1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:07,100 You�re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open The Bible. 2 00:00:07,100 –> 00:00:15,020 To contact us, call us at 1-877-OPEN365 or visit our website openthebible.org. 3 00:00:15,020 –> 00:00:17,740 Let�s get to the message. 4 00:00:17,740 –> 00:00:19,639 Here is Pastor Colin. 5 00:00:19,639 –> 00:00:25,559 Well now over the next seven weeks, I would like to invite you to join me on a journey 6 00:00:25,639 –> 00:00:30,360 to a place that many people have never been. 7 00:00:30,360 –> 00:00:35,840 Some people who have gone there didn�t see much when they visited. 8 00:00:35,840 –> 00:00:41,160 Others didn�t like what they saw in their visit and have never been back. 9 00:00:41,160 –> 00:00:48,520 Only a few people have come to know this place really well. 10 00:00:48,520 –> 00:00:52,400 The place that I�m talking about and that we�re going to focus on over these next 11 00:00:52,560 –> 00:00:58,959 week�s is your soul. 12 00:00:58,959 –> 00:01:02,240 The interior of your life. 13 00:01:02,240 –> 00:01:09,360 A place where even you yourself may not often have gone. 14 00:01:09,360 –> 00:01:16,879 A place where you may find some things that are surprising and even unfamiliar to you. 15 00:01:17,800 –> 00:01:25,980 It’s fascinating to find that the Bible refers to �soul� or �souls� nearly 500 times 16 00:01:25,980 –> 00:01:28,099 in the authorized version. 17 00:01:28,099 –> 00:01:34,459 It’s less in the New International Version which often translates the same words �life� 18 00:01:34,459 –> 00:01:39,400 or �self� or �your very self� but it’s talking about the same thing � your 19 00:01:39,400 –> 00:01:44,480 inner life, what makes you you. 20 00:01:44,559 –> 00:01:48,180 Apart from your soul you would only be a corpse. 21 00:01:48,180 –> 00:01:51,300 The soul is your very self. 22 00:01:51,300 –> 00:01:56,139 You remember in the story of the creation how at the very beginning when God made the 23 00:01:56,139 –> 00:02:00,820 first man He formed the body of the man from the dust of the ground. 24 00:02:00,820 –> 00:02:03,099 He brought these chemical matters together. 25 00:02:03,099 –> 00:02:09,960 He created what is a biodegradable chemical structure, molecular structure. 26 00:02:09,960 –> 00:02:11,880 But then God did a second thing. 27 00:02:11,880 –> 00:02:14,460 He did more than create a corpse. 28 00:02:14,479 –> 00:02:22,779 He breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of the man Genesis says, and Adam became a 29 00:02:22,779 –> 00:02:25,179 living soul. 30 00:02:26,660 –> 00:02:30,460 Now you begin to get a sense of the importance of the soul, and therefore the importance 31 00:02:30,460 –> 00:02:33,600 of our journey when you consider what God says about it. 32 00:02:33,600 –> 00:02:39,380 The Bible makes it very clear that your soul is of infinite value. 33 00:02:40,360 –> 00:02:49,559 What shall a man give, Jesus asked, in exchange for his soul, his very self? 34 00:02:49,559 –> 00:02:54,160 What could you give in exchange for you? 35 00:02:54,160 –> 00:03:02,860 If a man were to gain the whole world but then were to lose his soul what value would 36 00:03:02,860 –> 00:03:07,000 that be to him? 37 00:03:07,240 –> 00:03:10,460 On one day God will give you a new body, and that will be wonderful. 38 00:03:10,460 –> 00:03:16,520 But right now the focus of God’s attention is on your soul and that’s why Peter says 39 00:03:16,520 –> 00:03:23,800 in his letter that the goal of our faith is the salvation of your soul. 40 00:03:23,800 –> 00:03:28,100 So it’s clearly important to know what’s going on in your soul because although we 41 00:03:28,100 –> 00:03:32,360 may make many visits to the doctor and may be very concerned about things relating to 42 00:03:32,479 –> 00:03:41,539 the body, the soul is actually the center of the action that really counts in this life. 43 00:03:41,539 –> 00:03:46,199 Someone has once said that true wisdom, all the wisdom that you need for life actually 44 00:03:46,199 –> 00:03:48,800 boils down to two basic areas. 45 00:03:48,800 –> 00:03:53,300 You need to know God and you need to know yourself. 46 00:03:53,300 –> 00:04:01,660 And here’s the catch – you can never know the one without the other. 47 00:04:01,660 –> 00:04:07,240 Because if you don’t know God, then being made in his image, how can you know yourself? 48 00:04:07,240 –> 00:04:08,360 You are made in his image. 49 00:04:08,360 –> 00:04:11,600 If you’re made in the image of someone you don’t know, you don’t know yourself. 50 00:04:11,600 –> 00:04:16,059 You cannot know yourself until and unless you know God. 51 00:04:16,059 –> 00:04:21,760 But similarly if you do not know yourself, you will not know God either. 