Heart Mind Connection #6

Qualities of the Heart of David #2

Fred R. Coulter—November 11, 2000

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I need to mention that part of the information that came to me concerning the heart mind connection—I think it was in the #1 or #2 of this series—they discovered that the heart has neural cells. While it is true it has neural cells much like you have in the mind, but other organs of the body have neural cells, too. That is so the mind can direct those organs and they are more like a remote television that receives signals and can send them back, but it has no directing qualities of thinking.

So, the heart—according to the Bible—is really the innermost part of your mind that is called the heart. That's where you make all of the issues of life and death and choices before God!

In part 5 as we were going through what I did, I started listing out all of the things that have to do with the heart of David. The ultimate that we're going to see with this message is we are to have the heart of David and the mind of Christ!

I started listing the things that he had that we derive from the Scriptures we covered so I'll review those:

• Repentance

Repentance is continuous. Also, we couple that with meekness and humility.

• The battle is the Lord's

Whatever the battle is whether overcoming personally are fighting situations or even the enemy directly the battle is the Lord's.

• Praise God with your whole heart
• You seek the will of God and seek God
• You're wholehearted
• Joyful in the Lord

With that we can rejoice in singing praises to God.

• Praying always to God

That's a key important thing. The longer that you are converted and have the Holy Spirit of God the more that you will find yourself praying in many situations during the day, because God is involved in your life. That's what it was with David praying always to God.

• Trust in God
• Bold in prayer
• Looking to receive eternal life

Or looking to eternal life

• Love God

That expands out to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and being!

• Kept the ways of the Lord and not wickedly departed from them
• Look to God for deliverance

He's our deliverer!

• Praise God for his creation
• Always keeping God's laws
• Asking God to lead you

Then a subdivision of that: your eyes are always toward the Lord!

In understanding about the heart of David, you're going to find most of that in the Psalms. Let's begin in Psa. 25; then we will add some other qualities on to the heart of David.

What I want you to see in this is the attitude and approach that David has. Let's realize that this is totally opposite of the world, and this is completely opposite of the Christianity of this world.

Psalm 25:10: "All the paths of the LORD are mercy and Truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies." So, we can add:

• Considered all the paths of the Lord mercy and truth and fears God

In this you also see the part that we have to do: unto those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. That's why when you go to John 14 and 15 Jesus said, 'If you love Me keep My commandments.'

Now then, you can take the opposite: To those who are proud and exalted, all the ways of the Lord are hatefulness and restraints. That's the way it is in the world. So, this shows the whole complete change that takes place in the heart of David.

Verse 11: "For Your name's sake, O LORD, pardon my iniquity, for it is great."

One thing that we want to really understand here is that repentance is a continuous thing. Ed and Belinda were telling me about a person they know who said, 'I can't repent of my sins because I can't remember them all.' Well, all your sins are in your mind. You repent of what motivates you to sin, andthat is carnal self.

When you are baptized, then your whole being is baptized into the covenant death of Christ. That takes care of all of those that you don't remember. If there's something that you really need to repent about and be conscious of repenting about, you can be reassured that God will bring it to your attention sometime down the road. You can repent of it at that time.

But you go through the Psalms and it might be interesting just to go through and see how many times that David repents and confesses his sins. There are many! This is all the part of the heart of David.

If you understand that the way of man is not in him to direct his paths then that means that were constantly growing and overcoming. We begin to see more and more in our lifetime as we are converted and growing in grace and knowledge how sinful that human nature really is.

This happens after you're baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. It can't happen before your baptized. Before your baptized you can recognize that you're a sinner and the wages of sin is death and you don't want to die. You want God to save you and you begin to fear God to begin to obey Him because you fear God and that's the start.

Then from there you grow in grace and knowledge. Then you come to understand that you keep the commandments of God because they're good. That's a whole complete change; you can see the progress of conversion here.

Then later you begin to see that God has given His Spirit and 'He really loves me; I need to love Him.' The more that you love God the more that you see how sinful your nature is, the more that you're going to repent, which means that you're going to love God.

So this is sort of a short survey of our growing and overcoming as we grow in the way of God and develop the heart of David. That's why he says:

Verse 11: "For Your name's sake, O LORD, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. What man is he that fears the LORD?…." (vs 11-12). There's a great blessing in fearing the Lord! Notice what happens if you fear God:

"...He [God] shall teach him in the way that He shall choose…. [showing them the right way to live] …His soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth" (vs 12-13).

• Understand the secret plan of God

Verse 14: "The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant."

