Good morning and welcome in today.
Today we’re going to look at some scripture from second Timothy chapter four. But before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story that happened to our family on a road trip down to New Mexico.
Many of you are aware that when you keep an atlas in your vehicle, it is very helpful to find the right way to go. It shows us the roads that we need to stay on in order to get to our final destination. It’s very easy to get lost if you don’t follow the directions on the map. One wrong turn can completely lead you off the wrong way. A lot of us have done that.
The instance in my life I can remember is being somewhere by New Mexico and taking a wrong turn. I kept driving for half an hour, but it seemed like I was on a rural highway. Eventually it started going up the side of a mountain. Fifteen minutes later, it started to turn into gravel and go through some switchbacks. I knew now that I had gone the wrong way. Five more minutes down the road it turned into an unmaintained forestry road. I was completely off course.
I finally found a place to turn around and went back the way I came. I eventually did find the spot where I had made my wrong turn, got back on the right road, and continued on with our trip.
The Bible is a roadmap that leads us to eternal life, but we have to follow the things that are written in it. We have to obey what it says, otherwise, we will start heading the wrong way.
A lot has changed since I got lost back then. In the new cars today, they have a voice that tells you which way to turn. You have to listen to it as it leads you to your destination. If you choose not to listen, you’re going to end up in the wrong place.
2 Tim 4:4
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Imagine driving through a big city in your car and the voice says you need to turn left but you turn right instead. At that point you’re choosing not to follow the directions. Some people today who profess to be Christian are doing the very same thing.
The Bible is the truth.
John 17:17 – Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
A lot of people don’t want to listen to the truth today, but in order to get to heaven you have to be able to hear the truth. You have to be able to listen to it.
John 8:32 – And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
God’s word is our moral compass. When people don’t receive it or hear it, they can get caught up in sin. It’s only through accepting what the Bible says, that you recover yourselves out of the snare of sin. It is the acceptance of truth that sets us free from our sinful condition. God’s truth instructs us corrects us and leads us on the right path.
Think about having a dad, who warns you not to do something. Instead of listening to him, you plug your ears and then do the thing that he told you not to do. You have to suffer the consequences for what you did. God wants us to listen to Him because he wants to show us the way to a better life. The wages of sin is death.
2 Timothy 3:16 – All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
In order to become righteous, we need to listen to the instructions that we are given in God’s Holy Word. When the bible says it, then you need to follow it.
How many of you have been driving down the road, following the map, but then decided that you know a better way or a shortcut? There’s no shortcuts with God’s truth. I’ve always taught the Bible says what it means and it means what it says. It’s up to each of us if we’re going to decide that we are going to submit and follow it. God allows us to make u turns just like I did when I was temporarily lost up in the mountain.
He does this so we can get back on the correct road. God grants us mercy and grace through His Son Jesus Christ so that we can become obedient to His will. It’s so that we can serve Him and obey Him.
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Did you know that when you turn away from something, it literally means to turn one’s body, head or eyes in a completely different direction. It means to turn away from a fixed course.
Think about all the airplanes that fly around in the world today. They fly across huge oceans but they have to make stops in order to fuel. There’s some very small islands in the ocean that if they don’t stay on a fixed course, they’re gonna miss them completely. It’s a very narrow Flight Plan.
In order to get all the way home to heaven to be with Jesus someday, we need to stay on our fixed course.
The Bible is our map to heaven. You cannot reject it, you cannot dismiss it, you cannot turn a turn a deaf ear to what it says, otherwise, you’re going to miss the place that you’re intending to go to.
Matthew 13:15
“For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
In order for conversion to happen in each of our lives we have to open up our ears to the truth of Scripture. You might not listen to somebodys opinion at work, or somebody else’s ideas, but if you’re professing to be a Christian, you have to hear Gods voice in scripture. You have to hear in from your heart and let it sink in deep. You don’t add to it, you don’t subtract from it, you don’t change it. It’s by scriptures that we are convicted and convinced that we are going the wrong way.
God gives us grace and mercy as we need it. We can come boldly to in the time of need. A Christian is not perfect but is working towards perfection. A Christian is under construction each day through God’s grace. He provides us forgiveness so that we can get back on course.
Covering your eyes from what the Bible teaches, or closing your ears from the truth of Scripture will only lead down the road of pain and sorrow. God’s way, is the best way. God wants to lead us on a better path. He wants to show us how to love him perfectly, and then to love others, but you have to keep focused on the map.
Zechariah 7:11 – But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
You know why in the flesh that we don’t want to listen? It’s because it means that you will have to accept the truth that you’re wrong. It means that we have to accept the truth that we are in error. We have to accept the truth that we have gone the wrong way. We have to accept the truth that we have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We have to accept the truth that we must humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, because only then, can He lift us up.
God simply wants us to confess our sin. That means to make an admission of fault so that he can forgive us.
Hebrews 12:25 – See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
When you refuse it means to indicate or show that one is not willing to do something. Many people today are not willing to accept the truth that they have sinned.
Hebrews 5:11 – Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing
Acts 7:57 – Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,
2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 – And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
In order to get to heaven, you have to love that roadmap.
Have you ever had an atlas in your vehicle and tried to keep it pristine and in really good condition? You really cared for that atlas because it guided you and showed you the way. In order to get to heaven we need to take care of our map. We must love the truth of scripture, otherwise, we can get off on the wrong path and start to believe a lie.
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
A Fable is a fictitious story. It’s not true. It’s not based in Scripture.
Today I ask you, are you following the roadmap? Are you following the directions? Are you listening to what you’ve been taught from the scriptures?
Let’s think about those things for today and Lord willing, we’ll talk to you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye Bye, everybody.
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 