52 00:04:21,779 –> 00:04:30,500 For this reason, that if you’re away from the truth, you cannot come close to God. 53 00:04:30,500 –> 00:04:36,739 I love the song from DC talk which I know not all of you will be very familiar with. 54 00:04:36,739 –> 00:04:42,980 But some of the younger ones will be, and it has this great line, What’s going on inside 55 00:04:42,980 –> 00:04:43,980 me? 56 00:04:43,980 –> 00:04:49,760 That’s a great question, and we’re gonna be focusing on that great question from the 57 00:04:49,899 –> 00:04:51,880 scriptures over these next weeks. 58 00:04:51,880 –> 00:04:58,320 Did you know, for example, that your soul comes under regular attack? 59 00:04:58,320 –> 00:05:06,399 Peter talks about sinful desires that make war against your soul. 60 00:05:06,399 –> 00:05:12,239 So there’s a battle that’s going to be going on as enemies seek to attack, and to undermine 61 00:05:12,239 –> 00:05:14,260 your own very self. 62 00:05:14,260 –> 00:05:18,899 That’s why the book of Proverbs tells us that we need to guard our souls. 63 00:05:19,760 –> 00:05:22,739 How do you know how to do that? 64 00:05:22,739 –> 00:05:27,079 The Bible makes it very clear that the soul can go through different conditions because 65 00:05:27,079 –> 00:05:28,440 of different experiences in life. 66 00:05:28,440 –> 00:05:32,720 For example, your soul can get bitter. 67 00:05:32,720 –> 00:05:38,739 Hannah experienced bitterness of soul because she was not given the gift of children. 68 00:05:38,739 –> 00:05:44,160 It was a great spiritual struggle in her very self, and she worked it out in the place of 69 00:05:44,160 –> 00:05:46,700 prayer before God. 70 00:05:46,700 –> 00:05:48,820 Job went through bitterness of soul. 71 00:05:48,820 –> 00:05:51,380 speaks about it several times in the book of Job. 72 00:05:51,380 –> 00:05:56,619 It was a great inner struggle that he worked out in the presence of God. 73 00:05:56,619 –> 00:06:04,420 The book of Psalms speaks about your soul being downcast, or being in anguish, or even 74 00:06:04,420 –> 00:06:07,059 sometimes grieving. 75 00:06:07,059 –> 00:06:14,079 David speaks in Psalm 77 about a time when his soul refused to be comforted. 76 00:06:14,700 –> 00:06:16,480 And you may have been there. 77 00:06:16,480 –> 00:06:23,399 A time where your very self was in such pain that you were actually resistant to any attempts 78 00:06:23,399 –> 00:06:24,399 to bring comfort. 79 00:06:24,399 –> 00:06:27,320 My soul, he said, refused to be comforted. 80 00:06:27,320 –> 00:06:30,559 That’s how it was for him in the depth of his grief at one time. 81 00:06:30,559 –> 00:06:41,160 Do you remember Jesus said in the Garden, my soul, he said, is overwhelmed with sorrow. 82 00:06:41,160 –> 00:06:47,519 Remember how Simeon, in the Christmas story, said to Mary, when he blessed the child Christ 83 00:06:47,519 –> 00:06:54,459 and he said to Mary, A sword will pierce your soul too. 84 00:06:54,459 –> 00:06:58,559 So the soul can go through great pain, but the soul can be wonderfully revived. 85 00:06:58,559 –> 00:07:08,140 Remember, Psalm 23, the Lord restores my soul so the embitterment, the grief, the overwhelming 86 00:07:08,299 –> 00:07:11,019 sorrow need never be the last word for you. 87 00:07:11,019 –> 00:07:18,019 In Psalm 19 we are told that the law of the Lord, the scriptures, which are trying to 88 00:07:18,040 –> 00:07:24,480 encourage people to read, they revive the soul. 89 00:07:24,480 –> 00:07:27,899 The psalmist says my soul finds the rest in God alone. 90 00:07:27,899 –> 00:07:34,899 Jesus said come to me and you will find rest for your soul. 91 00:07:35,519 –> 00:07:41,899 So, the soul can not only experience times of great trauma, it can be wonderfully revived 92 00:07:41,899 –> 00:07:43,040 and restored. 93 00:07:43,040 –> 00:07:46,299 It can also know heights of incredible joy. 94 00:07:46,299 –> 00:07:50,440 When the angel announced the birth of the Savior to Mary, you remember her response 95 00:07:50,440 –> 00:07:52,260 in that beautiful song. 96 00:07:52,260 –> 00:07:59,260 She sang out, my soul glorifies the Lord and my Spirit rejoices in God my Savior. 97 00:07:59,540 –> 00:08:06,540 And in Psalm 103, one of my favorites, it begins this way, bless the Lord, oh my soul, 98 00:08:06,700 –> 00:08:11,299 and all that is within me, praise His holy name. 99 00:08:11,299 –> 00:08:16,679 So, that’s the ground we’re going to be covering over these next weeks as we take 100 00:08:16,679 –> 00:08:23,679 this journey into the interior of our own lives and look at the secret life of the soul. 101 00:08:24,579 –> 00:08:31,579 Now, to understand what is going on in your soul is one of the most difficult, and yet 102 00:08:31,839 –> 00:08:38,840 at the same time one of the most important skills in the whole of the Christian life. 103 00:08:38,859 –> 00:08:44,799 Now I want to give you an analogy, or a picture, that has helped me, and I hope it will help 104 00:08:44,799 –> 00:08:47,419 you to understand what is going on inside your soul. 105 00:08:47,419 –> 00:08:52,020 I’m going to give you the picture, and then we’ll come to the scriptures in Psalm 115. 