The Simplicity That is in Christ

Well, a couple weeks ago, in Orlando, in Jacksonville, I talked about resistance.

I talked about how that is something that plagues all of us. Resistance is one of those things that's a natural part of our human nature. We hear things, we have our own ideas, we don't want to do the things that we hear sometimes. It's just part of that resistance to God that we have that Paul talks about in Romans 8 verse 7 when he says the carnal mind is enmity against God, is not subject to the law of God. And the resistance that we feel is just something that happens to us, you know, whether we are in the church, whether we have God's Holy Spirit or not. It's something that you and I will wrestle with the rest of our lives because there are times in our lives that we will hear something about ourselves, hear something that we should be doing, read something in the Bible, hear something in a sermon, hear something that someone says, and we know it's the right thing, but we just don't want to do it. We want to believe that we're exempt from some of the things that we hear and that God sees things the way we do and understands. And that resistance, as I said, is going to plague us the rest of our lives. It won't be until we are born into the kingdom, as spirit beings, that that resistance will disappear, as God perfects us, but it's something that we have to work on, as I mentioned, all through our lives. You know, it's not just in things in the church. We see that we see the resistance happen in our children. Even in our young children, we see as early as ages one and two, that resistance begin to develop in them. Something, as parents, you know, we might look at and see, wow, even so early, I say something and the child either gives us a look, refuses to do it, takes a stand, or whatever it is. It's something that is just built into us. As we grow older, it's our ideas that we don't want to let go of, and if we hear someone say something that's different than our idea about something, we may tend to resist it. Something that we may hold dear to our hearts. We may resist if we learn that that may not be exactly in the way God would have us think, look, or act, or behave. We all are self-sufficient. We learn that, and we're all dependent on the world and have grown up in a world where there is dependence and reliance, and we've come to live in a world and to rely on it to extent. And when God says, come out of the world, that can be a difficult thing, a difficult thing to do. You know, it's very simple to say, trust in God. It's very simple to say, rely on God. Very simple to say, wait on God. But it's another thing to do it, isn't it? It's another thing to do it. We hear it, we would say, yes, we agree with it, but then what do our actions do? Do we yield to God? Those things, are we growing in those areas? Or does that natural resistance tell us, no, we need to take matters into our own hands and we need to make something happen if God doesn't act right away. Turn with me this morning to 2 Corinthians 11. 2 Corinthians 11.

And in verse 2, Paul, in a very heartfelt letter to the Corinthians, makes some points in this epistle about our relationship and our submission, if you will, to Jesus Christ and what our goals as Christians are. 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 2, he says, For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Now, when we read the words, chaste virgin, probably, at least I hope maybe that automatically triggers Revelation 14 in your mind, where we know that God is working with us and as we yield to God and as his Holy Spirit works in us, as he cleans us up, as he removes from us our ideas and that resistance that we have to him, that we become pure. Pure in religion, pure in mind, clean conscience, completely dedicated to him, no longer held back by the cares of the world, no longer held back by our old religious ideas or what the world around us says, oh, believe this, that we try to maybe want to believe but don't ever really let go of and fully, fully commit to God and ask him to cleanse our minds and hearts. Paul says, it's my job. I betrothed you to Christ, to present to you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, in verse 3, he goes on to say, somehow as the serpent is saved Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ, the simplicity that is in Christ.

Now, when you think of the Bible, when you think of what we've been taught, when you read through God's word of truth, it is not simple in the way of it's, you know, has no wisdom in it. It's simple in that it's under, it's easy to understand. The words are crisp and clear. There's no, there's no way that we can misinterpret what God says. He makes the crystal clear in very short, concise statements what his will for us is and the way of life that he wants us to live. When you look up the Greek word that's translated simplicity there, it means singleness, singleness. There's one way, one way to follow God, one way to live that way, one way that Paul, under the inspiration of God, was teaching the Corinthians. Remember, God said there's one law for the native born. There's the same law for the foreigner. One law, no complication, no questions, no exceptions, no exemptions do you find in God's law. It is crystal clear. It is simple.

Simple to understand, but almost no one on earth does it. Almost no one on earth does it.

