The Advocate and the Obedience Test

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday evening service, October 25, 2026 1-2-3 John · Unit 3 · 1 John 2:1-6

► Watch this lesson on video (37:47)

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Jesus Pleads Our Case — So We Walk the Way Jesus Walked

Sunday evening • I, II & III John, Unit 3 • 1 John 2:1-6 • Romans 8:34 • Isaiah 53:6 • Revelation 13:8 • John 14:15 • 1 Peter 2:21 • John 13:15

This is the lesson the way it was preached on Sunday evening - near word for word. The “uh”s and the starts-over are taken out; the sentences are left the way they were said. Bible verses are printed exactly as they read in the King James. Anything marked GOING DEEPER was NOT preached on Sunday evening - it is extra study for anyone who wants to dig further.

All right. Our text this evening is 1 John 2, verses 1 through 6. And if we have time, we’re also going to look at Romans chapter 8 and the Gospel of John 14. So those will be our three primary things we’ll look at: 1 John 2:1-6, Romans 8:34, and the Gospel of John 14, verse 15.

Does it really matter if I sin?

Now, previously we learned that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Now, once again, to confess doesn’t mean to list all of our sins that we’ve committed. First of all, there’s no way we can do that, because we sin in ways that we don’t even realize. And secondly, that’s not what this is talking about at all. It’s talking about agreeing with God that we have sinned and that we are a sinner. Now, you compare that with, “I’m practically perfect. I’m this Pharisee, been in church half my life, and I may make a mistake every once in a while, but for the most part, I’m a good guy.” That ain’t confessing anything, and it is not agreeing with God that we are a sinner.

Well, if God’s going to always forgive us if we just admit our guilt, then does it really matter that I do sin? Because I mean, I’m going to get forgiven anyway. Well, John addresses this. 1 John 2, let’s look at verses 1 through 6. And we just asked, well, if I’m going to get forgiven anyway, what’s the big deal even if I do sin?

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.” - 1 John 2:1a (KJV)

Not so you’re going to live perfect lives, but so that you can avoid some of the pitfalls that Satan puts out in front of you. That’s what he’s talking about here. Not so we’ll live perfectly, but so that we can see the traps ahead of time and avoid them.

“And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” - 1 John 2:1b (KJV)

We’re going to talk about that word advocate here in just a second.

“And he is the propitiation for our sins:” - 1 John 2:2a (KJV)

We never use that word. It means the satisfaction. Okay? Propitiation means satisfaction. Jesus has satisfied God regarding the payment for our sins. That’s what that means.

“. . . and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” - 1 John 2:2b-3 (KJV)

Okay, just a guard I want to throw up here. I suppose there is an application here to “we can know that we’re saved if” - but the main gist of this passage here is not so that we will know we’ve been saved. The point is we will know if we are in fellowship with the God that saved us. We are in fellowship with God if we guard and protect the things that are important to God. We’re not in fellowship with God if we guard and protect the things that are important to me, and we let the things that are important to God slide. Remember - bring glory to God by putting God where He rightfully belongs, instead of leaving Him out in the weather so we can take care of other things that are more important to us.

And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.

“He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” - 1 John 2:4 (KJV)

He that saith, I know Him - I’m in good fellowship with Him - and keepeth not His commandments - what does God say about that? That man is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

“But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” - 1 John 2:5-6 (KJV)

And we’re going to talk about that word perfected here in just a second.

So there’s two things that we find here in this verse. First of all, John’s writing this so that we can avoid sin. Now, not live perfect lives, but to avoid certain traps that Satan puts out in front of us. And he says, now, if we fail to see those traps and get caught up in sin, we have an advocate.

We have an advocate

An advocate is somebody that’s on our side. So Jesus pleads our case. This is the one point to the sermon this evening: Jesus is there pleading our case. Okay? It’s a courtroom scene. That’s the idea here. God is judge. We are brought in as being guilty. And Jesus is our lawyer. He’s pleading our case.

JESUS PLEADS OUR CASE — SO WE WALK THE WAY JESUS WALKED.

Jesus pleads our case. So it stands to reason that we should walk the same way that Jesus walked.

Now, an advocate is a person who stands beside us, like in court, and speaks to the judge for us, just like a lawyer would. And this is not something that we have to wait to receive later. We currently, at the present time, have an advocate in heaven. Right now, Jesus is our go-between. This preacher’s guilt is right here. God is judge here. And Jesus keeps edging in between the judge and my guilt. The point is, Jesus is going to take the guilt so that I won’t have to.

So who is our advocate? We just answered that. It is, according to the scripture, Jesus Christ the righteous. He’s the only human - now you say, “Well, I thought He was God.” God-man. He was God in a human body. He was the only man who never sinned. And this is why God hears Jesus when Jesus pleads our case.

Now think about the lawyer who is the son of the judge in the courtroom. Now that’s the setup here. The judge knows the lawyer. The lawyer is his son. He trusts him. And it just so happens in this courtroom that this lawyer, which is the judge’s son - he’s just like Perry Mason. He’s never lost a single case.

Let’s look at Romans chapter 8, verse 34. Now Christ is at God’s right hand, pleading on our behalf. And now think about this, okay? You got the prosecuting attorney - however you want to visualize that - who’s arguing against our advocate. Who can outargue the man who died to pay our penalty for us? There’s no outarguing that type of testimony, if you will.

“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” - Romans 8:34 (KJV)

If Jesus has paid our sin debt, then there’s not anyone left to condemn us.

The payment that satisfied the judge

Now, 1 John 2 and verse 2 - we mentioned the word propitiation a moment ago. Propitiation is equal to the payment that satisfied God’s justice. I rob a bank. I get caught. I’m standing before the judge, and the law says that there is a sentence that must be paid for robbing a bank. Well, the lawyer steps in, and he gives the judge something that satisfies that sentence. The lawyer says, “Well, this preacher is a pretty good old bird. I’ll tell you what - I’ll go to prison for him. You set the preacher free, and I’ll take his prison sentence. I’ll go in his place.” That’s what this means. That’s what’s required to satisfy the judge’s justice.

The cross paid what our sin owed, and God is satisfied with Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross. Now Isaiah described it this way. Isaiah 53 and verse 6 - this is in the neighborhood of 700 years before the cross ever happened. And this is what Isaiah saw. And this is the way he’s describing what it took to satisfy the judgment:

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” - Isaiah 53:6 (KJV)

And the Bible doesn’t say that we’re not guilty. The Bible is describing here how Jesus took our guilt on Him so that we could escape the penalty - so that we would not have to pay, even though we were guilty.

Now he says here that the payment is enough not only to pay the sin debt of this preacher, but the payment is enough for the whole world. And it is applied to our personal account when we receive Jesus by faith - accept Him in our heart as our personal Savior.

My busted knee

You know, when I was in the seventh grade, I busted my knee up trying to play football at school. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t fix my knee. I couldn’t pay the doctor to fix it. I couldn’t pay the hospital bill. Someone else had to take care of my injury. All right. Now the idea here is, I was like a 13-year-old kid. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t fix what I knew was wrong with me. Somebody else did everything for me.

Well, the tie-back to what we’re talking about here is, before I was ever even hurt - all right, before I ever went out on that practice field and got injured - the doctor had already been trained. The hospital had already been built. Sparks Hospital in Fort Smith had been there for years. Everything required for my complete and total recovery was already done.

Now, Revelation 13 and 8 - I’m just going to read part of this scripture. Does this sound familiar? Talking about Jesus as a “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

“. . . the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” - Revelation 13:8 (KJV)

This preacher’s salvation was not an afterthought. It was something that was planned before the world was ever even spoken into existence.

Sin is a stain that we are not able to remove from our soul. Don’t matter how hard we scrub, we’re never going to get the stain of sin off of our soul. It requires a payment that we’re just not able to afford. It requires a sentence, or a punishment, that lasts forever. “Okay, preacher, I’m going to make you pay for your practice of sin.” You know how long I would spend paying for the sins that I’ve committed? And I’ve never robbed a bank. I’ve never killed anybody. I’ve never said too many dirty words. I mean, I’ve never done anything really that bad. But even so, I would be in prison forever and forever and forever and forever. And even at that, the price would never be paid.