106 00:08:52,179 –> 00:08:59,179 I want you to imagine a boardroom with a large, round, polished oak table at the center. 107 00:09:04,799 –> 00:09:09,659 And around this oak table in this magnificent boardroom there are seven chairs. 108 00:09:09,659 –> 00:09:16,659 I’m going to call this the boardroom of the soul. 109 00:09:16,659 –> 00:09:23,380 And I want to introduce you to six of the duly appointed members of the board. 110 00:09:23,380 –> 00:09:34,520 Their names are Mind, Heart, Will, Conscience, Memory, and Imagination. 111 00:09:34,520 –> 00:09:41,159 These faculties of the soul, these six members of the board of your interior life, 112 00:09:41,159 –> 00:09:45,559 are really the mainsprings of all your behavior. 113 00:09:45,559 –> 00:09:52,400 They meet together in secret to debate and to decide the great issues of your life. 114 00:09:52,400 –> 00:09:55,080 Often you will not even be aware of their discussions. 115 00:09:55,080 –> 00:10:00,239 But in the board room of the soul, they hammer out the decisions and the attitudes that you 116 00:10:00,239 –> 00:10:01,619 adopt every day. 117 00:10:01,619 –> 00:10:06,979 They determine the direction of your life. 118 00:10:06,979 –> 00:10:13,479 Now before I take this analogy of the board room any further, there is an important disclaimer. 119 00:10:14,239 –> 00:10:23,119 There are absolutely no references, either open or hidden, to members of the Board of 120 00:10:23,119 –> 00:10:26,200 the Arlington Heights Evangelical Free Church. 121 00:10:26,200 –> 00:10:28,200 Past or present. 122 00:10:28,200 –> 00:10:34,280 Either in this sermon or in any future sermons using this analogy. 123 00:10:34,280 –> 00:10:36,400 Is that on the tape, Al? 124 00:10:36,400 –> 00:10:38,020 Thank you. 125 00:10:38,020 –> 00:10:40,799 Now, follow me with this analogy. 126 00:10:41,700 –> 00:10:44,039 You know how boards operate. 127 00:10:44,039 –> 00:10:49,640 Many of you have served on one, and many of you have served, indeed, on many. 128 00:10:49,640 –> 00:10:57,000 Now, you know that on any board, some members speak a great deal more than others. 129 00:10:57,000 –> 00:11:02,799 Some carry more weight and influence than others. 130 00:11:02,799 –> 00:11:08,219 There is usually one member who says very little, but just occasionally, he or she will 131 00:11:08,320 –> 00:11:11,700 come up with something that saves the day. 132 00:11:11,700 –> 00:11:12,820 Members of the board often disagree. 133 00:11:12,820 –> 00:11:17,359 In fact, it would be a strange board where that did not happen, and sometimes on a board, 134 00:11:17,359 –> 00:11:20,979 there can be hard battles. 135 00:11:20,979 –> 00:11:25,419 Sometimes the board makes good decisions, and 10 years later, the benefits of that decision 136 00:11:25,419 –> 00:11:27,140 are still being enjoyed. 137 00:11:27,140 –> 00:11:32,140 Sometimes the board makes weak decisions, and years later, the pain of it is still being 138 00:11:32,140 –> 00:11:33,900 felt. 139 00:11:33,900 –> 00:11:37,659 Some members of the board come with experience and wisdom to the table. 140 00:11:37,659 –> 00:11:41,400 Others find themselves dealing with issues they do not know how to handle. 141 00:11:41,400 –> 00:11:47,539 Now, all of these things that are true of any board really, are true of the boardroom 142 00:11:47,539 –> 00:11:51,260 of your soul. 143 00:11:51,260 –> 00:11:58,799 Think for a moment about these six board members who sit round the table of your inner life. 144 00:11:58,799 –> 00:12:00,739 The first is Mind. 145 00:12:00,739 –> 00:12:03,780 Picture him now. 146 00:12:03,799 –> 00:12:11,000 He comes in with his bulging briefcase full of information for the meeting. 147 00:12:11,000 –> 00:12:13,140 He of course has a large balding head. 148 00:12:13,140 –> 00:12:14,440 No offence intended. 149 00:12:14,440 –> 00:12:23,020 You know what they say, the best men always come out on top. 150 00:12:23,020 –> 00:12:25,099 Then there is Heart. 151 00:12:25,099 –> 00:12:26,840 Oh, that’s slow. 152 00:12:26,840 –> 00:12:29,780 I know it’s early in the morning. 153 00:12:29,780 –> 00:12:32,099 That’s slow. 154 00:12:32,179 –> 00:12:36,679 There’s not only Mind taking his place with his bulging briefcase at the table, but there’s 155 00:12:36,679 –> 00:12:38,619 also Heart. 156 00:12:38,619 –> 00:12:42,659 Now you never know what he’s going to be feeling when he comes in. 157 00:12:42,659 –> 00:12:44,039 Sometimes he arrives with a smile. 158 00:12:44,039 –> 00:12:45,039 Or she. 159 00:12:45,039 –> 00:12:47,419 You have to make this gender specific for yourself. 160 00:12:47,419 –> 00:12:49,440 I’m only speaking for myself. 161 00:12:49,440 –> 00:12:52,340 Sometimes he arrives with a smile. 