You can make a whole sermon or study based upon this verse. God has a secret and his secret is revealing to His Church. We understand that. We understand it through the Holy Days. That gives us the plan and the secret of God. That is the one that most people reject and won't keep. That's why

• they don't know God
• they don't know what He's doing
• they don't have a clue as to what His plan is

You could even go to a Protestant minister or a Catholic priest and say what's God's plan? Well it depends which when you get. If you get a good Catholic who has suffered a lot, he says, 'Well, we need to suffer in this life and it's God's plan to have you reach heaven and to behold the Lord.' Is that it? 'Well now, if you don't quite make it you may slip into purgatory. If your relatives have enough money maybe they can buy you out, but otherwise you go to hell and burn forever.'

So, you ask a Protestant what it is, and he's says, 'His plan is to save you.' Where am I going to be? 'We're all going to heaven.'

They don't understand the secret of God; that we are going to be born in His kingdom and share an eternal existence with God the Father and Jesus Christ! That's the secret! But you have to fear Him!

• Understand the covenant of God

When you love and fear God, the last half of v 14 takes place: "…He will show them His covenant." That means He will grant you understanding concerning the covenant of God!

If you want a more full in-depth understanding of the covenant of God, read out of The Christian Passover book the three chapters concerning the covenant with Abraham that God made with Abraham!

[In answer to question] Yes, that would show it would be complete, completely burned up! The animals had to be completely consumed with nothing left. The same thing applied to the Passover lamb that the Israelites did. What were they were to do with it? They were to burn everything, nothing was to be left!

Likewise with the covenant that God made with Abraham. We are here because of the covenant that God made with Abraham 3500 years ago! Isn't that amazing? I know it was really inspiring on The Night to be Remembered when we're all together there for the meal, and we could think back and realize that that very night that we were observing was the same night in which God promised Abraham! That's something!

That shows the deliverance of our sins then was promised and given by God based upon His eternal existence and His physical death when He became flesh. That's what it means to show the covenant.

Verse 15: "My eyes are ever toward the LORD… [always looking to God] …for He shall pluck my feet out of the net." This shows how God is going to help you and protect you and watch over you and you will be rescued from things that you don't even know about!

A net is one of those snares that are set for birds. Or you've probably seen in some movies where they lay a net on the floor of the forest and they cover it with leaves and when someone walks in it, it snaps up and catches them in a net. This is what it's talking about it. How many times have we been saved from so many things? Some of them we may realize, some of them we may never, never know!

I remember one time when we went down to visit relatives down in Oklahoma. We were going from Oklahoma City to Tulsa right along the freeway, and it was a split freeway with the cars coming this way two lanes in cars going that way two lanes there was a center divide.

I remember driving along and I looked up and all of a sudden here comes this huge truck tire that just came off the truck and it came rolling just full speed right toward our car. I didn't see it until it was right close to us and it went right behind us right between me and the car behind me.

I always look at that and say, 'Boy! God delivered me out of that!' Just a split second later it would've hit the car straight on! When you're hit with one of those, it's history! It just shows how God deals with you. You can probably look back and think in your own life how God has saved you from many, many, many things.

Verse 16: "Turn unto me, and be gracious unto me, for I am desolate and afflicted."

• He waited for God

Lots of times if we get out there and we try and force God by doing are will, then we're not waiting for God. But notice what happens when you wait for God even in your troubles.

Verse 17: "The troubles of my heart are enlarged; O bring me out of my distresses."

As a Christian in battling your human nature you're going to have distresses. Today we call it stress. We have the stress of the world to put up with, too, don't we? Yes! Here's how you appeal to God, which shows how David was always looking to God:

Verse 18. Look upon my affliction and my pain…" There is going to come a time in your life where you will have affliction and pain!

"…and forgive all my sins" (v 18). If you want a good Bible study you go through just the book of Psalms:

• forgive my sins
• forgive my iniquities
• lift me from them
• don't turn me over to presumptuous sin
• keep back your servant from great sin

You will see the tender heart that David had!

That's why he was a man after God's heart; he was always repenting! That doesn't mean he was out overtly sinning. He did with Bathsheba, that is true. But this means that he was understanding human nature and the source of sin from within! That comes with conviction of the Holy Spirit of God. It doesn't come any other way.

Verse 19: "Consider my enemies, for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred…. [this ties in with Christ and all those were after Him] …O keep my soul and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I take refuge in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on You. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles" (vs 19-22).

Remember that the ultimate converted attitude that we want to attain is the heart of David and the mind of Christ!