You know, so we come to this realization - when the Holy Spirit convicts our hearts of sin, when we’re lost and we understand, we come to that realization that we’re lost and undone and we’re helpless - then we hear the gospel. The gospel is the good news. The good news that everything needed for our complete recovery has already been done.

Now, I was in the hospital for like a week. All right, it was a big deal. Three hundred and something stitches. Okay, it was messed up pretty bad. I didn’t have to wake up out of my anesthesia and guide the doctor and tell him what he needed to do and how to fix it and all that kind of stuff. People, we don’t need to tell God - advise God - how to save our souls. We don’t need to try to live and do right and help Him keep us saved. When I was under the anesthesia, I had no idea what was going on, and I had nothing to do with what the doctor did to fix my knee.

When we’re under conviction in regard to the salvation of our souls, the only part we play is - we decide to go to the doctor. We check into the hospital. All right? And we just let God take care of everything else. It would have been a little foolish for a 13-year-old kid to go into the hospital and start trying to dictate - well, this needs to be done, that needs to be done, you need to do it this way, you need to do it that way. Well, it’s equally as foolish when we’re under conviction and we go to God and try to start dictating to Him what’s best for our lives and how best to save our soul. It’s not the way it works.

How we know that we know Him

1 John 2:3. Now we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. This is not saying that we maintain our salvation if we keep the rules on this list of good behavior.

“And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” - 1 John 2:3 (KJV)

Now the way to know that we really do know Him - it’s not a feeling. Feelings change. Feelings can be affected by emotions and everything else. But we know because of something we can see.

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” - John 14:15 (KJV)

That’s not saying, “Now, preacher, if you love me, you’ll take a look at the Ten Commandments and you’ll keep all ten of them.” That’s not what that’s saying at all. He’s saying, “Preacher, if you really do love me, your behavior will reflect the pattern that we see in the life of Jesus” - you know, love, compassion, obedience, humility. “If you really do love me, you’ll guard the things that are important to me.” God says, “If you really do love me, you’ll watch over the things in your life that are important to me” - just like a watchman who sounds a warning when the enemy is seen.

To keep His commandments - it’s not talking at all about living a perfect life. It’s not talking at all about keeping a list of rules. Remember, we mentioned this morning that we give God glory by putting God in His rightful place. Well, this is talking about - if you really do love me, then you’ll take God out of the weather and you’ll put Him in a place of honor in your life. All right?

Specifically - “Well, there’s not much difference between this church and that church. After all, we’re all going to the same place, and it doesn’t matter as long as you’re sincere.” It does matter. Okay? It does matter. And to keep His commandments - what do you think that’s really talking about? Specifically, it’s talking about: if you love me, you will guard my commandments of New Testament worship. Now, that’s what it’s talking about. That’s not the way it’s taught most often, but that’s exactly what it’s talking about.

John 14 and 15 teaches us that love for Jesus shows up in the fact that we keep what He said. Now again, not follow this list of rules, but protect what was important to Jesus.

Now to know Him - again, I mentioned a moment ago, we could make the case in a lesson or two that this could be talking about our salvation. We could get there from here. But that’s not the only application to this scripture. I think the main idea here is that we can know that we’re in fellowship with Jesus after we have been saved. How? By recognizing that the same things that were important to Jesus are also important to us. If the things that were important to Jesus are not very important to us, we are not in fellowship with the God that saved our souls. All right? And we’re in serious need of repentance - changing direction.

Notice First John chapter 2 and verse 4. You know, the man who says that he knows God, but never intends to guard or obey the truth - that man is a liar. And he could be walking right beside Demas - he’s out of fellowship. Which brings up a good question: is the word of God the most important thing in our lives?

First John 2:4 - where’s it at? Oh, mercy, I’ve lost it. Well, I’ll just be. I said I was supposed to read it, and I wrote everything before it and everything after it. Let me see if I can find it here in my Bible. I’m a preacher - I should be able to find something in the Bible. You know, First John - there we go. First John chapter 2, verse 4:

“He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” - 1 John 2:4 (KJV)

Now, it’s not saying we can say that we know Him and keep not His commandments. It’s not saying we’re lost if we don’t keep those commandments. It’s saying that we’re claiming to have a fellowship that we do not have.

GOING DEEPER · VERSE 4 — WHO IS THE LIAR?

Not preached on Sunday evening - extra study.

Keeping God’s commandments is not how we GET saved or STAY saved - it is how we SHOW whose child we are. Verse 4 is the claim the false teachers were making - religious, but not Christian - it is not talking about the child of God who stumbles. Verse 1 already took care of that one: “if any man sin, we have an advocate.” When a child of God stumbles, that doesn’t mean that he stops being saved - but it does mean he has stopped minding his heavenly Father. And Demas is the picture of a man out of fellowship:

“For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica;” - 2 Timothy 4:10a (KJV)

Two renters, one landlord

Think about this example. I thought this was a pretty good example. You got two renters. Let’s say they’re renting a duplex, and there’s one owner. Okay - Kenneth owns the duplex, and I’m renting one side and Paul Lee is renting the other.

Well, one of us as renters - we keep the place up. Not perfect, but Paul Lee calls when there’s a leak in the roof, and he pays his rent on time every month. But I’m the other renter, and I’m all the time bragging about how buddy-buddy me and Kenneth are. I rarely pay my rent on time. I never mow my yard.

Well, which one of us is really in fellowship with the landlord? Which one of us really knows what’s important to the landlord? Now again, I want to stress the fact here - Paul Lee and I are both renters. But one of us has a better fellowship with the landlord than the other, because one of us has a much better attitude than the other.

First John 2:5:

“But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.” - 1 John 2:5 (KJV)

And I want us to notice that word perfected. Hereby - or this is how - we know that we are in Him. In him verily, or truly, the love of God is perfected. Now what this is - this is God’s love doing exactly what that love has entered into our lives to do.

You see, Jesus pleads our case. So we really should walk the way that Jesus walked. We really should use Him as our example.

Is there a commandment - just think about the Ten Commandments, we’re familiar - is there one of the Ten Commandments that we’ve just given up on, and we don’t even try to keep that commandment anymore? What about God’s commandment to keep New Testament worship pure? Is there some teaching, some doctrine in the church that - well, what difference does it make? We’ve just kind of given up trying to guard and protect.

GOING DEEPER · “PERFECTED”

Not preached on Sunday evening - extra study. (I said from the pulpit I would come back to this word and could not put my hands on my notes.)

“In him verily is the love of God perfected.” That word perfected does not mean that the man who keeps God’s word has become a perfect man. It means that God’s love has reached its goal in his life - it is doing what that love came to do. God’s love did not come into our lives just to sit there. It came to change the direction we walk. And when we guard what is important to God, that’s the love of God getting the job done that it came to do.

Walk the way Jesus walked

Let’s look at verse 6. 1 John 2:6. If we say we abide in Him, then:

“He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” - 1 John 2:6 (KJV)

Now if we live with Jesus - if we are in fellowship with Jesus - then we ought to live our life after the same pattern that Jesus lived His life. Not sinless, but in the same direction.

The word ought - now, the way we use it: “Well, I really ought to mow my yard.” Now, what does that mean? Well, I probably should, but it’s no big deal, because I’m probably not going to. All right. But the way it’s used here, the word ought is referring to something we owe. It’s like, he that saith he abideth in Him owes God - oh, how do I want to phrase this - well, he has a debt to pattern his life after the pattern that Jesus lived His life. If that makes any sense.

You see, now when I’m talking about our pattern of life - the pattern that we are supposed to follow if we live a Christian life is not following a list of rules. But the pattern that it’s referring to here is a Person. Now, what person do you suppose we should pattern our lives after?

Well, how did Jesus treat people, even when people didn’t treat Him very well? What kind of prayers do we find that Jesus prayed in the Bible? What kind of service did Jesus offer in the Bible? Was He always trying to do stuff for self? Was He trying to get a better job? Was He trying to build a bigger bank account? Was He trying to build a big fancy temple?