You know, as I was looking at the commentaries and I was looking at the concordance, there's the simplicity and the way of life. God did call us to a way of life, not just to rotely obey physically the things to do, but that becomes part of us. It's the way we operate, the way we do things. But Barnes notes also mentions that in the simplicity, there's simplicity in the doctrines of truth that we adhere to as well. He makes this comment. He says that Paul is saying that he doesn't want you to stray from the simplicity that is in Christ, that is, from his pure doctrines, that we would stray by the admixture of philosophy, or by the opinions of the world. There was danger in that their minds would be turned away from the simple truths Christ taught. The simple truths. Clear to understand. His way is simple to understand. His words are clear. There is no room for misinterpretation unless we are looking to misinterpret them because we resist doing them the way God said. And so he lays that out for us and says simple statements like, follow me. If you love me, keep my commandments.

Do my will. Do the will of my Father. Trust me. Believe me. Simple statements. If we who believe are paying attention to what God said and not resisting them or thinking we have a better way or a better interpretation or that we're exempt or we have a special circumstance somehow that makes us not have to do things exactly the way God said, because that's not the case. There's no exceptions in the Bible for anyone. Same law, same way of life for everyone that God calls. If we go back a few chapters in 2 Corinthians, back to the forward, I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 13, forward a couple chapters. 2 Corinthians 13 and verse 9.

Paul, as he's wrapping up this letter to the Corinthians, he says, we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. As you read through 2 Corinthians, you see Paul make some statements there that kind of reveals exactly where his interest is and the love he has for the brethren and what he is willing to sacrifice because he's so interested in them inheriting the promises that God gave them and being part of the kingdom. So he says, we're glad when we are weak and you are strong. It makes him happy when he saw the church living by God's way, strong in the faith, trusting in him, relying in him. And this also we pray that you may be made complete. That you may be made complete. Verse 10, therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction. You know, Paul, people would misinterpret some of the things he said. He could be sharp in his writings, he said, but it wasn't because he was mad at the people or he wanted them to leave. He was doing it to build them up. He was building them to get them on the right track. The same thing any minister of God does. Sometimes you have to be sharp. Get back on the track. Get back to the simplicity that is in Christ. Get rid of the resistance. Get rid of all the associated or outlying things that are holding you back. In the same epistle, Paul said, you know, it's not us. It's not us, Corinthians, that's holding you back. It's your own affections that are holding you back. Your own affections, the things that you are resisting to let go of and trust in God. In verse 11, then, he says, finally, brethren, farewell, become complete.

Become complete. God's given us his word. We don't need to turn to 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. It says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. It contains everything we need to live the life that God wants us to live. Verse 17 says, he's given it to us so that the man of God may be complete. May be complete. That's our goal. To become complete people as God defines complete. That we are living in the simplicity that is Christ. Completely yielded to him and believing and living by the words he said, free of all the other things that we might attach to it or try to want to add to it or take away from it, his word. That we might be complete. So mark down, goal as Christian. Let's live in the simplicity. Grow in the simplicity that is Christ. Let's become complete. And it's a process that we go through the rest of our lives. A process that we go through the rest of our lives. It doesn't happen overnight. We aren't baptized, hands laid on us, received the Holy Spirit, and we become complete people. It's the rest of our lives that we work on this. And the worst of our lives that we develop the traits that God wants us to have.

Let's go back to the first chapter of 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 1.

And pick it up in verse 9. Paul, again, as he introduces his letter, he's reminding the church in Corinth that he and those who were with him did suffer many things for them, and they were happy to suffer those things for the edification of the church. In verse 9 he says, yes, 2 Corinthians 1 verse 9, yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.

Look at Paul's attitude. We had the sentence of death. What we learned from that is not to trust in ourselves. How do we get out of this? Who's the cleverest attorney that we can hire, but to trust in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, verse 10, and does deliver us, in whom we trust that he will still deliver us. You also, helping together in prayer for us, because we're all part of this work, the prayers that we offer to God, they are comfort to those that are sick. They are comfort to those who are in other trials. They are comfort, and they're pleasing to God when he sees that we're all interested in praying for each other. You also, helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many. For our boasting, Paul says, is this, the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity. Same Greek word that we read back there in chapter 11, that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, doing the things exactly the way God said, learning to trust, rely, have faith, and do the things that he said in looking to him for everything that we need, something we grow in, and something that we work toward, because God is interested in us becoming complete. And part of that being coming complete is completely giving our hearts, minds, and souls to him.