{Note sermons: How to Develop the Mind of Christ #1 & 2}

Psalm 62:1: "Only for God does my soul wait in silence…"

If you want through the Psalms and took all of these different things that we've listed down concerning the heart of David, you can key in many, many parts of many Psalms to each one of these points.

"…from Him comes my salvation" (v 1). David knew that he couldn't save himself! It had to come from God.

Verse 2: "He only is my Rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I shall not be greatly moved…. [tie in Psa. 18] …How long will you imagine mischief against a man? You shall be slain, all of you; you shall be like a bowing wall and as a tottering fence" (vs 2-3).

We find that in Ezek. 13 where God says that the prophets of Israel 'build the wall with untempered mortar.' He says that it's going to fall in a great hailstorm; it's going to fall in the end. Even David knew it here.

Verse 4: "They only consult to cast him down from his great height… [that has to do with those plotting against Christ] …they delight in lies…" I tell you, if there's anyone thing that describes this world that's it right there!

"…they bless with their mouth, but inwardly they curse. Selah" (v 4). Wherever you see the word Selah that means stop think and meditate on this, and go back and reread the verses again and think on it. Think about how this applies to yourself and how you can bring this into part of your Christian behavior.

Verse 5: "My soul, wait in silence for God alone; for from Him comes my hope. He only is my Rock and my salvation… [notice how this repeats v 2]: …He is my strong tower; I shall not be moved" (vs 5-6).

• v 2: "…I shall not be greatly moved"
• v 6: "…I shall not be moved"

Verse 7: "In God is my salvation and my glory, the Rock of my strength; my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times…" (vs 7-8).

I just imagine going through the Psalms you would see many, many Psalms where it says trust in God! Brethren, that's what we need to do. Ed said that 'the world has the greatest false faith imaginable when it comes to money.' Everything that has to do with money is based upon a lie. You may have facts and figures, but the money itself is a lie because it's not money it's a debt. Everyone believes that it's going to go on and on forever, but its not! It's going to come to an end! If people really knew that there is absolutely nothing behind the dollar you would see havoc everywhere.

But they all get along and go along, and 'don't shake the boat just listen to 'Uncle' Arthur Greenspan.' Whatever 'Uncle' Arthur tells you that's the gospel truth concerning the dollar. They delight in lies! Well we can apply that to the Presidency, to almost any politician. One of the first things you have to prove in politics, one thing for sure: if you want to go anywhere politics above City Council you have to prove that you're a good smooth liar! If you rerun for the City Council you got to prove your pretty good liar. Men delight in lies. And you think about it. Think about the whole entertainment industry.

Except the narrations that they do on some true incidences, and then they interject a lot of fiction into it:

• it's all a lie
• it's an imagination
• it's a story

They can teach lessons with it, that is true. But when you look at some of the lessons they are teaching are they teaching the Truth of God? No! They're teaching the goodness of humans! So, it's still all a lie! They delight in lies!

Verse 4: "…they bless with their mouth, but inwardly they curse. Selah." It sounds like the meetings at that they had back there in Camp David. Take some of these verses and apply them to real life everyday situations that are going on right now.

Verse 5: "My soul, wait in silence for God alone; for from Him comes my hope."

Verse 7: "In God is my salvation and my glory, the Rock of my strength; my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times… [not just when you are in trouble] …you people; pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. Selah" (vs 7-8).

That's how you are to pray to God; from your heart, what's on your mind. You don't need some big ritual. You don't need beads to count. By the way the rosary beads came from the Muslims and the Hindu. You don't need that. God wants know what's in your heart!

Verse 9: "Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie… [the whole political scene] …when weighed in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity."

What does this tell us about the heart of David? He is not looking to the things and the ways of the world as a good thing that's going to help him with God! He's viewing the things in the world as they really are. Yet, when you view the things of the world as they really are, if you don't understand about God and the hope that God has it could get pretty depressing! That's why you have to know God.

It's one thing to look out and say of the world, "Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie…"—you could become so discouraged

• if you didn't know the Truth
• if you didn't know God's Word
• if you didn't have the hope that God had

you'd wonder how on earth is anything going to work!

Notice how David considered it; "…when weighed in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity…. [just a gust of wind] …Trust not in oppression, and do not take pride in stolen goods; if riches increase, do not set your heart upon them" (vs 9-10).
That's what happened to Solomon! He was so rich he just got corrupted, and look what happened with his life. So, if riches increase don't set your heart on them. Why? Because they are only physical! They are all going to be gone.

It's like Solomon said, he was really upset. He said, 'Now that I've got all this wealth, all these riches, all these things, all these palaces and homes, all these servants and everybody coming and bowing and scraping to me, when I die is the one who is going to receive it to be a fool or wise?'