Well, so how did Jesus pattern His life? Well, He loved those who didn’t love Him in return. He had compassion for those that despitefully used Him. And He was literally willing to die on the cross for people that were openly hostile to Him. Well, now it’s not possible for us to follow that to the nth degree. But can you see that the life of a Christian is pointed in that direction? And that’s the idea here.

Specifically, 1 Peter 2:21:

“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:” - 1 Peter 2:21 (KJV)

For even hereunto were ye called - now this is what you’re supposed to do. That’s the idea here. This is your mission. This is your responsibility. Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example - and what are we supposed to do with the example? - that we should follow His steps. Not that we should perform a list that Jesus performed, but so that the direction of our lives will be pointed in the same direction that Jesus’s life was pointed.

Good example here. You get a daddy that takes big old long steps, and his child is behind him trying to stretch out those little old legs and step in daddy’s footprints. Well, is he ever going to manage to do that? No. Okay. But one thing a child can do - he can go in the same direction that his daddy’s going, even if he’s not able to put his feet in the same footsteps that his daddy makes. That’s the idea here about patterning our life after Jesus. We’ll never be able to match His footsteps, but we can go in the same direction.

Oh, let’s see here. I was wanting to - “in him is the love of God perfected.” Well, I cannot find my notes on that word perfected. I’m going to take a stab at it, though. In him was the love of God perfected. What this means is that if we fail to realize that - well, I’m just not going to do - I’ll have to regroup and pull out my notes so I can do that scripture justice. Okay. I apologize for that. We’ll get to it at a later time. I thought I could pull it out of my mind palace, but I’m not going to be able to.

Okay. John 13:15:

“For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” - John 13:15 (KJV)

What kind of an example do we live before those around us? You know, for those with kids, it’s pretty hard for mom and daddy to fool their own children. Children pretty much see the real deal. And that’s not to say that every child that grows up and lives a life less than what their parents would like for them to live, in regard to church attendance and spiritual health - that’s not saying at all that that child saw something at home that wasn’t straight.

My point is, it’s hard enough for any of us to stay on the straight and narrow. It’s kind of hard for this preacher, and I’m like pushing 70. When I was 13, 14, 15 years old, it was really hard. My point is, as parents, we’re in a unique position to be a positive example to our own children, or a negative example to our own children. Now, children pretty much make their own choices and do what they want to do. But the idea is, as a parent we should take full advantage of the opportunity that we have to be a good example, so that our children will never be able to use us as an excuse for not walking the straight and narrow.

GOING DEEPER · TWO MEN, THREE CHILDREN EACH

Not preached on Sunday evening - extra study.

Let’s look at the lives of two different men. Each man had three children - both men were in church - both men said all the right things. The children in each family grew up and had children of their own. Now, it does not matter what you and I see in another man’s life. We are not our brother’s judge - but that rarely keeps us from passing judgment. What I want us to look at is the PATTERN that our families see in our lives. The eyes of our children see what is really there.

Man number one - his three children grow up in church, stay in church, and continue the family worship tradition. What kind of pattern do you suppose those children saw in their parents at home when no one else was watching?

Man number two - his three children grow up, but they rarely attend church. The family worship tradition does not continue with his children. What kind of pattern do you suppose those children saw at home when no one else was watching?

We will be able to fool most everyone in our lives - but we will NOT be able to fool our own children. They will know what type of person we really are, and they will pretty much copy the example they see in us. Now, this is not saying that every child who leaves the church had a bad example at home. Children make their own choices. But our example is the one thing that WE can control. It is hard enough to be a Christian - and the last thing we need to do is to give our children an EXCUSE not to be one.

As the musicians come forward

JESUS PLEADS OUR CASE — SO WE WALK THE WAY JESUS WALKED.

Jesus pleads our case. So we should walk the same way that Jesus walked. So I’ll leave you with this as our musicians come forward. We prepare for an invitational hymn this afternoon - or this evening.

Does our walk look like the walk - is our life, the direction of our life, patterned, or going in the same direction that Jesus’s life went in? You know, there were several occasions where Jesus said, “I came not to do my own will, but I came to do the will of my Father who sent me.” How often are we able to stand up and say, you know, I have not spent today going after my own will, but I have spent today pursuing the will of the God that saved my soul? How often are we able to actually say that?

Once again, you cannot say, “Well, this person made all these bad choices because they saw mistakes that I made.” That’s not the way it works. All right? But the other side of that coin - this person dedicated their life to God when they got out from under mom and daddy’s table at home, and I helped encourage that spiritual decision, because I never gave them an excuse not to dedicate their life to God. Now, if they choose not to, that’s not on us. I mean, everybody makes their own choice. But I guess what I’m trying to say is, we have an opportunity - these tough choices that our children are faced with - we have an opportunity to make it easier for them to make good ones. And we should take full advantage of it.

Please consider what you heard this evening as we stand and sing. Number 392.

The First Step of the Drift

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Sunday morning service, October 25, 2026 Give Thanks · Lesson 3 · Romans 1:21

► Watch this lesson on video (43:53)

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Unthankfulness Is the First Step Down — Thanksgiving Is the First Step Up

Sunday morning • Give Thanks, Lesson 3 • Romans 1:21-25 • Luke 7:36-47 • 2 Timothy 3:1-2 • Exodus 16:15 • Numbers 21:5 • Philippians 2:14 • Psalm 50:23 • Psalm 103:2

This is the lesson the way it was preached on Sunday morning - near word for word. The “uh”s and the starts-over are taken out; the sentences are left the way they were said. Bible verses are printed exactly as they read in the King James. Anything marked GOING DEEPER was NOT preached on Sunday morning - it is extra study for anyone who wants to dig further.

Let’s see. Romans 1:21 will be where we’ll start. And if we have time, we’ll do Luke chapter 7, 2 Timothy chapter 3, and Exodus chapter 16. Romans 1 and 21 will be our text. Then time permitting, we’ll look at Luke chapter 7, 2 Timothy chapter 3, and Exodus chapter 16.

Now, we’ll begin here in Romans chapter 1. And Romans is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in the city of Rome. And the first chapter in the book of Romans tells how a world that once knew God decided to turn its back on God.

Romans 1:21. Now you’ll notice there are the first two signs of trouble. They did not glorify God, and they were not thankful. Bible says:

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” - Romans 1:21 (KJV)

And as a result of not glorifying God and not being thankful - notice what happened. They became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Now the first sign of trouble was not something big, like, oh, they committed this awful crime. It was first of all not bringing glory to God, and not saying thank you.

Now to not bring glory to God, that actually means in everyday language not putting God in the place that He should be. You know, we get a nice piece of furniture, we put it in the living room - we don’t leave it out in the yard in the rain. Well, to not bring glory to God in everyday terms - we don’t value Him enough to put Him in our life where He should be, but we leave Him out in the rain. And things happen to relationships that are not maintained. Well, the same thing is going to happen to our relationship to God if that relationship is not maintained. That’s not going to be God’s fault. It’ll be our fault. But that kind of gives us an idea of what not bringing glory to God means.

And you know, what about going through life and not ever telling God thank you? Unthankfulness is the first step that we take downward in - well, we’re talking about our relationship with God. We’re talking about the fellowship that we have with God. We’re not talking about earning salvation. We’re not talking about maintaining salvation. We’re talking about the type of relationship that we have with God after we are saved. And unthankfulness is that first step that we take away from a good relationship with God. And on the other side of the coin, thanksgiving - thanking God for things in our life - that’s the first step that we take toward a meaningful relationship.

UNTHANKFULNESS IS THE FIRST STEP DOWN — THANKSGIVING IS THE FIRST STEP UP.

The staircase down

Now, in past lessons, we’ve already stood on that first step. We’ve taken that first step up toward a better relationship with God. Do you remember what that was? Remember we talked about the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If we don’t properly respect God - if we leave Him out in the rain, out in the weather - we’re not putting Him where He should be in our lives. We’re not bringing Him glory. That kind of ties together. Putting God where He should be - that’s our first step up. While Romans chapter 1 and verse 21 is explaining the first step that we take away from a meaningful relationship with God.