For our boasting is this, verse 12, the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, not with fleshly wisdom. We didn't look to the world when we had these trials. We learned to look to God. We learned to take it to him in the simplicity that is Christ, believing what he says, trusting that when he says, I can provide all the things that you need, he really can do it. And we really do believe he can do it. So Paul says we conducted ourselves in this way, not with fleshly wisdom. We didn't look to the world, how do I handle this? How would they handle it? How would I do this? I don't know that I completely trust God to take care of it. I have to have the wisdom of the world mixed in with what I'm doing, and we all do it. None of us are exempt. We're all part. We've grown up in the world. We have this to work on, to completely trust and give ourselves completely and wholly to God. That will become more and more necessary as time goes on. As we get closer and closer to the return of Jesus Christ, now is the time for us to be working on that. Not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God and more abundantly toward you.

Got down to verse 17 here in the chapter. Paul makes some interesting comments here that kind of illustrate the simplicity, the simplicity that is Jesus Christ. He says, therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly or the thing I plan? Do I plan, according to the flesh, that with me there should be, yes, yes and no, no? Do I do all these things saying, okay, well, what if this happens and what if that happens and what about this and what about that? Do I plan that way according to the flesh? Well, what if this occurs? What am I going to do now? Do I plan and have everything altered because of everything that might happen? Or is the plan devised by God and we trust in Him that if it's led by Him and guided by Him and He's directing our paths and our steps that it will occur? 18. But as God is faithful, our word to you was not yes and no. We didn't kind of give you an either-or, like, well, maybe. Yeah, maybe that'll happen. Our word to you wasn't yes or no for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me, Salvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no, but in Him it was yes. Yes!

For all the promises of God in Him are yes and in Him, amen, to the glory of God. Yes! What God says He will do. Yes, He will deliver. Yes, He will provide. Yes, we can trust in Him. Yes, we can rely on Him. Yes, we can come out of the world and trust that He will lead us and guide us. Yes, we are in a learning process and yes, He will give us the opportunities to become who He wants us to become if we're paying attention to our lives, if we are examining ourselves, as it also says in 2 Corinthians 13.

Where are we in the faith? Are we progressing in that? Are we becoming more like the pure, chaste versions God is looking for? Are we living in the simplicity that is Christ, that we know His is only yes, that He can provide everything, everything? You know, sometimes when I talk with people, and they may have a question or a problem they want to talk about, I will usually talk about trust in God. I will usually say every answer to every problem we have as human beings, whether it's relationship, financial, you name it, the answer is in the Bible.

God gave us a complete book so that we may be complete in every way we are. What we need is the Bible. What we need is to know His word. What we need is to search the scriptures, seek God, seek His will, and He will show us what the answer is. And sometimes when I say that, and you know, I say what people probably think, oh, those are wrote answers, trust in God, rely in God, but I kind of sense it's like, really? That's all you have?

There's got to be other wisdom. I need to go outside. I need to go outside. There's other answers outside the church that will help me through this problem. And I'm not saying that there's no books out there that don't help. I've read many books, and the books that I keep are the ones that when I read, I think, you know what? That helps me understand and explain the way that God would have it be that's in His word.

Other books I buy, they propose themselves one way, and then I hear all this mumbo-jumbo of philosophy and psychological this and psychological that, and I think, no, that's applying man's wisdom to it. The book goes out the door. What we need is God's word. What we do need is help. What we do need is to keep ourselves in God's word and believe He can provide the answers and that His answers are with us and not in the fleshly wisdom of the world.

There is some good wisdom out there, but there is discernment that needs to happen with it as well. You know, I mentioned a couple weeks ago about Sigmund Freud and the development of the psychological field and psychoanalysis, and he learned some good things about people and how our minds work, including this idea of resistance. And when you can work with people and try to help them, they develop this resistance.

We don't want to do what you say. Even among the people that he was working with, it had some severe problems. And his associate, who later became known on his own as this man Otto Rank, developed the same thing. Remember what he called it? That he recalled that resistance, the counter will, against what those who are instructing you to do.

It's a natural thing of God. It echoes what Romans 8.7 is. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It was going to resist God. It thinks there's some better way. And sometimes we look at the world and say, they have the answers. Excuse me. They have the answers. And why shouldn't we be doing that? Well, God will lead us, but where is our minds? Excuse me. Excuse me. You know, where are our minds? Are our minds first in God?

Are we letting God direct? Are we letting God order our paths? Do we seek His will? I know He'll lead us, and sometimes it will be. Do this, do that, or do we take matters into our own hands? Do we take our man or our own hands because we still don't completely trust that God is going to give us what we want Him to give us? 2 Timothy 1 verse 7 says, God has given us the spirit of power to overcome self, the spirit of love, the spirit of a sound mind, the spirit of a sound mind.

