but it is addressed like a letter.

The Library Shelves - How the Bible Is Organized

A library has a bunch of shelves - and the Bible has sixty-six books in its library . . . now when they put the Bible together, they did not just randomly stick the books in there in the order we read them. They were put there for a PURPOSE.

The Old Testament is thirty-nine books, organized on four different shelves.

The first shelf holds THE LAW - the five books of Moses. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They are called the books of Moses because they cover the times of Moses, and it is believed that Moses was the human author who put pen to paper . . . and these first five books are really important, because they are the FOUNDATION everything else rests on. Genesis tells us that God was in the beginning and explains creation - and if we get creation wrong, then we are just WRONG. “In the beginning God” . . . nothing else works, and nothing else can take the place of that one fact.

The second shelf is HISTORY - twelve books, beginning with Joshua and ending with Esther. Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, First and Second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. These books tell us the story of the nation of Israel - the people God made all the promises to, from Genesis to Revelation . . . His chosen nation, the apple of His eye.

The third shelf is POETRY - five books. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. Where I was looking this up, it said these are often called the heart-books, and here is what is meant by that - in those five books we get an idea of how God’s people FEEL. We read where some of them are weeping. We read where some of them are rejoicing . . . and we read where they ask God some questions that are never really asked anywhere else in the scriptures.

Then we come to the fourth shelf, THE PROPHETS - seventeen books, from Isaiah all the way to Malachi. There are two sub-groups on this shelf, the major prophets and the minor prophets . . . now normally when we hear major and minor we think major is important and minor is not quite so important . . . but the major prophets are just LONGER, and the minor prophets are shorter. There is NO difference in importance. We will get there eventually, but Obadiah is one page - that is how long Obadiah is - and it is a minor prophet . . . then you look over at Isaiah . . . oh, mercy, it is sixty-six chapters, and some folks call Isaiah the little Bible for that reason - but major and minor have nothing to do with importance, because you cannot say that the one page of Obadiah is any less God’s Word than all the pages of Isaiah.

There is a lot of neat little trivia like that about the different books - not that there is anything trivial about the Bible - but for lack of a better word, a lot of interesting little things you can find out.

Now the other half of the Bible - the part we are most familiar with - is the New Testament. Twenty-seven books instead of thirty-nine . . . and again, four shelves, basically carbon copies of the four shelves in the Old Testament.

The first shelf is THE GOSPELS - four books. You have heard the expression “the harmony of the gospels.” The gospels are not word-for-word identical to each other, but the central figure in every one of them is JESUS CHRIST. Think of it this way - Jesus is standing in the middle of a room with four walls, and there is a window in each wall. If you look at Jesus through Matthew’s window, you see Him as the King. Through Mark’s window, you see Him as the Servant. Through Luke’s window, you see Him as the Son of man . . . and through John’s window, you see Him as the Son of God. Jesus is in all four of the gospels . . . we just see Him from a little different angle in each one.

The second shelf is HISTORY - and in the New Testament this shelf has only one book, the Acts of the Apostles. When you think of history you think of things that happened - acts, the behavior of the apostles. Acts contains what Jesus CONTINUED doing through His church after He was resurrected. The gospels tell us what Jesus did when He was here in person . . . and then Acts begins to tell us what Jesus did after He rose. We have been taught that the New Testament church is what? The body of Jesus Christ . . . so Acts explains what the body of Christ did, and is doing, after His physical body was resurrected.

The third shelf is THE LETTERS - twenty-one of them. Paul wrote quite a few letters to churches, and some to other preachers of the day . . . then there is another group, the general epistles - James through Jude - letters not written to one specific church . . . and these are just dictionary words you get out of the research books, none of this is original with me . . . I had to look all of it up.

And the last shelf is the PROPHECY shelf . . . now what book do you suppose is on the prophecy shelf? Revelation - the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the uncovering of Jesus Christ. Revelation is the unveiling that tells us where the road we are about to start traveling ends up . . . it is the final DESTINATION of the sixty-six books.

Now I want us to notice something, very briefly, about how these shelves are ARRANGED - because there is a lesson in it. Both Testaments, Old and New, run in basically the same order. First the foundation - the Law in the Old Testament, the Gospels in the New . . . then history - how God dealt with the nation of Israel, and how God deals with the church in the New Testament . . . then the poetry is sort of like the letters, because it is there we learn how God’s people FELT - their thinking, their emotions, the trials and tribulations that were facing them. You read Psalms and Proverbs and you learn the mind of David and the mind of Solomon . . . especially in Ecclesiastes - I have done everything under the sun, and guess what, it is all a bunch of nothing. The only thing that matters is fearing God, properly respecting Him, and making every effort we can to keep His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13) . . . and then the prophets and Revelation show the FUTURE - in the Old Testament the future of the nation of Israel, and in the New Testament the future of everything. There is a little bleed-over, too - some things prophesied in the Old Testament carry right on past it into the New Testament and connect up with Revelation, so it is not completely walled off.

And notice where the turning point is. When Malachi ended, there were four hundred and something years of what the research books call silence . . . no sound, no message, no prophecy, no word from God at ALL - until Matthew. Malachi closes with “the Sun of righteousness” who shall arise (Malachi 4:2) - that is Jesus Christ . . . and what is one of the first things we see in Matthew, besides the genealogy? The star that rose in the east (Matthew 2:2). What did that star represent? Jesus Christ . . . so if you read between the lines, you can see a message in the way these books are organized.