162 00:12:52,340 –> 00:12:55,179 Sometimes he arrives with a frown. 163 00:12:55,179 –> 00:12:57,840 Sometimes Heart is angry. 164 00:12:57,840 –> 00:13:01,940 Sometimes he seems broken when he speaks. 165 00:13:01,979 –> 00:13:04,299 Often there’s Will. 166 00:13:04,299 –> 00:13:09,340 He tends to have a very strong personal agenda and can sometimes be quite demanding. 167 00:13:09,340 –> 00:13:12,719 He raises his voice rather too often in board meetings. 168 00:13:12,719 –> 00:13:17,919 He is capable of great determination, but he does not always show it. 169 00:13:17,919 –> 00:13:21,739 Sometimes in fact he has been seen to be rather lazy sitting back in his chair with his feet 170 00:13:21,739 –> 00:13:24,520 on the board table. 171 00:13:24,520 –> 00:13:28,859 Will usually sits beside Heart at board meetings. 172 00:13:28,859 –> 00:13:31,840 And the two of them often vote together. 173 00:13:31,840 –> 00:13:37,900 In fact rumour has it that they meet for coffee before and after board meetings. 174 00:13:37,900 –> 00:13:42,799 And sometimes the two of them overrule mind. 175 00:13:42,799 –> 00:13:44,479 Then there’s conscience. 176 00:13:44,479 –> 00:13:51,960 He of course also has a large briefcase full of papers but he hasn’t always read them. 177 00:13:51,960 –> 00:13:56,020 Sometimes the other members of the board wish that he had a better grasp of what’s right 178 00:13:56,020 –> 00:13:59,159 and wrong so he could give guidance to the other members. 179 00:13:59,159 –> 00:14:02,979 Sometimes there’s been talk of sending him on some kind of course because he’s been so 180 00:14:02,979 –> 00:14:08,119 weak but then other members of the board have noticed that because he’s sometimes weak he 181 00:14:08,119 –> 00:14:14,280 can often be persuaded to vote their way and so no one’s done anything about it. 182 00:14:14,280 –> 00:14:15,900 And then there’s imagination. 183 00:14:15,900 –> 00:14:23,140 As he comes in and takes his seat round the table he has insight that can open up sometimes 184 00:14:23,140 –> 00:14:28,380 in a meeting the way forward that no one else could see. 185 00:14:28,739 –> 00:14:35,719 But he does lack focus and he’s sometimes consumed with trivia and there have been times 186 00:14:35,719 –> 00:14:40,960 when conscience has had to tell imagination, your way out of line. 187 00:14:42,719 –> 00:14:46,059 And then there’s old memory, old memory. 188 00:14:46,059 –> 00:14:49,679 Of course he tends to live in the past. 189 00:14:49,679 –> 00:14:54,059 Sometimes he gets in the way of progress as he goes on at length about the difficulties 190 00:14:54,979 –> 00:14:57,919 that you faced before. 191 00:14:57,919 –> 00:15:06,299 But at other times memory can lead your whole soul into the highest worship of God as he 192 00:15:06,299 –> 00:15:12,900 recollects and tells all the other members of the board about the goodness and the faithfulness 193 00:15:12,900 –> 00:15:15,619 of God in your life. 194 00:15:16,059 –> 00:15:24,580 Now everyone of these board members are present in the inner room of your soul. 195 00:15:24,580 –> 00:15:33,280 And each of these faculties has tremendous potential for good or for evil. 196 00:15:33,280 –> 00:15:39,799 But together, debating it out around the table in your interior life, they will determine 197 00:15:39,979 –> 00:15:47,599 the actions and the attitudes, the direction and the outcome of your life itself. 198 00:15:47,599 –> 00:15:54,479 So, I want to ask the question, how is it in your soul? 199 00:15:54,479 –> 00:16:01,200 We have a medical journal at home, it’s about five inches thick and it lists all kinds of 200 00:16:01,200 –> 00:16:04,760 conditions that can prevail in the body. 201 00:16:04,760 –> 00:16:09,520 If we were to write a book of all the conditions that can exist in the soul, I suggest that 202 00:16:09,539 –> 00:16:11,900 it would be twice the length. 203 00:16:12,840 –> 00:16:18,500 Sometimes your soul will be divided and the whole direction of your life will come out 204 00:16:18,500 –> 00:16:23,520 of some hard-fought battles between your mind, your heart, your conscience in the boardroom 205 00:16:23,520 –> 00:16:28,280 of your soul, and you’ll be very conscious that no man can serve two masters and the 206 00:16:28,280 –> 00:16:31,659 board has to decide that you’re either gonna go one way or the other. 207 00:16:31,659 –> 00:16:34,580 And it’s divided and it’s a battle. 208 00:16:34,580 –> 00:16:38,719 Will wants to go one way, conscious says another, mind says one thing. 209 00:16:38,859 –> 00:16:40,260 Heart’s going a different way. 210 00:16:42,820 –> 00:16:45,140 There may be times when your soul is embittered. 211 00:16:46,359 –> 00:16:54,619 Memory won’t speak to mind and will won’t listen to conscience. 212 00:16:54,619 –> 00:16:57,960 Heart sits there utterly miserable. 