If we follow God, if we look into His words, if we're yielded to Him, He'll provide that sound mind. He will work with us and be able to help us understand who we are, why we are, what has molded us in the way that we are. Turn with me back to Proverbs. Proverbs 20.

Proverbs 20 verse 5. It's kind of a principle of modern-day psychology, if you will. All of us have things that happened to us in the past that affect the way we respond, the way we are, the way sometimes our outlook on the world, even our outlook on God, that happened in our younger days or something that someone did that was so, that so affected us, you know, that we can't move forward. Proverbs 20 verse 5 says, Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. You know, if we ask God for the help in what we're dealing with, why we have the issues we do, why we may behave in one way, He will show us what it is in our past that we need to look at, something that we may need to repent of. And you probably have had it occur in your life where something pops into your mind that you did years ago that you'd forgotten about and you realize, I have to repent of that. That's still part of me. That's still part of the natural man that could come up again. And maybe it's something that you've done that's similar to that, that you realize that was part of me when I was a kid or a teenager or a young adult.

Sometimes it's things that people have done to us. I say the psychoanalyst's chairs and offices are full of people who had terrible, you know, really terrible childhoods. Parents that abused them or didn't handle them right. And it's affected their adult life. In some cases, it's affected their relationship to God. They just don't trust God because they didn't trust their parents. That's a real problem. But you know, God can heal that. He gives us the spirit of a sound mind. We can seek Him. He knows that. He understands that. We have to trust Him and rely on Him.

You know, psychoanalysts, they will oftentimes, you know, we go in, we're depressed, we're this, we're that, or whatever, and what's the first thing they do? Oh, you need this medicine or you need that medicine. Well, maybe it helps us feel better, but does it help us heal?

So many medicines will mask the problem, but they don't get to the healing that God wants us to have. He is the author of spiritual, mental, and physical health. And He will draw out, if we put ourselves in Him and trust in Him, He will give us those answers that we need and those things we need to address in our lives, that we can overcome those things. It's getting back to the simplicity that is in Christ. We can trust Him to provide it all. You know, we can talk, I can talk about psychology and, wow, I mean, when you look at the amount of money that people spend on psychotropic drugs these days, it is absolutely staggering. They don't solve the problem.

God solves the problem. God can heal you and me. If we trust, if we seek, if we wait, and have Him lead us and be faithful to follow Him—1 Peter 5, 1 Peter 5, verse 7. Peter makes a very simple statement. He echoes what Jesus Christ says in Matthew 11, verses 28 to 30, but in verse 7, you know, going into the middle of the verse there, He says, cast all your care upon Him. Cast your cares on Him. Jesus Christ said, tell me, let me bear your burdens. Give them to me, for He cares for you.

Do we believe that? Do we cast our cares on Him? Or are we more comfortable when someone says, cast your cares on Christ? Well, you know, I need to go here and I need to go there, and this person can do that, and this office over here does that, and my person at work said this and that and whatever. When are we going to start relying on God that He can heal it all?

You can mark down in your notes there, Matthew 11, 28 to 30. You know what it says there. Christ says, come to me. I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. Let's do turn back to Exodus 15. Certainly, the spiritual healing—I don't need to go in that—spiritual healing, which we all need and continue to need only comes from Jesus Christ. If we doubt that, then we've got a lot of things to talk about. Back in Exodus 15, God chose us even our physical health He is interested in, and that He can take care of it all. Exodus 15, as the Israelites were coming out of Egypt, you know, in a society that had their own foods and many of the illnesses we've talked about in some of the Bible studies in past years, that in Egypt, some of the illnesses that we see today were the same illnesses that they were dealing with in Egypt. In Exodus 15 and verse 26, you know, Moses, under inspiration of God, said, if you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Eternal who heals you.

Simple words, pretty direct. God doesn't say, well, I can't heal leprosy, I can't heal cancer, I can't heal heart disease, I can't heal any of these. No, He can heal it all. But He also says, in order for Him to do that, we need to be doing and living by every word of God, and there's plenty of health laws in the Bible. A few chapters forward in Exodus 23.

He addresses these diseases again. Exodus 23 and verse 24.