Now I am not real big on organization. If you came to our house and looked out in my shop you would think, oh my goodness, that poor thing, what is wrong with him - has he been sick? I cannot find anything out there. I have always thought it would be nice to be a mechanic, but the first thing that turned me off from it was the thought - I am going to have to keep track of Phillips screwdrivers, straight screwdrivers, metric wrenches . . . there is no way I am keeping up with all those tools . . . it is just not going to happen.

Well, the scriptures are organized the way they are so that when somebody says, “Preacher, what does the Bible say about Nebuchadnezzar?” - now Nebuchadnezzar was a real man, there are secular historical accounts of a king named Nebuchadnezzar - what shelf in the Old Testament would you guess we would find something about history? The history shelf . . . and you remember which books were on that shelf . . . so that narrows it down a little.

And I always get a feeling of comfort when I hear the words “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” I do not want to sound Pentecostal-ish or anything, but it just makes me HAPPY - it gives me a comfortable feeling . . . well, what shelf did we describe as the one that explains the heart of God’s people? The poetry shelf in the Old Testament, and the letters in the New. They describe how God’s people feel - the relationship between their heart and God’s heart . . . so when I say the way the Bible is organized preaches a little lesson . . . that is what I am getting at.

And every one of the sixty-six books has a KEY VERSE - a verse that unlocks the purpose of that particular book. Let me see here - my keychain. This new one is for the truck, and I have one, two, three, four, five . . . five keys on my keychain . . . well, by the time we finish these lessons on the sixty-six books, our keychain would have sixty-six keys on it - one key to open every book in the Bible . . . that is our goal . . . and once we learn the key, we will be able to get into that book - get into the mind of the man who wrote it.

From memory now - take John’s first letter. John wrote, “These things have I written unto you . . . that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:13), and “that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:4). Those are two key verses that tell us the reason John wrote First John . . . and once we know that, every verse we read in that little book has that purpose behind it. Why did John write these other verses? So that our joy would be full, and so that we could know that we have eternal life.

The Address on the Envelope

Now the second thing - and in my way of thinking this is responsible for most, if not all, of the errors people think they see in the scriptures. Every letter has an address on the front of it. Every time you write a letter, it is going to be to a person - or “to whom it may concern” - or it will be obvious in the text who it was written to.

We said the Bible is in two halves . . . well, each half has been written to a different person, or group of people. Both halves are NOT addressed to the same address.

“He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.” - Psalm 147:19-20 (KJV)

“He hath not dealt so with any nation” - just the nation of Israel. The Old Testament is God’s Word to ISRAEL . . . and Paul hits it directly - notice what he says in Romans three.

“What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” - Romans 3:1-2 (KJV)

Committed - that is entrusted, handed over for safekeeping. The oracles of God, the spoken words of God, were given to the nation of Israel for them to safeguard . . . and we have another account in Deuteronomy - Moses says exactly the same thing to the people standing right in front of him.

“The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.” - Deuteronomy 5:3 (KJV)

He did not make it with our ancestors - He made it with US . . . so you look at the Old Testament - the law, the feasts, the promised land, the kings, the prophets . . . that is COVENANT mail. We have talked about what a covenant is - it is like a marriage contract . . . it is God’s relationship with His children - not just a father-and-child relationship, but a relationship that grows beyond that.

And then you get to the New Testament. The New Testament also has an address. The New Testament is not God’s Word to the nation of Israel . . . it is God’s Word to whom? The New Testament CHURCH. Remember we said the history shelf in the New Testament is the Acts of the Apostles - the gospels tell us what Jesus did in His person, and Acts tells us what Jesus does through the spiritual body of His church . . . then you get to the letters, and you read account after account - “unto the church of God which is at Corinth” . . . “unto the churches of Galatia” . . . and then the seven churches of Revelation, every one of them addressed to a CHURCH. The letters were written to local churches - and by extension, that is a big fancy word, but by extension, these letters are also written to churches just like the one sitting here this evening.

So do not say, “Well, preacher, that letter was written to a church two thousand years ago, so it really does not have anything to do with us today.” You are wrong. If it was written to the church at Corinth, you can scratch out “the church at Corinth” and write in “the church at Dardanelle,” and you have done no injustice to the scriptures at all . . . because if it applied to the churches in the days of Jesus and the apostle Paul, it applies just as much to our church today. The only difference is TIME.

Now I have heard this before - “Well, preacher, the Old Testament . . . we do not do that anymore.” I am not saying the Old Testament is not for us . . . and I am not saying at all that the Old Testament does not apply to us. I could chase a whole herd of rabbits right here, but I am going to resist the urge. The New Testament is our rule of faith and practice . . . and the Old Testament is full of pictures and patterns. We do not worship the same way they worshiped under the Old Testament - but we DO worship the same God they worshiped. We just do not follow the same worship rules . . . that is about the only difference.

“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” - Romans 15:4 (KJV)

Written aforetime - that is the Old Testament. Written for OUR learning - whose learning? Ours, in the New Testament . . . so it was written TO Israel in the Old Testament, but it is preserved FOR us in the New . . . and there is no wiggle room in First Corinthians ten.

“Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” - 1 Corinthians 10:11 (KJV)

Ensamples - that is examples, patterns . . . and there is not a period after “ensamples” - it does not stop there. They are written for whose admonition? Whose warning? OUR admonition - to warn those of us in the New Testament, upon whom the ends of the world are come . . . so all scripture is profitable. You cannot just take an axe and cut the Old Testament out and say it is no good . . . it is full of pictures . . . it is full of patterns. I believe the apostle Paul calls it a shadow (Hebrews 10:1). If you see the shadow of a tree, you cannot actually see the tree, but you have a pretty good idea what that tree looks like. When we look in the Old Testament we see shadows - and if we look close enough, we get a pretty good idea of what is CASTING that shadow.

And think about this - I thought this was interesting when I ran across it. The Old Testament was actually the New Testament church’s FIRST Bible. Somebody says the Old Testament is not important . . . well, it was the first Bible the first churches had, so do not tell me it serves NO purpose. Jesus preached of Himself from it - on the road to Emmaus He opened the scriptures, and the Old Testament was all they had, and for those seven miles He taught them of Himself out of it (Luke 24:27).

So the point is, we do not just skip over the first thirty-nine books. During our Route 66 series we are going to cover every single book in the Bible - but we will ALWAYS - and I am going to take great care to be precise about this - every time we open a book of the Bible, we are going to read the ADDRESS before we read the letter. We are going to find out who it was written to before we look at what was written.

When we open Leviticus, we are reading covenant mail - the mail that established the relationship between God and His people - and it is addressed to the nation of Israel . . . and it is FULL of pictures. Go to Leviticus and read - there are types, there are pictures, there are shadows of Jesus Christ . . . and a thought came to me here . . . all those paintings in the museums were made by people a long, long time ago, but they still bring us joy. They show us things we would not otherwise be able to see . . . it is no different when we look in the Old Testament and see word-pictures of Christ - just because they are OLD does not mean they are outdated. They show us things we could not see any other way.

Now think about letters written to somebody else, and letters written to us. We all have people in our family we love and respect - think about a grandmother or a great-grandmother, dead and gone a long time now . . . well, you find a letter written by your saintly grandmother - and one letter was written to one of your aunts. You read it . . . oh yeah, that is nice - but then you run across a letter with YOUR name on the envelope. It was written to you. You read those two letters DIFFERENTLY. From the letter to your aunt you can learn what your grandmother was like, what she cared about, her hobbies and so on - but when you get to the one with your name on it, you find out what she wants YOU to do . . . you find out her relationship with you.

And that is the habit we are going to develop - the habit of checking the address on the envelope FIRST - because we check the address before we read what is in the letter, that is exactly why we do not have a cow pen out back behind the church building holding lambs and goats and bulls and calves, so we can go make a sacrifice after church is over. Those letters were not written to US. They were written to the nation of Israel . . . and there are people who get all twisted around and claim that the promises God made to the nation of Israel have been made to the United States of America. No. No. Look at the address on the front of the letter before you read what is in it.

Now we need to be careful here - there is a ditch on both sides of the road. I am not advocating throwing the Old Testament away . . . that is the choice some have made . . . and also, do not read the mail that was addressed to Israel as though it had our name on the front. We have to learn to stay in the MIDDLE. This half is addressed to the nation of Israel. This half is addressed to the New Testament church.

And I am just going to throw this out here. There are other, smaller divisions we could point out. “Oh, preacher, since the New Testament is written to the church, does that mean it is written to all the saved?” That is close - but no cigar . . . that is not the way it works. The Bible can benefit everyone who is saved, if they will open their eyes and pay attention to it . . . but there is not a single book in the Bible addressed to the saved-but-unfaithful. The address on the front of the letter is to the Lord’s New Testament church.

One last example, and I have used it before. When I was a little one, I thought Daniel Boone was the cat’s meow and could whip anybody - but I also believed my dad could whip Daniel Boone . . . and when he walked out through the pasture, I tried my best to put my feet where he put his feet. That worked out really well as long as I stayed close to him . . . but if I got very far away, it got a whole lot harder to find his footprints.

That is the idea here . . . that is how we are going to walk this Book during these lessons - as CLOSE behind the Author as we possibly can.

One Book - built like a library, but addressed like a letter.

So when we read our Bible this week, do we ever stop and ask who the envelope is addressed to? Take ten or fifteen minutes and read in Leviticus, and ask, “Who was this written to?” Then switch gears completely - go over to Corinthians or Ephesians in the New Testament and ask the same question. You are going to see some CHANGES when you ask it.

Our first actual lesson on the sixty-six books is scheduled for October the fourth, and it is going to be in Proverbs . . . so between now and October the fourth, read the ninth chapter of Proverbs. You have two women there, if memory serves - each one builds a house, and each one cooks a supper . . . one of them is called simple, and the other is the one we want to avoid. We want to AVOID the mistakes that woman made - and hopefully that is what this series of lessons is going to help us do.