213 00:17:00,580 –> 00:17:08,319 Or your soul can get unruly where the heart and the will start asserting their rights, 214 00:17:08,500 –> 00:17:17,939 I want, says will, I feel, says heart, and they won’t listen to the other members of the board. 215 00:17:17,939 –> 00:17:21,160 They shout and silence the others. 216 00:17:21,160 –> 00:17:23,180 Maybe that is going on in you right now. 217 00:17:25,400 –> 00:17:30,040 What is it like in the boardroom of your soul? 218 00:17:30,280 –> 00:17:38,640 Well, over these next weeks, I invite you to join me on a journey of self-examination. 219 00:17:41,140 –> 00:17:49,579 I want you to ask that the Holy Spirit will use the Bible to shine a light into some undiscovered 220 00:17:49,699 –> 00:17:52,660 corners of your soul. 221 00:17:52,660 –> 00:17:59,500 That the Holy Spirit himself will help you to get to know the members of your own soul, 222 00:17:59,500 –> 00:18:04,760 the faculty members who sit round that table. 223 00:18:04,760 –> 00:18:09,959 And that you will not only discover what’s going on but that you will discover from the 224 00:18:09,959 –> 00:18:14,599 scriptures what you can do about it. 225 00:18:14,599 –> 00:18:21,680 I want us to begin in Psalm 115 briefly this morning, where the Psalmist talks about idols 226 00:18:21,680 –> 00:18:25,540 – the things that we put in the place of God. 227 00:18:25,900 –> 00:18:30,500 Let me read again from Psalm 115 and verse 4. 228 00:18:30,500 –> 00:18:35,300 Their idols are silver and gold. 229 00:18:35,300 –> 00:18:40,780 They’re made by the hands of men – and then notice this description of the idols, 230 00:18:40,780 –> 00:18:43,819 which seems very obvious but it’s very important. 231 00:18:43,819 –> 00:18:46,680 They have mouths but they cannot speak. 232 00:18:46,680 –> 00:18:49,880 They have eyes but they cannot see. 233 00:18:50,619 –> 00:18:56,359 Picture this carving of gold or silver or wood or stone. 234 00:18:56,359 –> 00:19:01,719 They have ears but they cannot hear, noses but they cannot smell, hands but they cannot 235 00:19:01,719 –> 00:19:06,640 feel, feet but they cannot walk. 236 00:19:06,640 –> 00:19:08,420 That seems straightforward enough. 237 00:19:08,420 –> 00:19:13,380 Now, look at the punchline which has always fascinated me. 238 00:19:13,939 –> 00:19:29,060 Verse eight, those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” 239 00:19:29,060 –> 00:19:31,099 See what he’s saying? 240 00:19:31,099 –> 00:19:39,420 If you put anything else in the place of God in your life, this is what will happen to you. 241 00:19:39,420 –> 00:19:44,219 You will lose the capacity of spiritual hearing. 242 00:19:44,219 –> 00:19:48,459 You will lose the capacity of spiritual seeing. 243 00:19:48,459 –> 00:19:53,819 You will lose the ability to walk in God’s ways, and you will lose the ability to taste 244 00:19:53,819 –> 00:19:58,219 and to see and to savor that the Lord is good. 245 00:19:58,219 –> 00:20:04,979 If you put anything in the place of God in the long term, its effect will be the shrinking 246 00:20:04,979 –> 00:20:11,859 of the capacity of your soul. 247 00:20:11,859 –> 00:20:14,459 So what are you living for? 248 00:20:14,459 –> 00:20:19,900 Your career? 249 00:20:19,900 –> 00:20:22,219 Approval? 250 00:20:22,219 –> 00:20:24,500 Acceptance? 251 00:20:24,500 –> 00:20:26,979 Success? 252 00:20:26,979 –> 00:20:28,859 Pleasure? 253 00:20:28,859 –> 00:20:34,160 Paul said, for me to live is… 254 00:20:34,180 –> 00:20:35,540 How would you end that sentence? 255 00:20:35,540 –> 00:20:40,640 For me to live is… 256 00:20:40,640 –> 00:20:47,959 If you put anything in the place of Christ, its long-term effect will be the shrinking 257 00:20:47,959 –> 00:20:49,800 of your soul. 258 00:20:49,800 –> 00:20:55,239 Those who trust in the idols become like them and partake of the same qualities that they 259 00:20:56,040 –> 00:21:04,959 that they can’t see, they can’t hear, they can’t feel. 260 00:21:04,959 –> 00:21:12,599 Put anything in the place of God and your soul will shrivel. 261 00:21:12,599 –> 00:21:17,800 So if you want to be everything that you can be, the first thing that you have to do is 262 00:21:17,800 –> 00:21:20,800 to let God be God. 263 00:21:21,119 –> 00:21:22,119 The Bible puts that another way. 264 00:21:22,119 –> 00:21:30,280 It says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 265 00:21:30,280 –> 00:21:34,880 Now there’s a fascinating illustration of this that comes directly out of the Old Testament 266 00:21:34,880 –> 00:21:36,780 story itself. 267 00:21:36,780 –> 00:21:41,280 If you turn back to Deuteronomy and chapter 4, there’re just two cross-references this 268 00:21:41,280 –> 00:21:42,280 morning. 269 00:21:42,280 –> 00:21:49,260 If you want to turn to them, the first is in Deuteronomy and chapter 4 and in this passage 270 00:21:49,260 –> 00:21:58,900 God is speaking to Moses, as about 15-1400 years before Christ, and God is warning the 271 00:21:58,900 –> 00:22:05,160 people about the dangers of idolatry in the future when they get into the land of Canaan. 