Now, let's pick it up in verse 23. Exodus 23, 23. My angel, He says, will go before you and bring you into the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. I will lead you in the world. You're going to be My people, but they're going to come in contact with these people who are not God's people, and I will cut them off. 24, He tells Israel, He tells His people, you will not bow down to their gods. We've talked about the gods of this society that you and I may bow down to, maybe unwittingly, because we still look at it and say, oh, you know, this is the best thing, absolutely. If this entity says it, if my doctor says it, it must be the thing to do, and I will follow Him no matter what He says. Who are we serving first? You shall not bow down to their gods. You shall not serve them, nor do according to their works, not according to the fleshly wisdom, Paul said, nor do according to their works, but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars. You shall become chaste virgins. You shall become people who follow God implicitly and learn through this life. Trust Him. Rely on Him. Come to give your entire heart, mind, and soul to Him. Verse 25, So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water.

And if you do all these things, I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

A pretty simple statement. A pretty single statement. There is a simplicity in God's word.

Things that we need to heed. Simple words to follow. In Psalm 16, David came to realize this. God said David was a man after his own heart. David came to rely on God, trust in God, made mistakes along the way, trusted and knew that God would forgive him. But then he picked himself up and became closer and closer to God, studied his word, diligently sought it, and then applied it into his life. In Psalm 16, verse 5, some tricky wording here in the King James and New King James. In 16, verse 5, Psalm 16, it says, Oh, Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup. Now, that's very poetic verbiage. Our inheritance is what? That's something in our future, right? God says we are heirs of his. That's something in the future that we will inherit. And my cup. My cup is what I drink from today. That's what I drink from today. God fills our cup. Our cup runs over, David says. You maintain my lot. You're the one who is watching over me. Let me read that to you from the good news translation of the Bible that is completely different than those words there. But the meaning of the words, the meaning of that verse comes crystal clear when you look at it in this translation. Psalm 16, verse 5 from the good news translation, You, Lord, are all I have. You give me all I need. My future is in your hands.

You provide everything I need today. You are the future. You are the eternity. In you, I have everything I need. I don't need the wisdom of the world. Not saying that it's never wrong to use or always wrong to use it. God may lead us to use some of the wisdom of this world because there is some that's very good out there. And there are things that mankind has learned that are beneficial. But let God lead you. Let Him set your path and your direction. No, Christ said, I am the way. He is the way. He is the truth. He is life. He didn't leave anything out of that. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life.

Simple words. Do we believe them? Simple words. Very easy to understand words, like we talked about some before. Very simple, easy to understand commandments that He gave us as a way of life. No other gods before me.

No graven images. Don't bow down to them. Don't take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Pretty straightforward words, right? Nothing confusing. Nothing complicated. Nothing deep that we have to kind of think, what did God really mean by that? Simple commands. Honor your father and mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not covet.

Pretty straightforward words. Pretty straightforward words. Easy to understand, easy to memorize. A little bit more difficult to do. Well, I should say a lot more difficult to do, isn't it?

Let's go back to Deuteronomy 30. I think one of the hallmark verses of the Bible.

Deuteronomy 30 verse 19. Deuteronomy 30 and verse 19. God inspired Moses to write or say to Israel back then, to his people today because the words given back then apply to us today just as much. Chapter 30 verse 19, I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Nothing confusing, nothing complicated, and then his command after he states this, therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live. Nothing confusing. Pretty straightforward. Therefore, choose life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. The Word of God is complete, providing everything we need to become the complete people that God wants us to be.

Christ said, ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and I will open. I will never leave you nor forsake you.

The Holy Spirit will be your comforter and your guide, lead you into truth and understanding.

Very straightforward words. Very straightforward words. Not hard to understand. We could read these to any child, and he would understand what those words mean.

In John 6, verse 63, Christ said, the words that I give you, they are spirit and they are life.

Remember what it says in verse 64 of John 6?

He said, but there's some among you who don't believe, some among you who don't believe.

How about us? Do we believe? Do we believe the Word of God? Do we believe that He can do? Do we trust enough to put our lives in God's hands and believe that He will do the best that He knows best for us, what we need, the trials we go through, the temptations that we go through, the health problems we go through, the financial problems we go through, the relationship problems we go through? Even the COVID cases that we go through that may make us alter what our plans for Sabbath services are, that everything is done for a reason and we learn something about everything, what God has in mind for us, a chance for us to see who we are, what we are, where is our faith, where is our trust? Easy words, but as Christ tells us in Matthew 7, not at all easy to follow. Let's turn back to or forward to Matthew 7 verse 13. Matthew 7 verse 13. Famous words, well-known words by anyone who knows the Bible, not just the church of God. Matthew 7 verse 13, enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it. Enter by the narrow gate.