Scripture Used

Psalm 147:19-20 · Romans 3:1-2 · Deuteronomy 5:3 · Romans 15:4 · 1 Corinthians 10:11 · Ecclesiastes 12:13 · Malachi 4:2 · Matthew 2:2 · 1 John 5:13 · 1 John 1:4 · Hebrews 10:1 · Luke 24:27 (all KJV)

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Every lesson is kept on the Lessons page.

How God Reveals His Law — the Word and the Spirit

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday morning service, September 20, 2026 God’s Law, Lesson 3 of 4 · A3 D11 · John 1:4-5 · John 14:26 · Romans 10:1-3 · Romans 1:17

► Watch this lesson on video (48:26)

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You might want to put your fingers in a few places this morning - John 1, John 14, Romans 10, Romans 1 . . . so John, Romans, and then John again.

Now a couple of Sundays ago we settled the question of WHO it is that makes the law - who came up with the Ten Commandments, if you will. We learned that God owns everything . . . in fact God created everything by His spoken word - and because God is our Creator, God has earned the right, if you want to look at it that way, to set the terms on how everything operates, and to determine how we should behave, how we should worship, the whole of our lives.

And last Sunday we settled the question of WHY God draws a line. Why does God say you need to stay over here and not go over there . . . why does God build a fence around certain things? You remember we said the Ten Commandments were something like ten FENCES . . . well, what does a farmer build a fence for? He builds a fence to protect the things that he values. God built a fence around our lives and our behavior because He values us - and He wants to keep us on the right side of the fence so we will not come to harm.

Now this morning we have one more of these lessons about God’s law left to cover, and this morning we come to what may be the most practical question of the four that we will consider. By that I mean - well, we have all these laws, we have all these commandments in the Bible . . . so HOW does a commandment that God put in the Bible get off the page and into our hearts?

Think about the people who make the maps of this state. I am assuming it is somewhere in Little Rock - they have a drawing board, and some engineers drawing lines here and lines there, and they can come up with all the maps they want to which show where every road goes - but drawing a map in some office in Little Rock is no guarantee that when you and I get out and start driving those roads, we are going to go the direction that map says we should go. The line has to get off the paper . . . and into the DRIVER.

So how does God get the words off the page and into our hearts? The answer this morning is that God uses two things. God’s Word, the Bible, tells us where the line is - where the fence has been built . . . and God’s Spirit . . . and I will tell you, we often do not give the Holy Spirit the credit He deserves . . . God’s Spirit is what tells us how CLOSE we are getting to that line. He tells us how close we are getting to the fence that was put up - not as a cage, but as protection.

God’s Word tells us where the line is - God’s Spirit tells us how close we are to it.

The Word Is What Draws the Line

The Bible is what draws the line, or builds the fence, that we are talking about.

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” - John 1:4-5 (KJV)

In Him - that is, in Jesus - was life, and that life was the light of men . . . and the light shines in darkness, it shines among our lives . . . and the darkness comprehended (took hold of) it not . . . now the darkness “comprehended it not” - well, that is us reading the Bible and saying, I do not have a clue what He is trying to tell me here. The Bible is what establishes the boundary - but the Holy Spirit, that we so often ignore and underrate, is what opens our eyes of understanding and teaches us what in the world God is trying to say to us . . . that is what the Holy Spirit does . . . and He only does it if we open our hearts and let Him. What purpose does a light serve if we have our eyes CLOSED?

Now notice that the gospel of John does not start out like the others do. Matthew mentions a baby and a manger the way we might expect - but John does not start with a baby at all. John starts his gospel with “the WORD” . . . and he says that in “the Word” was life - and you cannot separate God’s Word from Jesus Christ. We are very close to beginning a series where we are going to learn firsthand that every book in the Bible points to Jesus Christ.

So John begins with the Word, and he says the Word was life, and this life that is in Jesus Christ is the light of men . . . now think about the picture there. Light does one thing before it does anything else - light shows what is AROUND us . . . and when we see what is around us, we can tell where we are standing.

If we were to turn every light off in this building this morning, we would eventually discover that the walls do not go anywhere. The walls stay exactly where they are when the lights are on - but without a light to show us, we would not KNOW where those walls were - and we would start walking, and bump our shins, and run headlong into a wall and get a few bruises . . . but turn the lights back on, and we would know exactly where we were standing just by LOOKING. We would know which way to go and which way not to go.

That is exactly what the Word of God does with God’s law. The Word of God is the light - it is the light that shows you and me where the line is, where the fence has been built - but without the Word, there is no line for us to SEE.

Now I am not going to chase this rabbit, I am just going to mention it . . . that is part of what God is talking about when He said there was a time when God winked at ignorance - “but now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30). If we are in a room without a light, there is no way to know where the wall is . . . well, in a world before God’s Word was revealed to mankind, they did not know where the walls were - they did not know where the fences were - so they had somewhat of an EXCUSE.

But today we have the Bible . . . now not everyone OPENS the Bible - so when I say “if we do not have the Word,” I do not mean that it is not available to us . . . I mean we are not using it . . . and if we do not use God’s Word - if we do not turn the light on - the result will be that we will be among those who start drawing their OWN lines. We will be a person who builds his own fences, and draws these lines and builds these walls wherever we have decided is best . . . and then righteousness all of a sudden turns into whatever seems right to ME . . . and human nature being what it is - my definition of righteousness is right, and yours is wrong.