He turned out to be fool, but you can't take it with you. Some of the Chinese emperors did. They had these statues that they all carved and buried with them, trying to take everything with them. The pharaohs tried to take everything with them. They find these mummies and they find the pharaohs and guess what? They're dead! They are dead!

Every time I see these documentaries on the pharaohs and the mummies they show the mummies, and they did this for eternal life. There they are, still dead! So, they took it with them, they put it in the grave so they could preserve it, and what happened? Robbers came and took it! Isn't that amazing.

If riches increase don't set your heart on it. Whatever you have, enjoy it; but don't let it come between you and God, because then that becomes idol worship!

Verse 11: "God has spoken once; twice I have heard this: that power… [to receive wealth] …belongs to God."

Ed is in the construction business and he said that down here at Discovery Bay, right outside of Brentwood, they have all these homes where they fixed up these little peninsulas going out into the delta and you can you can pull your private yacht right up to your own dock at your own home. They had these beautiful homes that two years ago were selling for $450,000 and people were snapping them up as second homes. He said that every Sunday it's like one big party out there. Not that they're out there necessarily doing anything terribly, terribly wrong or that there is some kind of orgy or anything; it's not.

But they're all out there putting on their boats, sipping their martinis, playing their cards and having a good time. He said when he finished selling all the houses in that phase—and there's 1,000 more that there going to build someplace close by—they sold the models for $900,000. Those were snapped up just like that.

I thought of this when I when I went up the Canada and then down to New Zealand and Australia, there's one part here in Deut. 8 that just rings in my mind every time I see it.

Deuteronomy 8:1: "All the commandments which I command you this day shall you be diligent to observe and to do that you may live…" Please understand: God gave the commandments that you shall live. It is sin that causes death, not commandment-keeping!

 "…and multiply and go in and possess the land, which the LORD swore to your fathers. And you shall remember… [there are things we are to remember] …all the way which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness in order to humble you, to prove you, to know what is in your heart…" (vs 1-2).

That's why you go through all the circumstances that you do. God wants to know what is in your heart. That's what's happening to the whole Church of God today. Do you remember they hymn that says: 'He's sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat'? Yes! That's what he's doing to the Church of God today, to know what's in their hearts!

• Do they love Me?
• Do they fear Me?
• Do they keep My commandments?
• Do they want salvation?
• What is it that they want?

"…whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you… [you're going to have trials] …and allowed you to hunger… [so don't worry about it, he'll take care of you] …and then He fed you with manna… [sent bread from heaven] …which you did not know, neither did your fathers know it, so that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does man live" (vs 2-3). That's the whole lesson! That's why David said if riches increase don't set your heart on it.

Verse 4: "Your clothing did not wear out on you… [Can you imagine that all your clothes stayed young? No holes, no tears, no moths?] …nor did your foot swell these forty years."

Apparently their shoes didn't wear out. How many pairs of shoes do you have half worn out sitting in your closet? Do you have a 40-year-old pair of shoes that have never worn out? Showing that God is even able to help you with the little meagerness that you might have, if that's all that you have!

Verse 5: "And you shall consider in your heart…" Notice how much heart is involved here when it gets to the things concerning riches? We'll see that!
"…that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD your God chastens you" (v 5). So, you'll have trials you'll have correction and those things will come along.

Verse 6: "And you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God to walk in His ways and to fear Him, for the LORD your God brings you into a good land…" (vs 6-7).

He's giving them warning and saying, 'Okay the suffering is over the trials are over. Now you're going into the good land and you're going to have to get rid of the enemy. But now I'm going to bless you the cursings of the wilderness are over.

"…a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey" (vs 7-8).

Think about it when you drive along here today. You have wine because you have the vineyards. You have all the fruits you have lettuce you have all the vegetables. All of those things you can see in field after field and mile after mile.

Verse 9: "A land in which you shall eat bread without scarceness.…" Even here when we have a potluck, what happens? We end up with a super-abundance! Have any of you here gone without food? No!

"…You shall not lack any thing in it.…" (v 9). Stop and think: What do you really lack? Nothing! There may be a lot of things you may want. A lot of things you think you may need. But what do you really lack? Nothing!

"…It is a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper" (v 9)—as well as gold, silver, coal, iron, and all the minerals that come out of the land.

Verse 10: "When you have eaten and are full…" God expects something from you when you have eaten and are full! That's not just because we've had a meal and we've all eaten and we are full. But he's talking about when you have everything physically and you are full not only from eating—because you have plenty—but you're full because you have all the physical goods.

"…then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land, which He has given you" (v 10).