Let’s look at verses 21, 22, 23. And you’ll notice as we read this, you’ll see two failures, and then you’ll see four results which come from those two failures. And each one of the results, if you will, is taking us further and further away from where we ought to be. That’s leaving what we’re supposed to value out in the rain longer and longer and longer. You get the idea. Romans 1 beginning in verse 21:

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful;” - Romans 1:21a (KJV)

Okay, those are the two failures. But - and I’m adding an explanation here - because of these two things, their lives moved. They became something that they weren’t before.

“. . . but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” - Romans 1:21b-23 (KJV)

Now, they knew God. They were aware of who God was, but they gave Him no glory. They gave Him no thanks.

And for them to become vain in their imaginations means that their thinking became empty. There was nothing of substance in their thoughts. You know, the first thing that pops into my mind - and I’m not anti extracurricular activity, I’m not anti-sports - but when you compare sports with spiritual health, which one do you think weighs the most? When we are constantly focused on things of the world - whatever it is - that’s empty. It’s meaningless. There is no Super Bowl in heaven. All right, you get the idea. Not putting God where He should be put and not saying thanks - our thinking becomes without substance. We think on the here and now, and we forget all about eternity. I got a news flash for you folks: eternity is a lot longer than the here and now. All right.

Another thing - their heart went dark. You remember, God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Well, for our heart to go dark, that means we prefer the shady areas as opposed to being out in the exposure of the truth.

They claimed to be wise and became fools. I don’t know, you could fill in the blank there. They relied on their education. They relied on their good behavior. They relied on their wealth, their strength. Okay? They put their confidence in the wrong area. And as a result, they were not able to protect what they considered to be valuable. They were wise - they thought they were doing the right thing - but end result, they were foolish. They lost it all.

And then at the very bottom, they worshiped birds, animals, images of men instead of God. Bottom line there is, as far as their lives were concerned, God really didn’t exist. Okay? They had totally replaced Him.

Now you see, a person who stops thanking God is not a person that stops worshiping. They are a person that simply starts worshiping something else. The paycheck - I’ve got to make more money. My truck - it’s less than what I want. I really need something else. And my desires and what I want are really what is fueling my life. He begins to worship the gift instead of the One who gave him the gift. Notice Romans - stay in chapter 1 - verse 25. This says it pretty straightforward:

“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” - Romans 1:25 (KJV)

The god of youth and pride

Now, in my youth, I had similar thoughts. All right. And I suppose the best example I can give you is to explain and admit - confess - some of the thoughts that I had when I was younger.

When I was younger, I was strong. I thought I was smart. And I’ve always basically known the difference between right and wrong. So what I realized I was guilty of - I traded the God of heaven for the god of youth and pride.

Now, obviously, I knew that I needed God for the big things. But you know, I honestly thought I could handle - if you have a list of 1 through 10 of things in life - I had a pretty good handle on items 1 through 6. I could do that myself. But I did leave 7 through 10 to God. I needed God a little bit. All right. Well, the point is, if God did less for me, then I had less to thank Him for. And that is just being honest. That’s how I began to slip in my youth.

Let’s look at Luke 7:36-47. We’re going to kind of read through that rather quickly. We don’t want to get bogged down and be here till noon. Luke 7 beginning in verse 36 - talking about Jesus:

“And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.” - Luke 7:36-39 (KJV)

Like I’m not. Okay?

“And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.” - Luke 7:40-41 (KJV)

Two people owed this person money. One owed a great big huge amount, and the other one owed a lesser amount.

“And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” - Luke 7:42-47 (KJV)

GOING DEEPER · SHE LOVED MUCH BECAUSE SHE WAS FORGIVEN MUCH

Not preached on Sunday morning - extra study.

Notice verse 47 - and notice the two debtors in verses 41 through 43. She loved much BECAUSE she was forgiven much. Her love was the result of forgiveness - it was not the price of forgiveness, or what it took to get forgiven. The man who owed five hundred pence did not love his way out of that debt . . . he was forgiven first, and the love came after. That’s the same order for us. We don’t thank God in order to be saved - we thank God because we have been.

Now you see, I’m going to tie this back to the staircase we’re talking about. The downward drift starts with a thank-you that never actually got said. “Well, I do need God, but I don’t need Him as much as” - and then we pick out somebody in our mind - “I don’t need Him as much as so-and-so does.” You know, that’s an easy trap to fall into.

The church is not immune

The church is not immune. You know, we think as individuals, okay, well, I need to avoid this, I need to avoid that. Well, last time I checked, the church was made up of individual people. And if our collective attitude is over here where it shouldn’t be, then the attitude of our church is also over here where it shouldn’t be.

Look at Second Timothy chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. Now, what we have here is Paul’s list of what people will be like in the last days. And you’re going to notice some of the things on this list - oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s right, that’s right. But I want you to notice that unthankfulness is also on this list. And I’ll remind you as we read this - just because there’s several things on here that we’re not guilty of, or we think we’re not guilty of, that doesn’t mean that we’re not on the list. Because all of us could use a bigger dose of thankfulness.

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves,” - 2 Timothy 3:1-2a (KJV)

Oh, this is just super important to me, preacher. And they leave God out in the rain.

“. . . covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,” - 2 Timothy 3:2b (KJV)

Unthankful is right in there in that list. Now, you know, once again, just because we can name some things on this list that we’re not guilty of, that doesn’t mean that we’re not on the list. Because if we were honest, unthankfulness is something that is going to peg every single one of us.

Let’s look at Exodus 16 and verse 15. Now, what we’re going to read about here is the manna - the food, the sustenance that God gave to the children of Israel as they were wandering in the wilderness. Now, at first - oh, this is good. But they kind of got used to it. And notice how their attitude went from, “Oh, this is a miracle from God,” to, “Oh, yuck. I’m not satisfied with this.” Verse 15 - talking about the manna:

“And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.” - Exodus 16:15 (KJV)

Now, okay. Let me ask you this. We can all look at circumstances or things in our lives and think, “Well, I wish that circumstance was different. I wish I had a blue one instead of the red one.” Well, does God ever give anything bad? Does He ever make a mistake - “Oh, I should have blessed you this way, I should have given you that”? That’s not the way it works. God loves us enough to die for us. I think sometimes we forget He loves us enough to give us the best. Now, not the best that the world has to offer, but what’s best for our own spiritual health. All right.

Look at Numbers 21 and verse 5. After the newness began to wear off of this manna - after the paint began to fade on that new truck, all right, whatever - when the shingles needed to be repaired on that house - you get the idea.

“And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread,” - Numbers 21:5a (KJV)

Wait a minute. What happened to the manna?

“. . . neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.” - Numbers 21:5b (KJV)

Now when we go get some light bread from Kroger - okay, well, that’s white as opposed to wheat. Well, the language here indicates that light bread, the way it’s used here - their attitude - this bread is worthless. That’s actually what it means. So they weren’t just dissatisfied - it’s the same old thing. They are saying that God’s blessing is worthless.

Well, for them, the miracle of this daily bread - and again, I want us to not forget that this daily bread that they got tired of was God’s provision for them. Folks, your house, your job, everything that you experience in life is God’s way of providing for you. When we complain about God’s provisions, we’re just as guilty as these Israelites were complaining about the manna.

What drift looks like in church

Well, what does drift look like in church? Well, how about prayers that gravitate toward more asking and less thanking? How about - oh, we always pray at mealtime, preacher. Well, is that prayer more of a habit and less about actually being thankful? What about - well, let’s see, you ask me what God did for me today. Let me think a minute. I’ll come up with something here in just a minute. Okay. When’s the last time you took a breath? Whose air was that that you breathed? Okay, it was God’s. And He can turn that spigot off just any time. Sometimes we forget that.

Now, I guarantee you, I could start over here and I could ask every one of you, tell me something that you’re disappointed that you didn’t get or didn’t go your way this week. You could rattle something off without having to think for a second. But then if I started over and asked, “Tell me something that you’re thankful for that God did for you” - we might have to stop and think a little bit longer. You see, our focus has become - our focus is toward things with no substance. Our focus should be toward eternity, not the things of the world.