Now football season has started, and almost everybody has been to a football game or at least seen one on television. You look at that field and it is covered with white lines - white lines everywhere. There is the sideline, there is the end zone, there is the fifty yard line . . . now those lines are not actually the GAME . . . but the team out on that field cannot play the game without them. They depend on those lines, because the lines tell everybody where the game is being played. On the other side of that line - out of bounds, that does not count . . . that is the scrimmage line - move too soon and there is a penalty.

And notice - nobody called those players out of the huddle and said, “Now where do you think the line ought to be drawn?” Not a single player on that field had any part in drawing the lines anywhere. The lines were laid down - chalk or paint, however they do it - out of a rule book that was written when every player out there today was probably still in diapers.

Well, God’s Word is the rule book of LIFE. You have heard the question, what is the meaning of life . . . it is in the Book. Every boundary of a righteous life - what is holy, what is actual sin, what pleases God and what grieves God - all of these lines, all of these fences, were laid down in the Bible long before you and I were ever born . . . and the lines I am talking about, the rules of life - they are STILL in the Book, whether we open the Book to read it or not, and whether we agree with the rule or not. The rules of life are still there.

God’s Word is what draws the line.

The Spirit Is What Makes the Line Real

Now the Spirit of God - that we so often underestimate - is what makes the line REAL in our lives. The Holy Spirit is what takes the rule, the commandment, off of the paper and puts it into our HEART.

Bro. Ken mentioned this in his Sunday School lesson this morning . . . and you would think the same Holy Spirit is leading in a service, would you not? There is something that those of us who have been in church practically forever need to be reminded of - and Bro. Ken said almost exactly this. A person can read the Bible his entire life. He can memorize whole chapters. He can attend church for fifty years. He can quote scripture after scripture to his friends and his relatives . . . and still not understand a SINGLE word that he is quoting.

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” - John 14:26 (KJV)

That word Comforter literally means one who is called alongside to help. “HE shall teach you.” Our education is not what teaches us what is in this Book. Our years on the pew are not what teach us the meaning of the scriptures . . . and we do not learn what the Bible means because we are SMART . . . it is ONLY because the Holy Spirit teaches us - that we know anything at all about the Bible.

Now the Word of God is like the definition - while the Spirit is like the explanation, how that definition applies to our lives. The Word is like the fence. Think about the Garden of Eden, the most classic example we have - all these trees in the garden, but God built a fence around the one in the middle. Do not cross the fence, do not touch that tree, or you are going to die. God’s Word tells us where the fence is . . . and the Spirit is like the warning light that comes on when we get too close. You know why they call it barbed wire? Because there are little pokey things on the wire. The Holy Spirit is like the barbs on the wire that prick us when we get closer than we need to be.

That is why two people - and I have seen this a million times - two people can sit under the same sermon, and one of them nods off to sleep, and the other one says, “Preacher, I think that is the best sermon I ever heard.” Two people sit in the same pew, hear the same sermon, read the same text - one of them leaves the building cut to the heart . . . and the other one walks out the door wondering what we are having for dinner, and whether the Mexican place has a special today. The Word is not what failed that person thinking about dinner. That second person just was not in any shape to hear what the Spirit was trying to say. What do you think the Bible means when it says, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith” (Revelation 2:7)?

Now Summer and I have a 2013 Expedition, and we both love that car, but it has a few issues - and I do not have a clue why that engine light keeps coming on . . . well, I do know it is missing on cylinder number five . . . everybody tells us that, but nobody can fix it.

Every vehicle that rolls off the assembly line comes with an owner’s manual in the glove box. That manual says what kind of oil to use, it recommends the tire pressure, and it explains what all those lights on the dash are for . . . and every single word in that owner’s manual is TRUE. I have looked at the manual for that Expedition - every word in there is true - but there is a whole lot of that truth that I do not understand. Most of us have read at least part of an owner’s manual, and we still have no idea what is wrong when that engine light comes on, or when that funny noise under the hood starts up.

So what do we do? We call the mechanic . . . and the mechanic takes the very same information we read in the manual ourselves, and he applies the truth in that manual to OUR vehicle - “I know exactly why it is making that noise.”

Well, the Word of God is the manual . . . and the Holy Spirit is the Master Mechanic. The Holy Spirit takes what is already written down in the Book - every word of it true - and He applies that truth to OUR life, to OUR particular struggle, and to OUR particular week. Without the manual, the mechanic has nothing to apply . . . and without the mechanic, the manual - the rule book of life - so often just stays in the glove box, closed and unused.

“Oh, I will open it up . . . I just do not understand it. Preacher, I just do not understand the Bible.” Well, no - and we are never going to understand it with that attitude. Who did John tell us teaches us? HE shall teach you . . . and to be taught, we have to humble ourselves before someone else . . . that is one of the big problems in public education right now - the students will not humble themselves before anybody . . . but that is another lesson. We are committing a grave mistake when we refuse to let the Holy Spirit teach us.

Now understand this - the Spirit of God never says one single thing that the Bible does not already say. The Holy Spirit does not add a new PAGE to God’s Word. There is not a human on this planet who can rightfully claim that God has given him a new revelation that he is now supposed to spread around . . . it does not work that way. There is not a single thing the Holy Spirit teaches us or lays on our heart that has not already been written down in the Book.