Now, when you look up the word narrow in the concordance, you see that it is associated with affliction and trials. It's marked by that. Not the wide broadway. There's a few who go in and follow that path, who are willing to submit themselves to God as they go through that path. That isn't the easy path. It's a path that requires faith. It's a path that requires choice to follow God, trust in Him, and sometimes even trust in Him when we're going through perilous times to know He will provide or whatever He does is the best for us because He's looking at our eternal lives. Enter by the narrow gate, Christ tells us. Look at that way of life.

That's going to be a challenge. Simple words. There is a simplicity in Christ.

Not so easy. Paul understood, the Apostle Paul understood the simplicity in Christ and he said, we strove to live in that simplicity, but boy was his gate filled with affliction and trouble. As we talked about last week, last Wednesday on the Bible study, plenty of things that he went through. Not altogether pleasant, but, you know, he finished the course and he entered in. Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction. That gate, the easy way. Taking matters into our own hands. We can't wait for God. We know better than this. We're going to have to resist that, what God says, and have to kind of do it because we just can't wait for Him. We just can't let that happen because there's ways that we can do it that are better than what God is going to do. We just don't trust that He will do this for us in this time. We don't trust that His Word can tell us what the answers to those relationship problems are. Or we're just not willing to do it. We just resist what He says because there's got to be an easier way. That might be, don't talk to the person ever again. Get a divorce. Whatever it is that might be. We don't trust God that He can heal. We're not going to wait for Him and develop that faith when there's this pill or these other things that we can do. And sometimes God will lead us in that way because some of the things that are done, what man has learned, are very good. And they do help. And God will lead us to that if we look to Him, if we seek Him and seek His will and don't superimpose His will, or superimpose our will on His or the doctor's will on His. Seek Him first and let Him guide. Wide is the gate. Broad is the way that leads to destruction. There are many who go in by it. Many who are called. Many who know the truth. Many go in by it because it's just too easy and it's too hard to come out of the world and just do what God said, build the time and take the time to trust in Him now and use the opportunities He gives us to come to live in the simplicity that is in Christ. To become the complete man He wants because in Him is completeness. Not in the world, not in fleshly wisdom. In Him is the completeness. Verse 14, because narrow is the gate. Ah, the words are simple, but narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it. It can be found.

God wants us to find it. He will give us the strength. He won't make the choices for us.

He'll let us make the choices because He wants to know this is really what we want. And when we make the choice to follow Him and trust in Him, we might be surprised at the answers that He gives when He sees where our hearts are. Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life.

And He cautions there are few who find it. We read about some of those few back in Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 and verse 37. Hebrews 11, you know, is the faith chapter. It chronicles the lives of men and women who did follow the narrow way and the way that speaks to affliction and trial, all designed that God strengthens us and we strengthen our relationship with God. We pick it up in verse 37 as the chapter is winding up here, as we've been reminded of these men and women who gave their lives for God. In verse 37, it says, they were stoned. Well, that's certainly not the easy way, is it? They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, tormented, afflicted. The same Greek word translated narrow in Matthew 7, 13, and 14 is the very same word afflicted in Hebrews 11, 37.

Those men and women entered in by the narrow gate.

God expects and wants us to enter in by that narrow gate. It won't be the easy way. You and I have had very easy lives to this point. Very easy lives. We've had some trials. We've had some things go wrong in our lives. Nothing like the men and women in the Old Testament and those mentioned in Hebrews 11. Probably nothing like there's going to be between now and the return of Jesus Christ. You know, as we even live through the times that we do, oh, they're difficult and we have this idea about this and this idea about that. We're worried about this and we're worried about that. We have the opportunity to develop faith in God and know he protects, he shields, he provides. Paul followed Christ. He chose the straight and narrow path. He came to rely on Christ with the same Holy Spirit that God gives you and me. We have to come to realize and appreciate and practice that what God gives us is what we need. 2 Corinthians 12. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians. Paul has more to say about this. 2 Corinthians 12 and verse 9.

Paul writes, he, God, said to me, My grace is sufficient for you. It's all you need. My grace, of course, leading up to this, Paul is talking about the things that he has suffered and the things that he's gone through. My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

When you're going through these trials, when you hurt and when you have these things confront you and you yield to me and look to me and trust in me, my strength, what I give you, is made perfect in weakness. When you don't think I have the answers, I've got to do the things the way that I know to do them. My strength, God says, is made perfect in weakness. No, Jesus Christ himself said something amazing. He was the Son of God, and he said, of my own self, I can do nothing.