Young, healthy and bulletproof

Now, I remember when I was younger - again, I was young, I was healthy. I looked at myself as practically - I use the expression bulletproof. Okay? I mean, there’s not much that’s going to affect me, not much that I’m not able to do. Well, I took all of that for granted.

We see old and sick people every day, but do we ever stop to thank God for our own health? And instead of thanking God and trying to take the time to comfort those who basically just get in our way - “Would you move out of the way? I’ve got places to go, people to see, and you’re slowing me down. Move over.” Instead of thanking God and trying to comfort those like this, do we just plow ahead with our current projects? Oh, and these projects, folks, they just have to be done. The world’s going to end if I don’t get whatever it is done by Friday.

Do we ever come to the realization that, you know, I might just be too busy? I might need to X off some of those projects. If we’re too busy to comfort the weak, if we’re too busy to help that old person that’s slow in front of us, then we’re just too busy.

You know, what about - talking about projects - you know what the most important project any of us could have or should have? Well, first of all, our children should be our most important project. Now, I’m not saying, “Oh, we need to take them to this activity, to this practice, to that.” No, I’m talking about the spiritual health of our children should be the most important project that we have. And right alongside that - well, my children may be grown and gone, but what about that spouse? You know, the happiness and the joy of your spouse - that should also be way, way up there on the importance of our projects.

But you know, talking about the slow people right in front of me - “I’ve got places to go, just get out of my way” - almost overnight, I became one of the slow ones who used to be in my way when I was younger. And you know, the sooner we agree with God that this attitude is and was not healthy, the better our lives will become.

You know, the projects that we have in life - and I know we’ve all got stuff that we need done. You know, the oil needs changing, the house needs painting - the list is endless. But the list will always be there. There’ll always be something on the list. We’re never going to get it all accomplished. But you know, our time to count our blessings in life - that does have an expiration date. And I wonder - do you know how close you are to your expiration date? Do you know how close you are to not having another opportunity to comfort that one that’s in front of you that’s slow, that’s crippled, that’s always in your way?

You know, our children grow up and leave home. There’s an opportunity that’s going to expire. Our spouses - they get old, and they’re eventually going to die. Rarely do a husband and wife die at the same time. The opportunity to put a smile on that spouse’s face and a twinkle in their eye - that opportunity has an expiration date. You know, the only thing that lasts is something that’s done for God.

Now, Philippians chapter 2, verse 14. Once again: unthankfulness is the first step down. Thanksgiving is the first step up.

“Do all things without murmurings and disputings:” - Philippians 2:14 (KJV)

To murmur is to complain.

UNTHANKFULNESS IS THE FIRST STEP DOWN — THANKSGIVING IS THE FIRST STEP UP.

The staircase runs both ways

The glory that they held back in Romans 1:21 - now that glory is something that can be given back to God. We can take that piece of furniture out of the rain and put it in the house. We can take that car and we can put it in the garage where it’ll be protected. Notice the 50th Psalm, verse 23:

“Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.” - Psalm 50:23 (KJV)

Whoso offereth praise - that’s worship - glorifieth me, God says. And to him that ordereth his conversation aright - to the person who arranges their lifestyle properly - that’s a blessing.

And you know, we can take the first step up the staircase that we’re talking about this morning right now, in the pew, without moving an inch. We do that by remembering what God has done. Now, King David said it this way, the 103rd Psalm, verse 2:

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:” - Psalm 103:2 (KJV)

Well, to remember is the opposite of forgetting.

So our homework this week is a murmur check. By that, I mean - are we a complainer? And what I want us to do is every time we catch ourselves complaining about something this week, I want you to stop and thank God for something specific about the very thing you’re complaining about.

“Oh, I hate this truck.” Well, does the truck start? That’s a blessing. Okay. Is the truck paid for? Well, if it is, that’s a blessing. “Preacher, I just don’t like my job very well.” Well, wait a minute. Do you have a job? Are you getting a paycheck? I don’t think I’ve ever had a job that I really liked. I like cleaning carpets, and I absolutely love preaching - but I don’t consider preaching a job. That’s just life. Okay - blame Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. You’re probably not going to like your job, but you do make money.

You know, how often we catch ourselves complaining about something will tell us just how far we’ve begun to drift.

The thank-you I owed

All right, I’m out of time. So I’d ask our musicians to come forward. We prepare for an invitational hymn.

You know, I remember going back to when I was younger - I complained. I was 24 years old before I got married. All right. And ever since I could remember - oh, probably 15, 16, to 24 - I knew what a fairy tale romance was. And I kind of got aggravated, you know, going through college and everything. It’s like, I’m never going to find a woman, a girl, a wife that’s fit to marry. Okay, there was a lot of candidates, all right, but they were not good people - and I was patient. I didn’t really have any choice. I mean, what are we going to do? You know, the famous Sally Sue - I go out with Sally Sue one, it’s not going to work out. I do Sally Sue two, it’s not going to work any better than Sally Sue one. So what do I do?

But when God finally answered my prayer, I owed Him a huge, huge thank-you - for loving me enough to answer my prayers, and for being patient enough with me, okay, to continue working with me, continue teaching me the value of a good spouse, or anything. I didn’t just figure that all out myself.

Point is, when we find ourselves complaining - “Well, He’s not answering me fast enough for this, this, or this” - God never gives us anything bad. Everything He does is for our benefit. And that’s where faith comes in. “Well, yeah, but God, I can do this better.” Well, you know, you couldn’t. Okay, that’s the humility part. If you did it, you’d mess it up. There’s enough things in my life that I did my way that just messed up. Am I the only one? I don’t think so. We learn over the course of our lives just to back up and consider.

UNTHANKFULNESS IS THE FIRST STEP DOWN — THANKSGIVING IS THE FIRST STEP UP.

401 in the big book.

GOING DEEPER · WHICH STEP DID WE TAKE THIS WEEK?

Not preached on Sunday morning - extra study.

Which step did we take this week - down, or up? If somebody asked us at the supper table tonight to name one kindness God showed us this week, could we answer without stopping to think? Complaining about the truck? Thank God we have one. Complaining about the kids? Thank God for each one by name. The staircase runs both ways, and the next step - down or up - is the one we take this week.

When the Line Is Clogged — Hindered Prayer

The water is still on out there at the faucet . . . the hose is kinked.

---

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 Seven ended on James and the words ye ask amiss. This part picks up right there, because James is not the only place the Bible tells us why a prayer does not get through – and the list is longer and plainer than most of us are comfortable with.

And I want to say at the front – what this lesson is not . . . this is not about a man losing his salvation . . . nothing in here can un-save anybody . . . a child who has made his father angry is still his father's child . . . but he is going to have a hard time getting anything out of him until they have talked.

That is what we are dealing with . . . not the relationship . . . but the line… the fellowship…

THE VERSE THAT NAMES IT

Psalm 66:18 — “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:”

Regard. That is the word the whole verse turns on – and it is not the same as commit… So we are not being told – if we COMMIT iniquity – God will not hear me… Notice

“To regard” something – is to look at it and to keep it… To have it in our view… To hold onto it – and to defend it… The idea here is to make room for it in our lives... David is not talking about a man who fell into something and hates himself for it… He is talking about a man who has a sin he intends to keep.

And notice where it is... In my heart… Not in my hands where anybody could see it… The point here is – that this can be a sin that nobody in this church knows about – except the man himself – and God.

Isaiah says the same thing – and puts it in the plainest terms we will find in the Bible…

Isaiah 59:1 — “Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:”

Isaiah 59:2 — “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

Read verse 1 again . . . because it is the mercy in the passage. His hand is not shortened. His ear is not heavy. There is nothing wrong on God's end . . . the power is not less than it was – and the hearing is not worse than it was.

So if nothing came through – the trouble is not up there.

THE FAUCET AND THE HOSE

Every one of us has done this . . . you go out to water something in July and nothing comes out the end of the hose . . . and the first thing a man thinks - is that somebody turned the water off.

