1.241 Are You Acceptable in God'e Eye?

1.241 Are You Acceptable in God'e Eye? Psalms 24:3-5 is the text for today's message.  Listen as we learn about how to present ourselves to the Lord in prayer.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

This brother Manner, I'm going right on from where I was in the book of 2 Timothy, chapter 4. Uh and I'm going to verse 2, and this is what Paul was writing in exhorting Timothy. Preach the word. The instant in-season, out-of-season, reprove. Rebuke and exhort. You know, everybody wants an exhortation. They want to lift it up. But nobody wants to hear that reprove. And nobody wants to hear that rebuke. Children of God, there's so much out of order today, there's so much out of line. But yet when you start bearing down on the true word of God and you start putting that reproof out there, and you start entering into that rebuke, and people bow up in their spirits because there's so many people today that are full of rebellion because they want an easy walk with God. They want a smooth life. They want God's blessings. They want God's prosperity. They want the goodness of God. And but yet they want to live like they want to live. It's not going to work. You can't do that. You cannot live like you want to live and have God's blessings and his prosperity on you and God keep you. You have got to do that which is good and right in the eyes of the Lord. But Paul went on with this to Timothy, and he said, Exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust or their own desires, shall they keep to themselves teachers having itching ears, and that's where we are today. We're in a place that people don't know what's right or wrong anymore. Doctrine has not been established, it's not being preached. Most doctrine people here stop with water baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues. They aren't taught to go on into these epistles. Every one of these epistles teaches you how to live holy and clean and pure and walk upright before God. I mean, if I just thumbed right over to the book of Romans and I went to Romans the 12th chapter and begin to read from right there. And Paul said, I beseech thee, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy. That's H-O-L-Y, not W-H-O-L-L-Y, which means fully, but H-O-L-Y, which means clean, sanctified, uh, set apart, present your body holy, acceptable unto God. You know, when you're going to give yourself a sacrifice unto the Lord, it's got to be acceptable. God told them all back in the Old Testament, don't you bring me a sacrifice, unless it's without spot and without blemish. Don't you bring me a sick sacrifice? Don't you bring me something out of your flock that's sick or diseased or is not up to par. I won't accept it. And people today are bringing God sick sacrifices. They're bringing God second best. They're bringing God something. They just want to put some kind of offering before the Lord, and they're not presenting themselves holy and acceptable. God said, when you present your body to me, it's got to be holy and it's got to be acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. He said, That's what you're supposed to do. This is what you're supposed to do, children. And then he went on and said, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We're not striving to bring something acceptable before the Lord. We're just giving God any old thing, throwing it out there, just hoping something's gonna happen and something's gonna stick. But that's not what God said. He said, You're gonna bring your body to me and you're gonna present your body to me. A living sacrifice that it's gotta be holy. H-O-L-Y. It's gotta be clean, it's gotta be righteous. You've got to have walked upright. You've got to be doing that which is good and right in my sight. There are things that I do require. And I believe if you look at Deuteronomy 10, it says, these are the things that I, the Lord God, require. God requires things out of you to make you acceptable in his sight. And he said, When you do all this, this is your reasonable service. What did David say when he prayed? He said, Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be found acceptable in thy sight for thy art my strength and my redeemer. So next time you go to prayer and next time you're talking to the Lord or you're reaching to have communion with the Lord and uh and you're asking him uh to do things for you, stop and ask yourself, am I acceptable? Are my thoughts, are my thoughts, are my thoughts acceptable? He saw David said, Little Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, there's words can come out of your mouth that you can be skirting the issue. You can be uh not forward with God. Don't you think God knows your heart? Don't you think God sees you? Don't you think God sees your lying down and your rising ups? God orders them. God orders your steps. He knows uh when your heart's right, he knows when you thought wickedly. And that's why David prayed, Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be found acceptable in my sight, for you are my strength, you are my redeemer. And here Paul is uh writing to the Romans and telling them, I beseech ye therefore, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable unto God. See, from when David prayed that till Paul's writings, it hadn't changed. He said, I'm the Lord thy God and I change not. He's required holiness and righteousness for years. And I believe it's in Psalms 24. He said, Who is going to ascend into the hill of the Lord and stand in that holy place? And it says, He that hath clean hands and a pure heart that has not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully. Sorry, I had to get the wording there. Who's gonna do it? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully. So when you come before the Lord and you want God to put you in a place in ministry, you want God to help you and strengthen you, you got to examine yourself and see if you're coming before the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart that you've not lifted up your soul unto vanity and you've not sworn deceitfully. If you have, you're not a pleasing sacrifice, you're not an acceptable sacrifice. And it's time to examine ourselves before the Lord to see if we be in the faith or not. May God bless you till our next session.