Now then, a problem arises if you don't. This is where we are as a nation right now maybe even further past that in coming down. So, whenever I drive around and I see all these houses and I see all these things, and I read about some of the prices of these houses that just take your breath away. I wonder where they this money. I saw some of these houses that they're selling for $700,000-plus and if you put down the minimum amount then your mortgage payment is going to be $6,000 a month! That took my breath away! But the people are snapping them up right and left!

Verse 11: "Beware… [there's a warning] …that you do not forget the LORD your God…" That's what happens every single time, and that's what happens to the Laodiceans; they forget God because they're 'rich and increased with goods.'

"…by not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command you today" (v 11).

What has happened to the Church? They forgot and said, 'We're rich and increased with goods.'

Verse 12: "Lest when you have eaten and are full and have built goodly houses and lived in them… [which we have, millions and millions of them] …and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then you become haughty of heart, and you forget the LORD your God Who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage" (vs 12-14). You think about that!

• Is that not where we are as a nation? Yes!
• Is that not where we are as a church? Yes!

Then know—since there's correction going on in the Church—it's not too far down the road in the world! It is coming! Think of it this way today: God has brought you out of the world, which is called Egypt, and He's brought you out of the bondage of sin, which is held you to Satan the devil!

Verse 15: "Who led you through the great and terrible wilderness with fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, Who brought forth water for you out of the rock of flint."

And imagine all of them standing there were remembering all of these things that then they sought and experienced it.

Verse 16: "Who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, so that He might humble you and that He might prove you to do you good in your latter end."

Remember this: Every trial you go through is so that God can bless you even more, IF you look to God to deliver you out of that trial! Here's the key right here, and this ties in with Psa. 62 that we just covered: 'If riches increase set not your heart on them.'

Verse 17: "Beware lest you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.'"

We could translate that into the terms, we have the longest prosperous history of an economy going of any time in the history of the United States. Have you heard that? Yes!

Beware saying my power and the might of my hand is got me this wealth!

Now what happens when they get all the wealth and they don't remember God? They don't give Him anything in honor for what He's given them!

Verse 18: "But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He Who gives you power to get wealth…" That's where it all comes from. It all comes from God!

• Who created everything so there could be wealth? God did!
• Who made the gold and silver? God did!
• Who made all the elements? God did!
• Who created the trees? God did!
• Who created the ground out of which all the food you eat comes? God did!
• Who made all the animals in which you enjoy when we had our hamburgers this afternoon? God did!

He gives you the power to get wealth!

Now remember this: Since you're not to set your heart on wealth if it increases, you look that as a blessing from God and look to increase in spiritual wealth so that you develop the [spiritual] 'gold and the silver and precious stone.' That is the wealth that God wants you to have and those are the true riches!

(go to the next track)

Referring to a print out given on the heart of David. Let's take a brief review. I suppose I could've listed these in little bit different order but this is pretty much how they came as we have been going through the book of Psalms:

• heartfelt repentance—continuous meek and humble
• the battle is the Lord's
• the law within his heart
• seek the will of God and seek God

those are two distinct things

• wholehearted
• joyful in the Lord and rejoicing in the Lord
• always praying to God
• trust in God
• bold in prayer
• looking toward eternal life
• love God
• kept the ways of the Lord

not wickedly departed from them

• look to the Lord for deliverance
• praise God for his creation
• love God's laws
  • commandments
  • statutes
  • judgments
  • testimonies
  • precepts

• ask God to lead him; eyes always on the Lord
• considered all the paths the Lord mercy and truth
• understood God's secret plan

the mystery of his will

• understood the covenant of the Lord
• waited for God
• followed hard after God

Psalm 62:5: "My soul, wait in silence for God alone; for from Him comes my hope." Notice how his heart and mind was always toward God in this manner.

Verse 6: "He only is my Rock and my salvation; He is my strong tower; I shall not be moved…. [by other men] …In God is my salvation and my glory, the Rock of my strength; my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times… [that's what we need to do in our lives] …you people; pour out your heart before Him…" (vs 6-8).

That's where we get continuous in prayer. I think right now the time were living in this is the time to really pour out your hearts and prayer to God while you have time to do it, while there is not the distress upon you.

"…God is a refuge for us. Selah. Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; when weighed in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. Trust not in oppression, and do not take pride in stolen goods; if riches increase, do not set your heart upon them…. [God is the One Who gives the power for that] …God has spoken once; twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God" (vs 8-11).

That's a lesson that He is going to teach. If we don't love God and appreciate what He's given, He can take it away, because He's done it many times!