So – you walk back to the house and check – and the faucet is wide open . . . the water is on, and it has been on the whole time . . . you walk back out following that hose and somewhere in the middle of the yard – it is doubled over on itself (kinked) . . . and you are standing on it.

That is this lesson… The pressure never dropped… The line got kinked . . . and the fix is not to go argue with the water company… the fix is to straighten out the hose…

Simple truth: God did not turn the water off . . . something in the yard has that hose doubled over . . . and a man can go find it… unless that man is trying to guard that kink… (iniquity)

NOW WHAT THE BIBLE ACTUALLY NAMES

The Bible does not leave us guessing about what kinks the line . . . it names them . . . six of them, and I am going to give them to you – the way Scripture gives them.

One — cherished sin

That is Psalm 66:18, and we have already had it… A sin which a man is holding onto on purpose.

Two — praying while I will not hear God

Proverbs 28:9 — “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”

That is a hard sentence . . . not his prayer shall be weak – his prayer shall be an abomination… A man who will not listen to God has no business expecting God to listen to him – and God says so.

And it is fair – when you turn it around . . . we would not put up with it from a child who would not hear a word we said – and then came in wanting fifty dollars.

Three — a life that contradicts the asking

Proverbs 15:8 — “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.”

Both halves of that verse are worth having . . . the first half warns… The second half is one of the kindest things in the Bible – the prayer of the upright is his DELIGHT... God is not putting up with our praying... He likes it.

Four — asking for the wrong reason

James 4:3 — “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

We took this one up in Part Seven . . . a man can ask for a right thing for a wrong reason and God will not answer that prayer...

Five — how a man treats his wife

Now here is the one that is rarely preached, and I am going to preach it anyway because Peter put it in there on purpose…

1 Peter 3:7 — “Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.”

That your prayers be not hindered… Peter runs a straight line from the way a man treats his wife – to whether his praying gets anywhere…

And notice what he does NOT say. He does not say she is worth less – he says heirs together of the grace of life… Equal before God – and given to the man to honor.

So – a man can be right on his doctrine – and faithful in his attendance – but if he is hard on his wife at home – then Peter says his prayers are hindered . . . that is not my opinion . . . that is straight out of THE BIBLE…

Six — an unforgiving heart

The Lord Himself hung this one on the model prayer back in Part Five – and then He went back and explained it – when He explained nothing else:

Matthew 6:15 — “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

A man cannot draw on a mercy he refuses to pass along to others... Or he can try, and find the kinked hose of iniquity – that he is protecting...

✍️ AUTHOR'S NOTE

To be entirely honest – I can look back and see five of these six in my life that have hindered my prayers… There have been times in my life – when I have “cherished” sin – protected it – guarded a kinked hose… which leads directly into “not listening to God” because if I listened to Him – I would have to give up my pet sin and unkink the hose… which takes us to #3 and a life that is inconsistent with Godliness and contradicts the asking… the next step being asking for the wrong reason – if our heart is not right – then our motives will not be right either… and then we get to number five and the treatment of our wives… I am a lot of things – and I have actually cherished sin in my heart so that my prayers have literally been hindered – but for everyday of my married life – I have not for a single minute failed to understand/appreciate the blessing which God gave me in Summer… she has and always will be – the jewel in my life… and then there is number six – about being stingy with forgiveness – I am guilty here as well…

The point here is… To be a Christian – is to GROW – to climb the staircase – to add to our faith – to build on the foundation of faith – using gold – silver – precious stones instead of wood – hay and stubble… and to remember that a building is not built in a moment – and neither is a life… It is extremely common in a building project for a sudden rain to get the inside of the house wet – before the roof is finished… In life it is also a common thing – for a storm to blow rain through an open window and get the carpet wet and ruin the floor in a bedroom… but we should always remember – that Jesus was a carpenter – and He can fix anything… — C.T.

AND THE ONE THAT IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS

There is one more verse people put on this list, and it belongs in a different place entirely:

John 9:31 — “Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.”

That is the blind man in John 9 – and we had it back in Part One . . . this is not about a Christian with a kinked hose . . . this is about a lost man who has no hose that runs to the house at all.

And there is one prayer – that God has promised to hear from the lost man – and that is the prayer of the publican – God be merciful to me a sinner . . . that door is not shut – and I don’t intend to let anyone close it...

HOW THE KINK COMES OUT

Now for the good news – and it is very good news...

1 John 1:9 — “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Faithful and just… Not merciful – though He is… BUT Just – because the debt was already paid and it would not be right to charge it twice...

And confess is a plain word . . . it means to say the same thing about it that God says about it… It doesn’t mean to explain it – and it doesn’t mean to compare it with somebody else's sin – and it doesn’t mean to give it a softer name – it means to agree…

That is all it takes to straighten the hose . . . and a man can do it standing where he is - without waiting for Sunday…

📖 FROM THE PULPIT

An example of me finding the kink – can be described by me first WANTING to find the kink – I finally got to the point – where I wanted to have a better relationship with God – than the relationship I was trying to protect with sin… There is pleasure in sin for a season – but what I learned is that there is PAIN attached to that pleasure (physical – emotional and spiritual)… and the long and short of it is – it simply wasn’t worth it… The high’s were not worth the valleys… So I abandoned my partnership with sin – and I moved in with humility – I became friends with UNDERSTANDING – I got to know WISDOM – and I learned to seek KNOWLEDGE of God instead of seeking pleasure… Every promise God had ever made – was trapped in the hose – and I was the one who was responsible for the kink… Repentance works every time – repentance gets the water (blessings) moving again… Taste the Lord that He is gracious – and you realize how BITTER the world is… — C.T.

NOW LET ME GUARD THIS

Do not turn this into a checklist for other people… Every one of these six things is meant for the man reading it – and not to be used as a way to judge our neighbor . . . the minute we start using this list on somebody else – whose prayer did not get answered – we have turned a mercy into a club – and that is exactly what Job's friends did…

And do not read every unanswered prayer as a hindered prayer... That is the mistake this lesson could cause if we are not careful — so let me say it as plain as I know how.

Paul had no kink in his line… Paul asked three times – and got a no – and God told him why . . . and it had nothing to do with sin.

Part Four of this study is about “that kind” of no – and Part Four is the other half of this part… We need them both or we will get this wrong… Because there are two different kinds of no – and they do not look one bit alike.

Some no's are about sin... Something is in the way — the hose is kinked and the man knows what it is – if he will stop and be honest about it.

Some no's are about wisdom… Nothing is in the way at all… God simply knows something that we do not know. . . and He is not going to hand His child a thing that would hurt him…

And a man who cannot tell those two apart – is going to go wrong – in one of two directions…

One man decides that “every no” is wisdom… So - he never looks at himself at all — he has a ready answer for everything – and he never once walks down that hose… That man can carry a kink for twenty years and call it the will of God.

The other man decides every no is sin… So he tears himself apart hunting for a fault that may not even be there . . . he buries a child and lies awake at three in the morning asking God what he did wrong… That man is being crushed under a load God never put on him.

I have sat with both – and the second one is worse… So – how does a man tell?

He goes down the list — honestly – one at a time... If God shows him something – he deals with it and quits looking… And if God does not show him anything — then he leaves it alone – and lets it be Paul's kind of no.

BEFORE YOU LEAVE

His hand is not shortened – His ear is not heavy . . . that is where this started and that is where it lands.

If the water is not coming out the end of the hose – then it is worth walking the line before we decide God has gone quiet on us… And most of the time the kink is close – and it is small – and it has a name.

And the confessing does not cost anything but honesty.

TRY IT THIS WEEK

Go down the six things which will hinder prayer – slowly – and one at a time . . . not as a list of sins – but as a walk down the hose… Look for…

Something I am holding onto… Something God has said that I will not hear . . . a life that is arguing with my asking . . . a wrong reason underneath a right request . . . my wife… or Somebody I have not forgiven.

And where you find the kink – say the same thing about it that God says . . . then go on and pray – and do not spend one more minute on it – because He is faithful and just – and the matter is closed.

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NEXT — Part Nine: The Helper We Forget. Paul says we do not know what we should pray for as we ought . . . that is a hard admission . . . and God did not leave us alone with it.