If he could say that, what about us? My grace, God says, is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

When you have things to face, trust in God. Let him develop that strength and that commitment in you. Therefore, most gladly, Paul says, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches in needs and persecutions, in distresses. For Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I'm strong. When I am weak and relying on him, then I'm strong. Then I'm developing what God wants me to become.

Simple words, things to meditate on, things to contemplate. Now, if you take the time to read through 2 Corinthians, you will see somewhat what Paul is talking about here as he goes in and shows how the wisdom of the world is just the—and that we've all grown up with and that we would automatically think—just the opposite of what God led Paul to know and what we need to know and how to look at life. Jesus Christ went through the same thing you and I—that we went through. You and me did. We don't need to turn to Hebrews 4 for chapter 14 to 16. You know what that says? Jesus Christ was tempted in all points like as we were or are. He knows our frame. He knows our weaknesses. He knows what we're going through. He is there, and he is our mediator. He knows exactly what we're going through. He is the forerunner. We were told when we went through the book of Hebrews, he is the one who has paved the path, we know that it's possible because Jesus Christ did it. And God gives us the same tools he gave Jesus Christ. But we have to use them. We have to learn how to navigate this life according to the way that God said to navigate it. And that takes some effort. That takes some attention. That takes some time to focus on and to make sure we're doing it the way that he said to do it.

You know, Jesus Christ is our Savior. We know that. Jesus Christ is our forerunner. Jesus Christ is our mediator. Jesus Christ has all these names. Back in Isaiah 9, God gives Jesus Christ a very modern name, I guess we could say. It's also an old name, but a name that's with us that maybe we just overlook sometimes or don't put enough attention to. Isaiah 9 and verse 6.

Isaiah 9, 6. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Names that we've heard, the very first one listed there, is Wonderful Counselor. Now, we all know what counselors are. They're all over the place in America today. You can go and talk to any counselor you want. He's going to give him your opinions, prescriptions, whatever you're seeking. But Christ, God is our Counselor. His name is Wonderful Counselor. He can give us the advice. He can give us the insight. He can draw out those deep things of the heart, those things that happened way back when, and heal them in a way that no physical counselor can.

Do we look at God, Jesus Christ, as our Counselor? It's the very first thing listed here. It's for today. He is mighty God. He is the Everlasting Father. He is the Prince of Peace. As he will return to earth, he will do all those things that it says he will do.

When Jesus Christ was on earth, he walked with his disciples for three and a half years.

He taught them many, many things. He taught them doctrine. But you notice, he walked with them along the way. He saw their weaknesses. He saw the things that were part of them. And he never condemned them for that. I mean, you remember the incident with James and John, and they wanted to call down the wrath of God on people who were minimizing Jesus Christ or offending him. He didn't condemn them, but he did counsel them, didn't he? He did say, no, that's not the way of God. When their mother came and said, let these two be the greatest, he said, wait a minute, that's not the way it is in the kingdom of God. You've got the wrong attitude here. The one who's great in the kingdom of God is the servant. The Gentiles lorded over them.

So as he walked with those disciples, there was plenty of education and teaching that was going on, but there was plenty of counseling going on as well. They needed to become the people that God wants. Go back and think about Peter. Look at the things that Peter said. And Christ said some pretty, as Paul would say, authoritative things to him. Get behind me, Satan.

Don't talk against the will of God. Don't pray against the will of God.

That's some counseling. Peter took it to heart. He didn't run away and say, I'm not listening to this anymore. I don't need to be talked to that way. He took it to heart. He took the counseling to heart. And all those apostles and the people that were with him took it to heart.

We can go to God in counsel. He's got the answers. We need to seek. We need to trust. We need to look to Him. We need to understand He wants us to become a complete man, and we don't become complete men and women through the world. We become complete men and women through God and His word and His truth and what leads us. That's how we become complete. That's how we are ready for the kingdom of God as we live through this time. Looking to Him, seeking Him, not just blindly following the world or thinking the world's got a better answer, and I need the answer now. I'm not about to dig deep. If I've got a quick fix, that's what I'm going to take. Quick fixes don't often heal. God is the God of healing spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and He counsels through His church. Now, I'm going to read through some verses here, but I don't want you to read, turn with me to them. I'm going to read them, and I want you to just sit back and listen to some of the verses that God said, that God wrote in the Bible for us. And as we have problems and as we face trials, temptations, the situations in life that you and I are all familiar with, and more that will come between now and then, now in the return of Jesus Christ, where our counseling can be with Jesus Christ, but also in His body of truth. You can write down these verses if you want and look at them later, but let's just listen to them. Psalm 32. Psalm 32, verse 8, the Psalm of David, God says, I will instruct you. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with my eye. I'll be the one to instruct you. Look to me for the way of life. Psalm 73, 24.