Verse 12: "Also to You, O LORD, belongs mercy; for You give to every man according to his work."

As I've mentioned many times in the past, Psa. 63 is one of my favorite Psalms. This is one that we need to just put down that this is a solution to being complacent.

Psalm 63:1: "O God, You are my God, earnestly I will seek You!.…

You know most people start crying out to God when it's too late, not before any occasions arise.

"…My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You…." (v 1). In other words, this must be a continuous, ongoing thing! Whatever we have today we have today; whatever we have is what God has given us. So, we must continually be thirsting for God's Word!

We'll see this is part of the Beatitudes. Everything that Christ taught we can see there is a preliminary basis of it in the Old Testament before the New Testament. This is how we need to continuously seek God:

Matthew 5:6: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness…"

• righteousness comes from God
• righteousness is God's character
• righteousness is God's love
• righteousness is His mercy
• righteousness is His grace
• righteousness is His Word
• righteousness is His Truth

All of that is righteousness!

"…for they shall be filled" (v 6). That's why we have to hunger and thirst after it in a dry and thirsty land! Let's understand that Christ is able to fill us, because all the fullness dwells in Christ!

John 1:14: "And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us… [temporarily lived among men] …(and we ourselves beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten with the Father), full of grace and truth." Since we are temporary we need to constantly be filled! Constantly renewed every day full of grace and truth!

Verse 15: "John testified concerning Him, and proclaimed, saying, 'This was He of Whom I said, "He Who comes after me has precedence over me because He was before me."'…. [that actually means existed before me] …And of His fullness…" (vs 15-16).

In other words, if we are thirsting in a dry and thirsty land after God's way, seeking after God, panting after God as it were, how do we get filled? We get filled with Christ!

Verse 16: "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace." That means one grace after another grace. And part of the graces that we go through are the sufferings that we have with Christ, and the weaknesses that we have in the flesh so that the grace of God is sufficient for us!

Now let's see that all the fullness of God or the Godhead dwells in Christ. That's why we have to come to Him.

{note sermon series on the book of Colossians} I'm not going to get into any of the technical things here in Col. 2, but were going to concentrate on the fullness of Christ.

Colossians 2:6: "Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, be walking in Him."

That's how we are to live to walk it's a way of life. 'Rooted like the tree that is planted by rivers of living water' (Psa. 1).

Verse 7: "Being rooted and built up in Him…"

We are constantly building and growing in character in grace through the fullness of Christ so that this becomes a whole life-long project. Now when we get to the next section, the mind of Christ, we are going to see that that is the whole epitome of the goal that we are to seek in this life. It's a lifetime thing that we do whether we live longer whether we live not so long.

Verse 7: "Being rooted and built up… [constantly built up] …in Him, and being confirmed in the faith, exactly as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Be on guard so that no one takes you captive through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him [Christ] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (vs 7-9).

So, it has to come from God the Father through Christ to us. Since all the fullness is with Christ, since we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness, this is how our attitude needs to be reckoned:

Psalm 63:1: "…My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You, as in a dry and thirsty land where no water is."

I saw on the Discovery Channel a very interesting documentary on the Dead Sea and the Rift Valley where the Dead Sea is. You talk about dry and hot and desolate! It gets to be like 116-120 degrees down there because it is the lowest spot on earth. I think it's several thousand feet below sea level. I don't remember the exact amount, but I know it's 4000 feet less than Jerusalem and I think Jerusalem is 1800 feet; so it's about 2300 feet below sea level. They said in the wintertime there that they can grow crops but they have to put in fresh water, and they have to ship in fresh water to do it.

Because it is so low and the atmosphere is so dense that within six or eight weeks in December, January and February they can have fresh melons fully ripened! So, in a dry and thirsty land if you have water what is the moral of the story? You can grow anything!

So, if we realize that our human nature is dry and thirsty and barren of Truth and needing the Spirit of God, the love of God and the grace of God; and if we keep seeking God from that point of view, understanding as Paul said of himself, 'In my flesh, that is in me of my flesh, dwells no good thing! Let that be filled with the fullness of Christ,' and the Word of God and the Truth of God. That's the ultimate!

 "…as in a dry and thirsty land where no water is" (v 1). The Holy Spirit is likened unto water!

Didn't Christ say on the last day of the Feast: 'all you thirst come unto Me and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water'—of which spoke of the Holy Spirit, which they had not received because Jesus was not yet glorified. Now He is glorify. Now we can have the water, and the most important thing is God's Spirit! Then David had this real desire, he saw the end of it; he looked to the resurrection:

Verse 2: "To see Your power and Your glory—as I have seen You in the sanctuary."