272 00:22:05,160 –> 00:22:09,900 You’ll notice from verse 25, that God’s speaking about a time when you’ve had children and 273 00:22:09,900 –> 00:22:13,400 grandchildren and lived in the land for a long time. 274 00:22:13,400 –> 00:22:20,579 That’s verse 25, and then God warns them that after generations, if the people turn 275 00:22:20,579 –> 00:22:26,239 to idols, then some pretty terrible things are going to happen. 276 00:22:26,239 –> 00:22:31,520 Verse 27, the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive 277 00:22:31,520 –> 00:22:35,339 among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. 278 00:22:35,339 –> 00:22:44,540 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, or eat, 279 00:22:44,540 –> 00:22:45,859 or smell. 280 00:22:45,859 –> 00:22:48,540 But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you’ll find Him, if you look for Him with 281 00:22:48,540 –> 00:22:51,880 all your heart, and with all your Notice-It soul. 282 00:22:51,880 –> 00:23:01,859 Now, God is warning them about the dangers of worshiping a god of stone. 283 00:23:01,880 –> 00:23:07,219 And he’s talking about a time generations on – in fact, 800 years on – in the time 284 00:23:07,219 –> 00:23:11,579 of Jeremiah and the time of Ezekiel. 285 00:23:11,579 –> 00:23:16,400 And 800 years later, in the time of Jeremiah, and in the time of Ezekiel, what God warned 286 00:23:16,400 –> 00:23:20,359 them about, worshiping gods of wood and stone, was exactly what happened. 287 00:23:20,359 –> 00:23:24,020 And I want you to turn now and see what Jeremiah says about it. 288 00:23:24,339 –> 00:23:27,359 Jeremiah chapter 5, and verse 3. 289 00:23:27,359 –> 00:23:34,199 Jeremiah chapter 5, and verse 3. 290 00:23:34,199 –> 00:23:38,319 And here now, 800 years later, what God had warned them about is happening. 291 00:23:38,319 –> 00:23:39,640 They have turned to idols. 292 00:23:39,640 –> 00:23:42,959 There is this worshiping of wood and stone. 293 00:23:42,959 –> 00:23:44,280 And now Jeremiah says this, 294 00:23:44,280 –> 00:23:47,959 O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth? 295 00:23:47,959 –> 00:23:54,020 You struck them, but they felt no pain. 296 00:23:54,020 –> 00:23:56,079 Isn’t that interesting? 297 00:23:56,079 –> 00:24:05,060 The capacity of feeling responsiveness to God, even in His discipline, has gone. 298 00:24:05,060 –> 00:24:09,400 You crushed them, but they refused correction. 299 00:24:09,400 –> 00:24:14,420 They made their faces harder than, guess what? 300 00:24:14,420 –> 00:24:15,979 Stone. 301 00:24:16,020 –> 00:24:19,959 God refused to repent. 302 00:24:19,959 –> 00:24:25,760 Those who make them, those who trust them, become like them. 303 00:24:25,760 –> 00:24:31,040 God warned them about the danger of putting something else in His place, and 800 years 304 00:24:31,040 –> 00:24:32,040 it happened. 305 00:24:32,040 –> 00:24:37,859 And when it happened, the effect was that these people lost sensitivity and responsiveness 306 00:24:37,859 –> 00:24:38,859 to God. 307 00:24:38,859 –> 00:24:44,439 Even when God spoke to them powerfully, they were not responsive. 308 00:24:44,439 –> 00:24:49,160 And Ezekiel speaking at the same period and in the same circumstances, of course, speaks 309 00:24:49,160 –> 00:24:51,180 of something very, very wonderful. 310 00:24:51,180 –> 00:24:56,239 Do you remember, he speaks about people who have a heart of stone. 311 00:24:56,239 –> 00:24:58,680 How did they get that? 312 00:24:58,680 –> 00:25:00,339 Because they worshipped gods of stone. 313 00:25:00,339 –> 00:25:03,239 They became like that, hardened inside. 314 00:25:03,239 –> 00:25:08,619 And Ezekiel says God’s going to do a miracle and take your heart of stone and make it again 315 00:25:08,619 –> 00:25:13,439 and make it a heart of flesh. 316 00:25:13,439 –> 00:25:20,300 You see this principle that when you disobey the law of God, when you put something in 317 00:25:20,300 –> 00:25:28,420 the place of God, you injure yourself and you shrink and shrivel the capacity of your 318 00:25:28,420 –> 00:25:34,219 own soul, and end up in a very, very shallow life. 319 00:25:34,219 –> 00:25:38,520 Now, I’ve given an illustration from Scripture. 320 00:25:38,520 –> 00:25:45,300 Let me give to you an illustration from secular literature, which I found interesting. 321 00:25:45,300 –> 00:25:49,859 Most of you will know of the Scottish National poet Robert Burns, perhaps best known, of 322 00:25:49,859 –> 00:25:54,140 course, for the song that gets sung every New Year, Auld Lang Syne. 323 00:25:54,140 –> 00:25:55,880 Robert Burns. 