David again writes, you will guide me with your counsel. You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Ah, through life, let God lead you through His counsel, and afterward, when life is done, He will receive us into His glory. Psalm 119, verse 24.

David's very long tribute to the law of God, to His Word, and the completeness of it. Psalm 119, verse 24, says, your testimonies are my delight. Your testimonies are my delight, and my counselors. Your words, the things that you teach me. What's in your word, the idea to learn to apply. I'll seek out and then apply diligently and look to God to guide.

Psalm 1, verse 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. You know, when we look at the world, remember what the world that we live in under whose sway it is.

It's not under the sway of God. It's under the sway of Satan. Why will we look to the world for the answers that we have or that we need? Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the eternal, and in his law he meditates day and night. As a result, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf will not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.

Book of Proverbs is full of counsel when we look at it. The words that God gives us in this book in Proverbs 1 and verse 5, it says, a wise man, you and I, should be wise men and women. If we have God's Holy Spirit and we understand his truth and we've committed to him, he'll give us that wisdom. A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel. Wise counsel. Not the counsel of the ungodly, automatically deferring to that, but wise counsel. Proverbs 13, 10.

By pride comes nothing but strife. When we resist God, when we think his way is too simple, it's not enough. We need to add to it the wisdom of the world. We need to look there first and maybe sometimes forget God, or just, you know, even engaging God in an unworthy manner, like, okay, I need to ask God for anointing, but that's just kind of a thing that I do, but then I go off and do what I want to do instead, in place of, and think you've done that. Anyway, Proverbs 13, verse 10. By pride comes nothing. That's really pride, isn't it? When we resist God and we do those things, it's like we know better. We know better than you. By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised, those who are counseled, remember God. Remember where wisdom is. Remember where completeness comes. Do it his way. Proverbs 24, verse 6. I'll pick up and read verse 5 as well. A wise man is strong. A man of knowledge increases strength. For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety. If you're thinking things and it's like, you know, you might want to discuss some of those things with people. Should this be what I do? Or should I just lean on my own understanding? This is what so-and-so told me. This is what my financial advisor told me. This is what my marriage counselor told me. This is what whatever it is, right? This is what they told me. Maybe, maybe, just maybe, we want to have a little bit more counsel than just some of the things that we so completely trust in and march forward in. Psalm 27 and verse 9. Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man's friend gives delight by hearty counsel. My margin says, by counsel of the soul. What would God say? Remember God's word. Remember what he says. Jesus Christ the counselor. You know, when Jesus Christ was on earth, remember the first things he said back in Luke 4? Not the Sermon on the Mount, but when he stood up in the temple that day in Luke 4, they handed him, they handed him the scroll to read. Remember he said, I have come, I've come to heal the brokenhearted. I've come to set the captive free. I've come to free the oppressed. Wonderful counselor. The Bible is here. He's, it's there to set us free from the things that hold us back, the things that have kept us held down by the oppression of this world.

And Christ and his Holy Spirit gives the opportunity to break free of all of those things by following his counsel and doing his things. Proverbs 12. Last one I'm going to turn to. Proverbs 12 verse 18. Proverbs 12 verse 18. 12, 1218. There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health, promotes health, spiritual health, mental, emotional, psychological health, physical health, the complete health that God wants you and me to have. The tongue of the wise. The tongue of the wise. And we know where wisdom begins.

The book of Proverbs and God tells us that. So as we navigate this path that we're on, I hope that we will remember and keep in mind as we walk through it the things that we've talked about today. That our goal is to come to the simplicity of Christ. Know the words, but we've got to work to apply those words. Keep them in mind when you're doing something. They're not complicated. And with God's Holy Spirit, he gives us the strength. He gives us the power. He gives us the sound mind to follow him. We just have to choose to do it. And we have to be mindful of what our calling is and what our goals are. And not just go through life, just as we always have. But to remember God is working with us. We are on that straight and narrow path. And there will be times that God will put those things in front of us as an opportunity for us to grow, to become strengthened in him. And not just to do automatically the things that we always have done. It's high time that we pay attention to what God has called us to. To become the people that he wants us to become. To become the complete men. To live by the simplicity that is Christ.