When was the last time a verse we had read a hundred times before suddenly had OUR name on it? That was not the page changing. That was not the Word changing. That was the Mechanic teaching us what the manual means.

The Homemade Ruler

Now the next obvious question is - what happens to the person who reads the manual but never calls the mechanic?

Well, it would be like me and that Expedition. I know if I call the mechanic, he is going to want a bunch of money . . . it is going to COST me to listen to the mechanic. “Well, preacher, I do not want to give up my lifestyle. I know I need to join the church, I know I need to do whatever . . . but I am just not willing to give up the things I enjoy in this life.” Well, then we are going to be just like ME - driving an old vehicle with that light coming on every once in a while, thinking, I hope it gets me where I am going, but I have my cell phone, I can call Kenneth if it leaves me afoot . . . that is not the proper way to run our lives. For spiritual problems - we may have the preacher’s number in our phone - “if I get in trouble I will just call the preacher, he will tell me what to do and he will not charge me a dime” - but that is not the right attitude to have toward spiritual things in our lives.

So what happens to a man who reads the manual but never calls the mechanic? Paul tells us . . . and the undercurrent of this whole passage is that what SEEMS right just does not count.

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” - Romans 10:1-3 (KJV)

To establish - that is to set up, to build . . . now these people were RELIGIOUS. They were sincere, hardworking, and on fire for the Lord - Paul says plainly they had a zeal of God. They were not hypocrites . . . every one of them believed with all his heart that he was right with God - but they were building on the wrong foundation, because they were measuring righteousness by their OWN standard instead of by God’s standard. Once again - what seems right is not the same as what really IS right.

And that brought a picture to my mind of a carpenter . . . now a good carpenter can build really detailed cabinets, all this complicated work, and make it look really good - you cannot even see the crack between the joints . . . so you would think a carpenter who can do all that ornate work could make a RULER, wouldn’t you? They want thirty dollars for a tape measure down at Lowe’s . . . you just make me one, I know you can make it cheaper.

Well, picture this carpenter making his own ruler. He decides an inch is whatever seems right to him. He marks off little notches on a stick, puts marks on a piece of tape, however he does it - and he uses it to measure everything in the shop . . . and he is proud of himself, so he gives you one of the tape measures he made his own self. Every board he cuts measures exactly right by HIS ruler . . . and then you go out and put the house together, and nothing lines up. “Preacher, I did what you told me to do - how come my life is falling apart?”

Now the Bible talks about false teachers and false prophets. These are preachers and teachers who make their own rulers - and the Bible says they make MERCHANDISE of people. The reason they hand a man the ruler they made themselves is that he is going to give them the money instead of spending it at Lowe’s. They are greedy. They want what you have to give them - more than they want to give you the TRUTH.

So you put a house together with boards cut by a homemade ruler and nothing works - but according to the ruler we used, every single thing was perfect. The fact is, the RULER was the problem . . . and man’s homemade righteousness is that ruler . . . “what seems right to me.” It feels right, and it looks right to everybody around us who is using the same kind of ruler. “I am not going to church today, I am going to the ball game - and that must be okay, because half the church I normally go with is at the ball game with me.” We are all using the same measuring stick . . . that does not make it RIGHT.

On the day we stand before God, whose Word actually is the standard, nothing about our life is going to line up with the scriptures . . . so if we are going to live a Christian life instead of a hypocritical one, then God’s Word has to be the RULER we use - and the Spirit of God has to be the One who checks on how we are READING that ruler.

Have you ever worked with somebody with the saws going, and you ask, “How long do I need to cut this board?” - and they say, “Fourteen inches and three little marks.” Are you serious? You are in a carpenter shop running saws and you say three little marks? You can expect to make several miscuts . . . well, that is what the Holy Spirit does when I say He checks how we are reading the Book . . . He does not accept fourteen and three little marks. A man who reads the Bible through his own filter - filtering out whatever he wants to filter out - is going to build a righteousness that fits his life perfectly, and then turn around and call it God’s righteousness.

It reminded me of the little fairy tale about Goldilocks. She went in and tried the chairs - this one is too big, this one is too little, and this one here is just right . . . well, what God says over here, that is just too harsh, too narrow . . . what God says over there, I just do not agree with that . . . so I will come up with something that is just right. It fits me to a tee. I was uncomfortable in daddy’s chair, and I was uncomfortable in the baby chair, but this one is JUST RIGHT.

God’s Word tells us where the line is - God’s Spirit tells us how close we are to it.

By Faith - Not by Feelings

Now hold that yellow flashing light at the intersection in the back of your mind - we will get there in a minute - but first, faith. We live by FAITH, not by feelings. Who cares if it feels just right? If this bowl of soup is too hot and that bowl of soup is too cold, who cares if you pick the one that is just right? That is what hypocrites do . . . that is exactly what Paul was talking about when he said they had a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” - Romans 1:17 (KJV)

From faith TO faith. There are actually two different kinds of faith in the life of someone living a Christian life - and to be a Christian we really need both of them. The first faith, obviously, is what brought us to Christ. We believed the WORD. We believed Jesus when He said we are all sinners in need of salvation - so we trusted in Jesus, and we put our faith in Him to save our souls . . . that is saving faith.