God Is Light — The Deep Study

Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church — Dardanelle, Arkansas

Pastor Chuck Trusty — Wednesday evening service, October 21, 2026 1-2-3 John · Unit 2 Deep Study · 1 John 1:5-10

► Watch this lesson on video (35:16)

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THE ONE POINT: God is not asking for a perfect record — God is asking for an HONEST WALK.

Last time we were in 1 John chapter 1, verses 5 through 10, and we saw that God is light and that John named three things people SAY that are lies. In verse 6 they say, “I have fellowship with God” while they are walking in darkness. In verse 8 they say, “There is no sin in me, I’m perfect now.” And in verse 10 they say, “I have never sinned” — and I believe that one probably grows out of a twisted idea about predestination, that now that I’m saved I don’t sin anymore. Tonight we are going over the same six verses, only slower, and we are going to notice some of the words John picked out on purpose.

“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:5–10)

Notice that the blood cleansing us in verse 7 is not talking about WORKING to gain our salvation or to keep it — it is talking about something completely different, and we will get to that.

The three claims get bolder

The first claim is about our RELATIONSHIP — “I have fellowship with God” while we are walking around in the shaded area (less light, a little compromise) — and if we say that, we are not telling the truth. The second claim is about what is IN us right now — “I’m a child of God, so there is nothing evil or dark in me anymore because I’m born of God” — and we say that in an effort to deceive others into thinking we are something we are really not. The third claim is about our PAST — “I have never sinned” — and I suppose that comes from thinking, well, I was predestined to be a child of God, so surely I have always been a notch above everybody else. The first two are bad enough, but the third one is literally contradicting God, calling Him a liar to His face.

Now you say, preacher, that is kind of harsh. Well, look at Romans 3:23 and after reading what it says, how could anybody in their right mind say “I have never sinned.”

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23)

It seems to me those three claims are an attempt to make our life look like Mary Poppins — practically perfect — but once again God is not asking for perfection, He is asking for honesty. Can we say the same thing about our life that God says about our life?

A walk is a pattern — not a snapshot

We talk about our walk of life, but what does that mean? A walk is describing a PATTERN, not a snapshot. Somebody says, “I got a picture of you when you stumbled” — well, that is not our walk of life. Our walk is our DIRECTION, not one picture of the many mistakes we all make over and over. A fall, a stumble, a trip — that is not the walk of our life, and the devil would love for us to think it is, so we will get all discouraged. But a child of God can trip and fall right in the very brightest part of the day, in the full light.

Now you say, preacher, if we are really saved, would we get off the straight and narrow? Well, what about Peter? Do you think Peter was lost when he denied the Lord not once, not twice, but three times, boldface, even cursing — “I know not the man”? Peter wasn’t lost, he was tripped up. And what about Thomas, “I’m not going to believe it unless I stick my hand right through His side” — and then the Lord shows up and Thomas says, “My Lord and my God.” Thomas wasn’t lost either, he just stumbled. And don’t you sit there and say, “Oh, I would never do that,” because you are setting yourself up for a fall.

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)

Notice what Proverbs 24 and Psalm 37 say about the man who falls:

“For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” (Proverbs 24:16)

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.” (Psalm 37:23–24)

Do you think the good man gets up after he falls because he is a good man — or because the Lord is holding his hand? When this preacher falls and stumbles like Peter and Thomas did, I don’t give up because I’m something special and strong — look what the Psalm says, the LORD upholdeth him with His hand. Now I’m reminded of the sow and the dog going back to their mire and their vomit. If I make a false profession of faith it is not uncommon to be on fire for a while and then just give up and go back to the way it was before, because my nature never changed — I just got emotional, and when reality set in I went back to the way I had always been. But if salvation could be lost, then a fall COULD utterly cast us down, and God says it is not going to happen.

I think a good way to explain it is that some of us are just quicker learners than others. In school they have ordinary school, and for those a little slower to get the concept they have after-school tutoring, and if you still don’t get the lesson they have summer school. Children of God are just like that — some get it the first time, some have to stay after school, and some have to enroll in summer school — but nobody gets expelled.

And think about a little baby. When we were teaching Haley and Sarah to walk, Summer would sit on one couch and I would sit on the other and we had the biggest time going back and forth, and sometimes Haley would fall — but the point is she always fell MOVING TOWARD HER DADDY. That is the picture I want us to keep in our minds. We are not going to live a perfect life, but there is a difference between falling while we are moving closer to God and His will, and falling while we are trying to get away from God.

My own stumble — and the shoe

I have told you about my college experience. Proverbs was always right in my line of sight, and my direction toward what was good, toward Christianity and righteousness, never changed — but I did stumble. My error in thinking was, “All this stuff is just around me, you can’t get away from it,” so I talked myself into following the wicked from a distance — not right behind them, but from a distance. I stepped off the path just long enough to see what was going on, and I justified it by always keeping one foot touching the straight and narrow. I am long-legged, and I stretched that other foot just as far away as I could without ever actually leaving what I knew to be true.

Pretend you are all dressed up for a fancy wedding — tuxedo, shiny shoes, the whole works — and everybody looks at your feet. One shoe is shined up like a mirror, but the other one has cow manure all over it, and nobody has to look down to know something is wrong because when you walk in the room it is “Oh man, do you smell that?” That is what my attitude was in college. I didn’t cross the fence, I just got close to the wire, I was still headed toward God, I was not off the beaten path — that was my justification — but I was ignoring the mess on one of my shoes.

An honest walk is a DIRECTION, not a spotless record. But our direction never gives us permission to sin (“it’ll be okay, I’m still touching the straight and narrow” — well, what about the foot that’s in the mess?), and it does NOT remove the consequences. King David was forgiven, but bad things happened, and the children of Israel went into the promised land and fell short of complete obedience — they didn’t get booted out, but they sure have had problems ever since because of the consequences.

Confession is agreeing — not performing

Now to confess is to AGREE, not to improve our behavior. We have already learned that to confess means to say the same thing about our sin that God says about it, instead of justifying ourselves because we are really close to where we ought to be. Tonight let’s see what confession is NOT. It is not crying enough over what we did. It is not promising “I will never do that again.” It is not punishing ourselves like penance. And it is not justifying it by saying “well, I’ve got one clean shoe.”

Have you ever been caught with your hand in the cookie jar and wondered, did God honor my confession, was I sorry enough? God never asks you and me to get out a quart jar or a measuring cup and measure the tears we shed over our guilt. All He asked us to do was AGREE with Him. And here is what jumped out at me as I studied this — if we can’t see our hand in the cookie jar, we will never take it out. So confession is a TEACHING tool. One purpose of confession (I guess there are others) is to show this preacher that I’m not where I ought to be.

David simply acknowledged his sin and God forgave him.

“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” (Psalm 32:5)

And in Luke 18 the publican prayed only seven words, and that is all it took — Jesus said he went home justified rather than the other.

“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:13–14)

Now even when we truly regret some misbehavior, we often think — and I have thought it myself — “I really feel bad about this, but there must be something wrong with me because I’m still struggling to stay away from what I got caught with.” Does that mean something is wrong with me? Notice Galatians 5:17, and notice before we get there that it says we CANNOT do the things we would, for a pretty obvious reason.

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Galatians 5:17)

There is nothing about the Christian life that is one-and-done, like a ball tournament where you lose and you are out. I can’t say, “I conquered that particular sin and I will never face it again.” Just because Dardanelle beats Danville this year does not mean there won’t be a struggle to do the same thing next year. I may conquer my weakness today, but I will face exactly the same thing tomorrow. So the test of a Christian is not PERFECTION, the test of a Christian is ENDURANCE — are we going to keep up the struggle or are we going to quit? Our walk is going to be covered with falls and stumbles, but in spite of falling are we going to get up and continue? Ball players don’t quit after a loss, they practice and go back out on the field the next week, and a Christian is not somebody who is perfect but somebody who never changes directions.