That's a direct reference to the to the little sanctuary that David had for the Ark, when the Ark was in his house after they brought it back from Kirjath Jearim. David would go before that and he would play his Psalms. He had an instrument of 10 strings where he would go before God and sing and then have these all recorded and written down. That's how we get many of these Psalms. This one, I believe, was written while he was right there before the sanctuary or he had seen something of God in the sanctuary, because that's what it says here: "…as I have seen You in the sanctuary."

Verse 3: "Because Your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name" (vs 3-4).

For anyone who is a Laodicean, this is the cure, right here! If you're addicted to slothfulness and laziness this is the cure.

Verse 5: "My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness… [like unto the very substance of life] …and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips when I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the night watches" (vs 5-6).

In other words, David thought on God all the time. That's how to have the heart of David!

Verse 7: "Because You have been my help, therefore, in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. My soul follows hard after You; Your right hand upholds me" (vs 7-8). Looking and trusting to God and everything!

I submit to you, that if we do this—and all of us fall short, every one of us—and keep this in mind and do it, then I think were going to see some changes in our lives and changes in things that God is doing with us. And God being able to help us really grow in character and grace and knowledge; to finish and complete the work that he is doing in each one of us! That's the greatest work of God!

That's why we have to "…follow hard…" after Christ, because He's the only One Who can give us the fullness, Who can convert, Who can lead us.

Verse 9: "But those who seek my life to destroy it shall go into the depths of the earth. They shall fall by the sword; they shall be a serving for jackals" (vs 9-10)—one who can eat a lot of dead dying and leftover carcasses. And one of the main meals is mice.

Verse 11: "But the king shall rejoice in God; everyone who swears by Him shall glory, but the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped." We can have great confidence in that. One day they're going to be stopped!

In all of these Psalms we are we are trying to really understand the heart of David, because 'from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.' With David writing all of these Psalms, it shows his heart. That's why it says that David was a man after God's heart (Acts 13). Howbeit he sinned in the occasion of Bathsheba. Again, we're going to see that David:

• is looking to God
• is thirsting for God
• is looking toward the Kingdom of God
• is looking toward being there

Not looking at all the physical things around him!

Psalm 84:1: "How lovely are Your tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!" This fits right in with the theme of the Feast of Tabernacles!

Verse 2: "My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God."

I tell you this is the kind of attitude that we need to have even though it is hard to maintain totally 100% all the time. But, if in our prayers to God, when we pray every day that we come to God and know

• that everything comes from Him
• that there is nothing that we can do without Him
• that God's Spirit is going to form the heart of David and the mind of Christ in us

So that at the resurrection we can be the full-fledged sons of God! This is what God is looking to.

Verse 3: "Yea, even the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, even Your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will still be praising You. Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in You; Your ways are in their hearts" (vs 3-5). Actually I would have to say the ways of God more than the ways of them!

Verse 6: "Who passing through the valley of weeping make it a place of springs; yea, the early rain also clothes it with blessings. They go from strength to strength, every one of them appearing in Zion before God. O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah" (vs 6-8).

Let me just interject here. Sometimes when you pray maybe your attitude is such that you just wonder if God is going to hear you. Well you start out and you repent and say:

• God, forgive me!
• Hear my prayer, God!
• Answer me!
• Strengthen me!
• Grant me grace!
• Grant me favor!
• Grant me Your Spirit!

God will, right there while you're praying!

Take out your Bible opened it up while you're praying. Read some of the Psalms. Let those be your words until God's Spirit gives you the words of your own mind. Let that go to God.

Verse 9: "Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of Your anointed, for a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness" (vs 9-10).

That doesn't mean that David's is going to be a doorkeeper. But he just understood very clearly. You read the life of David and all of the intrigue and all of the politics and all the stuff that went on at the court. After his sin with Bathsheba his household was against him. Absalom rebelling against him. His other son rebelling against Solomon when he announced that Solomon was going to be king. The other son went down and said he was king and Joab had to do him in. All that going on! That's why he says this.

In other words if he were doorkeeper in the house of God he would have peace. He would not have to put up with the wicked and fighting them all the time. You can say that today. Just living in this world and the breakneck speed at which we have to go. We don't go here and go there; we run here, we run there, we do this, we have to be in a hurry and all of this sort of thing. I don't know about you but my day every day, because of the schedule that I have, that my time is crashed almost every minute. That's why David said it.

Verse 11: "For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace…" There we have grace, again!