324 00:25:55,880 –> 00:26:01,439 Are there blank looks and expressions on faces here this morning, or are we with Auld Lang 325 00:26:01,439 –> 00:26:02,439 Syne? 326 00:26:02,439 –> 00:26:03,439 Good. 327 00:26:03,439 –> 00:26:04,439 That’s fine. 328 00:26:04,439 –> 00:26:06,140 I’m not commending it to you, I’m just quoting it. 329 00:26:06,520 –> 00:26:14,099 Burns wrote many poems, most of them, frankly, in such broad Scots that even I have to confess 330 00:26:14,099 –> 00:26:17,280 difficulty in understanding them. 331 00:26:17,280 –> 00:26:20,099 He was a profoundly religious man. 332 00:26:20,099 –> 00:26:25,959 He knew his way around the kirk – he would have been there at the communion service. 333 00:26:25,959 –> 00:26:34,180 He was also an incurable romantic who gave himself to a lifestyle of wine, women, and 334 00:26:34,180 –> 00:26:35,900 song. 335 00:26:35,939 –> 00:26:42,880 In one of his poems, in which he describes that lifestyle that he had chosen, he laments 336 00:26:42,880 –> 00:26:59,119 what he calls the serfecht which is, being translated, the sore fact that it petrifies 337 00:26:59,119 –> 00:27:01,280 the feeling. 338 00:27:01,280 –> 00:27:03,280 It’s what he says. 339 00:27:03,280 –> 00:27:09,339 The way he’s lived, the serfecht is that it petrifies the feeling. 340 00:27:09,339 –> 00:27:23,400 In other words, it freezes, turns to stone, petrifies the capacity to feel. 341 00:27:23,420 –> 00:27:33,520 He found that his lifestyle reduced his own capacity to love, not just to love God, but 342 00:27:33,520 –> 00:27:36,180 to love anybody. 343 00:27:36,180 –> 00:27:40,619 To receive love, to give love. 344 00:27:40,619 –> 00:27:47,699 His own heart was petrified by his indulgence. 345 00:27:47,699 –> 00:27:53,680 Truths who make them become like them. 346 00:27:53,680 –> 00:28:00,160 In his earlier life he had felt love and joy and life coursing through his veins, he had 347 00:28:00,160 –> 00:28:02,160 savored life deeply. 348 00:28:02,160 –> 00:28:07,119 But gradually he noticed his own capacity to love was diminished. 349 00:28:07,119 –> 00:28:11,560 His level of joy was less than it was before. 350 00:28:11,560 –> 00:28:19,199 He found he wanted to feel what he knew he once felt but he couldn’t feel it anymore. 351 00:28:19,199 –> 00:28:24,479 And what he had once tasted was beyond his reach. 352 00:28:24,479 –> 00:28:28,839 Now that’s what sin does. 353 00:28:28,839 –> 00:28:37,239 One of the difficulties in many of our relationships is that sin has just reduced our capacity. 354 00:28:37,239 –> 00:28:38,739 It shrivels the soul. 355 00:28:38,739 –> 00:28:40,760 It petrifies the feeling. 356 00:28:40,760 –> 00:28:49,060 Those who put something else in the place of God become like stone, and it’s not just 357 00:28:49,060 –> 00:28:54,880 that we lose the capacity to feel, for sin blunts the capacities of all the faculties 358 00:28:54,880 –> 00:28:55,880 of the soul. 359 00:28:55,880 –> 00:28:58,219 It blunts the mind so that we no longer think clearly. 360 00:28:58,219 –> 00:29:02,540 That’s why people make ridiculous decisions sometimes. 361 00:29:02,540 –> 00:29:08,660 It saps the will so that someone says, ought I can’t do anything about it. 362 00:29:08,660 –> 00:29:09,939 It sears the conscience. 363 00:29:09,939 –> 00:29:13,380 It distorts the memory. 364 00:29:13,380 –> 00:29:18,300 Jesus said that there’s an enemy who’s come to steal, and to kill, and destroy. 365 00:29:18,300 –> 00:29:24,739 That’s what sin does to you over a period of time. 366 00:29:24,739 –> 00:29:30,420 Pride shrivels your capacity to worship, so you come there and you stand and feel and 367 00:29:30,420 –> 00:29:34,640 do nothing. 368 00:29:34,900 –> 00:29:41,099 Greed strangles the ability to show compassion. 369 00:29:41,099 –> 00:29:47,219 Lust eats away and erodes your own ability to love. 370 00:29:47,219 –> 00:29:54,020 Anger makes it so hard for you to do the will of God. 371 00:29:54,020 –> 00:29:56,739 So what hope is there for a shriveled soul? 372 00:29:56,739 –> 00:30:03,280 That’s the greatest promise of the gospel, isn’t it? 373 00:30:03,300 –> 00:30:09,380 I will take your heart of stone, God says through Ezekiel. 374 00:30:09,380 –> 00:30:14,479 And I will give you a heart of flesh. 375 00:30:14,479 –> 00:30:19,699 We’ve just celebrated Christmas and the Incarnation — the Son of God takes human flesh, he becomes 376 00:30:19,699 –> 00:30:26,260 a man, and becoming a man, of course, not only meant His assuming our flesh, it meant 377 00:30:26,260 –> 00:30:33,880 that He assumed to Himself the capacities of a human soul, a mind that had to learn 378 00:30:33,880 –> 00:30:45,060 the Bible, a heart that was moved with compassion, a will that was seen as He set His face to 379 00:30:45,060 –> 00:30:49,660 go to Jerusalem, and in the Garden, said, Not what I will, but your will be done as 380 00:30:49,660 –> 00:30:53,280 He aligns and submits His will to the will of the Father. 381 00:30:53,280 –> 00:30:54,359 A conscience. 