Think about the North Star. You are in a ship, and there are two things moving it — the sails catching the wind, and the currents in the sea. The sail is your steering wheel, and you are pointing the vessel toward the North Star, but you can’t do anything about the current that is constantly trying to push the ship off course. If we keep our eye on God’s will, it will be pretty obvious when we begin to drift, and we make an adjustment with the sail so we true our course back up. So have we been feeling bad about something instead of simply surrendering and agreeing with God about it?

Faithful and just — punishment and chastisement

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

To be FAITHFUL means God will keep His promise — if we confess, He WILL forgive. To be JUST means the debt has already been paid. And there is a difference between punishment and chastisement. Punishment is payment owed for something done wrong, the way you pay for a crime by going to prison. Correction is not punishment, correction is teaching how to avoid the crime. Punishment satisfies the law of the harvest, but chastisement CHANGES the child of God and teaches him how to avoid the misbehavior. What is wisdom? Wisdom is being able to see the difference between good and bad, and there is nothing much better than a lesson from God to remind us to pay a little better attention. The last time I didn’t avoid it I got that mess all over my good shoe, and I don’t want to repeat that. If we were never corrected we wouldn’t have a clue we were doing anything wrong.

I skipped over quite a bit of material because I was running out of time (that will be posted on our website as a fill-in for anyone who wants to go a little deeper). Let’s go to Romans 3:26.

“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26)

So God is just, and God is the One who justifies the believer who receives and accepts the payment. Jesus is saying, “I have paid his debt for him,” and the Holy Spirit in our hearts is like the receipt. Why do we keep a receipt? To prove we purchased the item. Why do you think the Holy Spirit is in our hearts? To give us proof our sin debt has been paid.

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

The word cleanseth does not mean one-and-done, it means He KEEPS ON cleansing, every day that we choose to walk in the light. Have you ever had a splinter? You pick it out and that is a relief, but there is still a sore place, red and irritated. When we confess our sins God pulls out the splinter, but then He also puts salve on the wound to keep it from getting infected. And the correction we receive through chastisement is like God saying, “Preacher, if you are going to handle splintery wood, what do you think a glove is for?” If I pay attention to the lesson and allow myself to be corrected, then every time that temptation comes I remember — put the glove on — and the glove protects me from being wounded the way I was before. That does not mean we have to be saved over every week or every month. He is talking about our physical lives, and if we want to stay uninfected by the temptations we tend to yield to, we need to learn what the glove is. You remember Proverbs on the way of the wicked — avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, go some other way.

David — the penalty paid, the harvest not cancelled

“And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.” (2 Samuel 12:13)

David was forgiven, but then the child died, and God said the sword would never leave his house. The cross paid for David’s sin, but the sin David committed had a lingering effect — that is the law of the HARVEST, and it gets worse, because sin produces fruit and once it is set in motion it just keeps growing bigger and bigger. God cancelled the penalty (David’s death) but God did NOT cancel the harvest. Once a seed is planted it sprouts and produces more and more seeds. Have you ever wondered why the world just keeps getting worse and worse? Plant one seed and it grows up and produces more than the one it started with, and that is what sin does.

The cross was never about stopping sin. The cross was about PAYING for sin, about allowing the sinner to escape the penalty of sin, and chastisement is what teaches us how to avoid a repeat performance. For God to show Himself just means He is FAIR. God did not erase the harvest of David’s sin, the cross paid the price to save David’s soul because David was guilty, which is different from God breaking His own law of the harvest to show favoritism by erasing the consequences. The Bible tells us these things happened to them for examples so we would not lust after what they lusted after, and if God removed the consequences of sin for David, why wouldn’t He do the same thing for me? That is the difference between paying the price for my sins and correcting my behavior — teaching me how to avoid the things that will bring bad consequences into my present life and rob me of rewards in the future.

So don’t get confused. The penalty has already been paid. Chastisement is not punishment — chastisement is TEACHING, teaching us how to be better so we will have a better quality of life and a better relationship with Jesus Christ.

(Invitation — hymn number 392.)

How to Read the Bible — Lesson 7: The Bible Agrees With Itself

HOW TO READ THE BIBLE — a short course from Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church • Pastor Chuck Trusty • Lesson 7 of 13 • a new lesson every two weeks

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Last Time

Last lesson you took John 14:15 home, and read its next-door neighbor:

"If ye love me, keep my commandments." — John 14:15

You read the whole verse, then its neighbor, verse 16: "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter." The neighbor promised help — you do not keep His commandments on your own strength; the Spirit of God abides with you. That was last lesson's tool: a verse has neighbors; read them.

Now weigh one word in it — keep. Do not read it as merely "behave." In the Book, "keep" is a watchman's word: to guard, to watch over, to hold safe. Paul could say at the end, "I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7) — he guarded it whole, to his last breath. So "keep my commandments" is more than good conduct. It means guard His words: treasure them, hold them fast, and let no one twist them or take them from you — the way you saw last lesson that a verse can be twisted. Love guards what it loves. Now, one more tool.

The Verse

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." — John 13:34

The Question

Jesus calls it a new commandment — to love one another. But turn back to the Old Testament, and God said it long before: "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Leviticus 19:18). If love was commanded all the way back there, how is this one new? Does the New Testament throw out the Old? Do the two halves of the Book fight each other?

The Tool — walked together

First, the tools you already have. Ask your questions. WHO? The Lord Jesus — and this is a command, so who is it spoken to? His own disciples; the "one another" is the family of believers. WHAT? A command: love one another. WHEN? The verse does not date it — an empty box; but the neighbors (John 13) fill it: the Last Supper, the night before the cross. WHERE? The upper room, from that same chapter. WHY? The verse gives its reason in four words: "as I have loved you."

Run the rest of your tools before we name the new one. Read the whole verse to its end — "as I have loved you, that ye also love one another"; the measure is in the last words. Every command has an address — you found it: His own, the family of believers. A verse has neighbors — and John 13 gave you the when and the where. Is there a word for the Bible's own dictionary? Yes — new — and we draw it up below. Does a clear verse need to explain a dark one? Not here — that tool rests; this is not a dark verse, but two verses that seem to disagree. And settling that is the new tool.

So here it is. TOOL #7: the Bible agrees with itself — it never contradicts itself. When two verses seem to fight, the fight is in our reading, not in the Book. Read closer, and they lock together like a key in a lock. (When two verses seem to clash, look up the word they share — The Helper page shows how.) So "new" cannot mean the old command was wrong or thrown away. Look closer at that one word.

ONE WORD

NEW. The language the New Testament was written in has two words for "new," and they do not mean the same thing.

One means new in time — young, lately come. A calf born this morning is new that way. It did not exist yesterday. Yet it is no different from every calf before it — the same old kind of creature, only younger.

The other means new in kind — a thing of a sort that never was. The first airplane was new that way. Men had traveled for thousands of years — on foot, on horses, in carts, in ships. But when that first machine lifted off the ground, it was not a faster horse or a bigger cart. It was a new kind of thing altogether.

John 13:34 uses the second word. So the duty to love is not young — it is old as Moses: "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Leviticus 19:18). What the Lord makes new is the KIND. The old command measured love by yourself — love your neighbor as you love you. The new command measures it by Him — "as I have loved you," all the way to the cross. It is the same old duty to love, lifted to a new order — the way flight is still travel, but travel of a kind the world had never seen. The New did not throw out the old command; it raised it. The Book agrees with itself.

Try It This Week

Here is your verse. As you read it, watch for a signpost in the very first words:

"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." — 1 Corinthians 2:9

Did you catch it? "As it is written" is a signpost — it means Paul is quoting Scripture. He reaches back to the Old Testament, to Isaiah (64:4), and sets it down in the New. Two Testaments, hundreds of years apart, one Book, agreeing perfectly. That is the tool in your hand. And do not miss what it says: no eye, no ear, no heart has ever taken in "the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." That is your hope — and the reason to love Him and follow on.

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.   6. A verse has neighbors — read the ones just before and just after.   7. The Bible agrees with itself — when two verses seem to clash, read closer; they lock together.

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Next lesson, in two weeks: sometimes the word we need is bigger than our own can carry — and the Book reaches for a stronger one.

‹ Lesson 6 — Read a Verse's Neighbors  •  The Course Index — all lessons