The second faith is the faith we use every day AFTER we exercised that saving faith. We believe what the Book says about how to live. We believe what God tells us to chase after and what to avoid. We believe what the Bible says about how to treat that neighbor across the road who annoys us . . . and we arrange our lives by what God says . . . that is living by faith - or that is the kind of faith we live BY.

The just shall live by faith - not by feelings, not by what seems right . . . and I suppose this is more of a burden for school-age folks than it is for grownups . . . not by what the popular crowd is doing. By FAITH - trusting that what God wrote in His Bible is the truth, even on the day when His Word goes against everything our flesh wants . . . it is like Goldilocks again. “Preacher, that commandment is just too hard - that one is too cold. I am looking for something just right. What do y’all have at your church for the youth? What do y’all have for this group or that group?” If that is our attitude, we are just looking for something that is just right . . . we are not looking for the TRUTH.

Because a Christian who quits living by faith does not quit living. He just starts living by his FEELINGS . . . and every single time, feelings will drift toward whatever is easiest, whatever is the most comfortable, or whatever costs the least.

The Flashing Yellow Light

Now I am watching the clock, and we are about out of time - so I will find a way to fit the rest of this into a later service - but I did mention the yellow light, so let me say this much.

What does a flashing yellow light above an intersection mean? Does it mean stop? No . . . it just means we need to be particularly aware, because there may be something here that could turn into something we did not expect.

Well, when we go through life - especially when we pick up our phones and start scrolling through Facebook or whatever - I have never once seen a blaring red light flash up and say, you just do not need to do this - but Facebook and Instagram are FULL of flashing yellow lights. Am I the only one? “Oh, this looks kind of interesting . . . oh. Oh, I do not need to go there. Okay - do not need to go there.” Those are yellow flashing lights, folks . . . and when we just drive right on through and ignore them, we are making a big mistake . . . and they do not just exist on the phone. They exist all through life.

The whole point of the yellow flashing light is that it is like the barbs on the barbed wire . . . that is God’s Holy Spirit saying, “Now I know there is not a thus saith the Lord, and there is not a thou shalt not - but you are getting close to a line here, and if you are not careful, somebody is going to come barreling through the other side of that intersection. Slow down and be cautious.” To ignore that is to ignore the PROTECTION God is trying to give us through His Spirit.

Please consider what you heard this morning.

Scripture Used

John 1:4-5 · John 14:26 · Romans 10:1-3 · Romans 1:17 · Acts 17:30 · Revelation 2:7 (all KJV)

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Every lesson is kept on the Lessons page.

Do I Change God's Mind?

The Bible says God does not repent . . . and then it also says that God repented . . . both are true, and here is how.

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A note on the Scripture in this study: every verse is printed WHOLE. The words set in ordinary type are the ones this lesson leans on and emphasizes . . . the words in italics are the rest of the verse, printed so that nothing is ever handed to you as a fragment with the remainder missing.

Part Two said that God APPOINTED the asking . . . and the minute a man believes that, a hard question walks in right behind it.

If my asking makes a difference . . . then did I move God? Did I talk Him into something? And if I did – what kind of God is it that can be talked into things?

Now this is not a made-up problem . . . it comes straight out of the Bible, because the Bible says both of these things and does not apologize for either one.

Numbers 23:19 — “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”

Exodus 32:14 — “And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”

God does not repent & then God did repent. Same Bible, and both of them written by Moses.

So we have got to work this out, and we are going to work it out the way we work anything out – by letting the Bible define its own word.

FIRST — THE WORD ITSELF

The word behind repented in our Old Testament is NACHAM. And it does not mean what our word repent means when we use it about ourselves.

When we say a man repented, we mean he was wrong and he turned around . . . that is not what nacham says. Nacham means to be moved deeply . . . to sigh . . . to grieve . . . and out of that (because of that), to turn from a course...

It is a word about feeling and about turning . . . it is NOT a word about being mistaken.

And that matters, because every time somebody uses Exodus 32 to argue that God got it wrong and had to be corrected, they are reading our English word back into a Hebrew word that never carried it.

SECOND — LOOK AT WHERE IT NEVER MOVES

Now let us put down the things that DO NOT CHANGE, because they are the fixed points and everything else has to fit around them.

Malachi 3:6 — “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”

James 1:17 — “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

1 Samuel 15:29 — “And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent.”

No variableness. Neither shadow of turning. God's CHARACTER does not move. His purpose does not move. His promises do not move . . . and notice the mercy hidden in Malachi – it is BECAUSE He does not change that we are not consumed. If God could change His mind about us, none of us would be safe for an hour.

THIRD — THEN WHAT DID MOVE?

So go back to Exodus 32 and read the whole thing, because the answer is sitting right there in the text and most of us have never slowed down enough to see it.

Israel is at the foot of the mountain with a golden calf. God speaks to Moses:

Exodus 32:10 — “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.”

Let me alone. Now stop right there . . . why would God say that? A man does not say let me alone to somebody who is not holding onto him. God is telling Moses to turn loose – which is the same as telling him that he is holding on, and that the holding on matters.

That is not the language of a mind ALREADY SHUT . . . that is an invitation, dressed up as a warning.