382 00:30:54,359 –> 00:30:55,920 Yes, a conscience. 383 00:30:56,459 –> 00:31:00,780 We have conscience that operates retroactively, makes us feel bad about something that we’ve 384 00:31:00,780 –> 00:31:06,420 done, but conscience at its best operates proactively, warning us of approaching danger. 385 00:31:06,420 –> 00:31:10,699 You see that, for example, when a crowd of people wanted to make Jesus king by force, 386 00:31:10,699 –> 00:31:14,359 and He realized the danger, and He walked immediately away from it, that’s why He 387 00:31:14,359 –> 00:31:15,420 didn’t see. 388 00:31:17,900 –> 00:31:22,180 Think of the imagination of Christ, the parables, taking the things of heaven and bringing them 389 00:31:22,180 –> 00:31:25,140 right down to earth. 390 00:31:25,140 –> 00:31:29,859 Think of the memory of Christ, how He could draw a line and forgive all manner of things, 391 00:31:29,859 –> 00:31:32,199 even to His enemies. 392 00:31:32,199 –> 00:31:41,300 Now, imagine if His Spirit could enter your soul. 393 00:31:41,300 –> 00:31:48,160 That’s the greatest promise of the gospel. 394 00:31:48,160 –> 00:31:49,339 Think of that boardroom. 395 00:31:49,439 –> 00:31:55,800 There were seven chairs and I introduced you to six members. 396 00:31:55,800 –> 00:32:03,900 Imagine if you can picture it at all, the Holy Spirit of God coming into the boardroom 397 00:32:03,900 –> 00:32:12,180 of your interior life and He sits in that vacant chair and instead of the old system 398 00:32:12,180 –> 00:32:16,060 that you used to have of all of the different members taking the chairmanship in turn, He 399 00:32:16,219 –> 00:32:27,599 assumes the presiding role and He says now this life is going to move in a new direction. 400 00:32:27,599 –> 00:32:31,199 Mind, you’re going to need to get renewed. 401 00:32:31,199 –> 00:32:34,520 Heart, we’re going to need to get you opened up and changed. 402 00:32:34,520 –> 00:32:38,239 Will, we’re going to need to get you redirected. 403 00:32:38,239 –> 00:32:40,439 Conscience, we’re going to need to get you educated. 404 00:32:40,439 –> 00:32:43,199 Imagination, we’re going to need to get you focused. 405 00:32:43,199 –> 00:32:48,260 Memory, we’re going to need to get you trained. 406 00:32:48,260 –> 00:32:53,599 And a whole new direction begins for the board under new management. 407 00:32:53,599 –> 00:32:58,199 Oh, there’ll still be many battles and we’re going to talk about them over these next weeks, 408 00:32:58,199 –> 00:33:01,560 but it must start here. 409 00:33:01,560 –> 00:33:04,819 Let God be God. 410 00:33:04,819 –> 00:33:10,680 And the reason that Jesus Christ has come into the world is that we live in an environment 411 00:33:10,680 –> 00:33:17,160 where sin is stealing and killing and destroying and he said, I am come that you may have life 412 00:33:17,160 –> 00:33:20,260 and that you may have it to the full. 413 00:33:20,260 –> 00:33:24,479 And where we put our trust in Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God comes into the presiding 414 00:33:24,479 –> 00:33:29,719 position in the chair of the soul. 415 00:33:29,719 –> 00:33:34,819 Where the Spirit of The Lord is, the Bible says, there will be freedom. 416 00:33:34,819 –> 00:33:43,859 As with unveiled faces we begin to be changed from one degree of glory into another. 417 00:33:43,859 –> 00:33:54,060 Sin will make you less, God will make you more. 418 00:33:54,060 –> 00:33:56,099 Let’s pray together. 419 00:33:56,819 –> 00:34:01,780 Our Father, our interior life is often a mystery to us, 420 00:34:04,339 –> 00:34:10,340 but we know for sure that unless you are in the presiding chair of our interior life 421 00:34:12,260 –> 00:34:14,020 we’re not going to go the right direction. 422 00:34:15,860 –> 00:34:20,739 So we want to begin this year by submitting ourselves to you and through faith in Jesus 423 00:34:20,739 –> 00:34:32,100 Christ opening our lives as best we know to you and asking that you will come and give leadership 424 00:34:32,100 –> 00:34:41,300 to us in our inner lives. Thank you that Christ has come. Thank you that he gave himself 425 00:34:42,739 –> 00:34:49,540 so that people who have been left with a shriveled stony heart because of long 426 00:34:49,620 –> 00:34:56,419 set patterns of bad choices may have the opportunity of being wonderfully renewed 427 00:34:57,459 –> 00:35:04,739 and changed from the inside. Hear our prayers, oh Father, and may this be the beginning of a 428 00:35:04,739 –> 00:35:14,500 new work in our lives by your spirit in these days through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 429 00:35:14,500 –> 00:35:21,219 you’ve been listening to a sermon with pastor colin smith of open the bible 430 00:35:21,219 –> 00:35:28,260 to contact us call us at one eight seven seven open three six five or visit our website open 431 00:35:28,260 –> 00:35:39,060 the bible dot org