Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Back in the late 90s, I was looking at purchasing an old two-door car to use as a backup work vehicle. The passenger door was completely caved in because it had recently been in a car accident, but the price that they were asking was very reasonable, so I bought it. But the first few times that I drove it, you needed a strong grip on the steering wheel, because it had a tendency to pull hard to one side. When I finally checked out the front tires, I knew that it was going to need an alignment. If you have ever had this done before, a mechanic will adjust the angles of the front wheels of your vehicle by measuring the camber and toe angles, which are the wheel tilt and wheel direction adjustments. Just like somebody who walks a little pigeon-toed, your front tires can do the same thing, but at the shop they can correct these issues and bring them into the manufacturer’s specifications. When they are properly aligned, the tires will be in complete harmony with each other, heading down the road in the exact same direction.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
In order to get down the narrow path of Christ Jesus, some people will have to do their own front end alignment. Like a mechanic, they will have to examine their own hearts and make sure that their lifestyle is aligned with the teachings of Holy Scripture. To be in the faith is going to require bringing ourselves into compliance with Divine specifications, until like perfectly matched tires on a car, our lives match perfectly with the teachings of the Holy Spirit.
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 2 Corinthians 13:5
Have you ever noticed that when tires are not aligned properly, they will fight against each other. One will pull to the left, while the other will pull to the right. It’s the same struggle that happens between the carnal nature and the Divine nature.
“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
God is trying to take us one way but our flesh wants to go the other. Like fighting a tire on your car, if you don’t get it corrected, it will pull you right into the ditch.
Romans 8 ⁵ For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
⁶ For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. ⁸ So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
The only way to fix this problem is to bring ourselves into alignment with the will of God, and the tools that we need have already been given to us through the teachings of scripture. Through humble submission to His Word, we can make the adjustments needed in order to walk perfectly with Him. But just because you have tools out in the garage doesn’t necessarily mean that anything is going to get fixed. In order to repair our relationship with God, it first requires humility! This is one of the reasons why pride is so deadly, because when someone is filled up with it, they will refuse to make any attempt to fix what is wrong. It’s like someone having a leaky pipe under their sink but they don’t bother to address the issue at all. It continues to leak every single day, because they won’t do anything about it. I guarantee that you never want to be that negligent when it comes to matters concerning your faith.
“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;……Hebrews 2:3
Many people neglect their faith by refusing to look into their own hearts and judge themselves. In order to do this requires humbly accepting the error of your way, but once again, pride is a huge obstacle to that process. If you cannot judge yourselves, then you will never be able to sincerely repent of your sins, which is why the Apostle warned the church to humble themselves before God.
James 4 ⁶ But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. ⁹ Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
When you examine yourself, you will look deep inside of your heart in order to determine the nature, condition and the quality of the faith that you profess. If the things that you believe don’t agree with the teachings of scripture, then some adjustments are going to need to be made. Remember that the scriptures were written by many different men who were filled up with the Holy Spirit of God. This means that those who claim that they are in the faith, should be in complete agreement with the things that they taught.
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13
“If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 14:37
Eternal life can only be obtained when you finally believe in God’s Word enough, that you do what it says. Only then will the results of transformation, conversion and sanctification appear in one’s life. Repentance cannot be ignored, thinking that the issue is going to disappear if you ignore it long enough. But this is exactly what people do when they begin closing their ears to the truth of scripture. Rather than judging themselves and accepting the error of their way, they will turn a blind eye to the truth instead.
1 Corinthians 11 ³¹ For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. ³² But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
I suppose that I could have driven my car the way that it was, but I could not handle driving like that anymore. It had to be fixed, so I took it into the shop, which is exactly what people must do with their own hearts.
Are you sick and tired of the way that you have lived your life? Are you ashamed of all the stupid things that you have done? Are you humble enough to admit your wayward lifestyle? Is your heart in need of repair? How long is it going to take, until you finally bring yourself in, for a…..
……Front End Alignment
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤️
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Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 