And Moses does not turn loose. He argues – and look at what he argues with:

Exodus 32:13 — “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.”

Moses does not say the people deserve better. He knows better than that – he is the one who came down the mountain and saw the calf. Moses pleads God's own promise back to God.

And then:

Exodus 32:14 — “And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”

So what moved? Not God's character . . . not God's purpose . . . and certainly not God's promise, since the promise is the very thing Moses stood on. What moved was the standing of the people – and it moved because God had appointed a man to stand in the gap, and the man stood there.

✍️ AUTHOR'S NOTE

I once pastored a dying church – I labored – I prayed – I witnessed – but to no avail… The community would simply not move… finally the church died – the members dispersed – the building was sold… and now nothing remains. I cannot explain with a WHY… In regard to our next example – the rope was real – the rock was real – but the boat never moved… — C.T.

THE BOAT AND THE ROCK

Here is the picture that finally settled this one for me.

A man in a rowboat throws a rope around a big rock on the bank and pulls . . . the boat comes in to the rock. Now – did the rock move?

Of course it didn’t . . . the rock never budged an inch . . . but everything about that man's position changed, and it changed because HE PULLED.

And here is the part that matters the most: who put the rock there, and who gave him the rope? God did. God set the rock, God gave the rope, and God told him to pull . . . so when the boat comes in, nobody says the rock was moved . . . and nobody says the pulling did not matter, either.

God is the rock. Prayer is the rope . . . and when we pray, we do not drag God over to where we are . . . we come to where He has been standing the whole time.

Simple truth: God does not move . . . the boat moves . . . and God appointed the rope.

FOURTH — GOD TOLD US THIS IS HOW HE WORKS

And this is not something we figured out and set on top of the text. God laid the rule down Himself, in Jeremiah, and once you see it - you will see it everywhere:

Jeremiah 18:7 — “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;”

Jeremiah 18:8 — “If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.”

There it is in writing, ahead of time. God says that when He pronounces judgment on a nation, and that nation turns – He turns too. That is not God changing His mind . . . that is God keeping a rule He published in advance.

A warning is not A FORECAST . . . a warning is a door.

Nineveh is the test case

Jonah walks through the city and preaches eight words:

Jonah 3:4 — “And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”

Forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Flat. No conditions attached…

Jonah 3:10 — “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”

And Jonah was angry about it, and we know exactly why. He had preached destruction and it did not come – and he was afraid he would look like a fool. But God had never been anything other than consistent. He does what Jeremiah 18 says He does, EVERY TIME...

And Hezekiah

Same thing with a man instead of a city. Isaiah walks in and hands a king a death sentence:

Isaiah 38:1 — “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.”

Thou shalt die, and not live. And Hezekiah turns his face to the wall and prays and weeps – and before Isaiah has gotten out of the middle court, God sends him back with this:

Isaiah 38:5 — “Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.”

I have heard thy prayer. I have seen thy tears. God did not say Isaiah misheard Me. God said I heard YOU.

📖 FROM THE PULPIT

Well – I suppose that every preacher who has been called to a church in answer to prayer – and then a few years later – is burdened in his heart to leave that church which before had been an answer to his prayers - experiences a sort of “reversal” – or a change in a direction that he had been praying to be secure… But as a servant – God does not promise to keep us in our comfort zone – He promises to strengthen us in times of trial – when we are led to step OUT of that comfort zone… Nothing about service to God – is one and done – but EVERYTHING about service to God is a daily sacrifice… — C.T.

NOW LET ME GUARD THIS

Two things to be careful of, and I want to name them both.

Do not go away thinking you can talk God into anything. You cannot. God is not weighing our arguments to see if we make a good case. Moses did not win because his reasoning was clever – Moses won because he stood on a promise God had ALREADY made . . . there is no leverage on God anywhere except the things God has already said.

And do not go away thinking your praying is pointless because God does not change. That is the OTHER ditch, and it is the one most of our people are actually in. God said let me alone. God said I have heard thy prayer. God published the rule in Jeremiah 18 so we would know how He works. He has gone out of His way to tell us that the pulling matters.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

So - do I change God's mind? No. And thank God for that – because a God who could be talked out of His promises could be talked out of the ones He made to us.

But does my praying CHANGE anything? It surely does . . . it changes where the boat is sitting . . . and God is the one who tied the rope to it.

God is not a man that He should repent. And He appointed men to stand in the gap . . . both of those are His doing.

TRY IT THIS WEEK

Pray Moses' prayer this week – and by that I mean pray a promise back to God.

Find something God has said in His word about the thing you are carrying . . . then take that verse to Him and say it back . . . not to remind Him – He has not forgotten. Say it back because that is the only ground there has ever been to stand on . . . and it is ground He put there Himself.

For example – God has promised to NEVER leave us nor to forsake us… So – when you are in a valley – when you are tempted to believe that God may have forsaken you – pray that He will give you the wisdom to see the lies that Satan is placing before you – and the understanding to realize that a single set of footprints in the sand does not mean what it looks like – He has not forsaken you – but He is carrying you…

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NEXT — Part Four: When the Answer Is No. Paul asked three times and God said no three times . . . this is the hardest part in the study and the one most of us need worst, and it is not answered with a tidy verse.