If anyone says the grace was not in the Old Testament they don't even know their Bibles. As I brought out in the sermon series The Mystery of Lawlessness #3, that Protestantism is the most lawless and the most deceptive of all the religions.

"…grace… [there it is in the Old Testament] …and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly…. [everything that comes is going to work for God] …O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You" (vs 11-12).

Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." This might be a good Scripture for you to memorize! All things! That means:

• every trial
• every difficulty
• every trauma
• every joy
• every happiness
• every blessing

All work together for good!

Always remember this. You have perfect 20/20 vision of any situation after you have gone through it, not before! Many of us here we have gone through a lot of things together. We can look back and see that is has all worked together for good; even the difficulties. Why? Because if we're seeking the will of God he will bring us the solution! That's why they all work together for good. So, if you have a problem that comes along don't get distraught and think that God is cut you off. He hasn't! Don't think that you have sinned so greatly that God is rejecting you.

I have counseled no one concerning sin of the magnitude of Ahab or Manasseh. And yet, God gave them repentance. So, don't get so downhearted that you think there's no hope. But it's all going to work together for good. That's a tremendous thing. He will withhold no good thing. That doesn't mean he's is going to give you the equivalent of the replacement of the lottery.

That may end up being a curse. Do you remember the show years ago on television: The Millionaire? It was always instructive. He had a private currier go to someone and say here is a million dollars. You can do with it whatever you want. Very few did not end up blowing it. That's why the riches of Laodiceanism are deceptive!

Here's why everything works together for good; notice how David prayed to God:

Psalm 86:1: "Bow down Your ear, O LORD, answer me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul, for I am Holy… [he's called of God and has God's Spirit] …O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You. Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I cry unto You all day long. Rejoice the soul of Your servant, for to You, O LORD, do I lift up my soul, for You, LORD, are good and ready to forgive..." (vs 1-5).

Now this is important to understand. If you are in a situation where you are confronted with your own sins and problems and difficulties, which we all are; we need to understand that God is good and ready to forgive. Upon repentance! What happens when you repent and your heart really doesn't feel?

You say, 'O God, forgive me,' but there's that little part of your heart down here saying 'you hypocrite, you know you're just taking advantage of God.' Then you ask God:

• for a true heart
• for true repentance

He will give it! Maybe not necessarily right at that minute, but He will. One of these days you'll be going along and all of a sudden it will hit you just like a spiritual brick dropped on your head, and you will have that true deep repentance that you have sought for, because God is ready to forgive!

"…and rich in mercy to all those who call upon You…. [you don't get mercy unless you call upon God] …Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon You…" (vs 5-7).

Too many of us in the day of trouble what do we try and do? We try and work it out first and then go to God afterward! Just the exact opposite; we need to go to God in the day of trouble.

Verse 7: "In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, for You will answer me."

• God does!
• God is there!
• God does answer!
• He does hear!

There may be some very difficult circumstances in everybody's life. The most difficult ones are the ones you can't control, but you have to ask God to control, you have to ask God to intervene. Especially if you're dealing with someone else, and you cannot convince that person of whatever it may be that you desire of them. But God can! What if you have an unconverted mate? Who can convert them? You? or God? God! What if you have trouble on the job. Who can change the mind of the boss? You? or God? Especially for if you have a hostile boss.

I remember the case of a man who had a hostile boss and then a deacon from a hostile Church of God was hired to work with him. The deacon was very political and told lies about this man. The deacon was promoted as foreman and was real buddy-buddy with the boss, and just made it absolutely terrible and horrible for this man. So, he asked me what to do.

I said, 'Just pray and ask God to work it out.' Now, that sounds so simple. I said, 'You have to keep at it. Just pray and ask God to work out.' And God did! It took a year, but what happened on this construction job they finally had an audit and there was a lot of missing stuff. One of the supervisors from the headquarters of the corporation came down to find out what was going on. He determined that this deacon and the boss were the ones who were taking the material. He talked to the man who had suffered under this for nye unto a whole year and he found out that he was the only one who was working and he was the only one who was who was loyal to the corporation and doing the work.

Well guess what happened? The boss and the deacon were fired and this man was promoted and given back pay of raise for a year!

Always remember Mordecai; it was until the last day and who hung on the gallows? Haman the Agagite? or Mordecai for whom Haman had the gallows built? God is able to do it! He is able to fight our battles.

Here's what David did. This is why he was a man after God's heart because of having heart improvement, spiritual heart improvement. Here's how you do it.

Psalm 139:23: "Search me, O God, and know my heart…"

God knows all hearts! God is called the heart-knowing God. No person—young or old, male or female, important or nothing—does God not know the heart!

"…try me, and know my thoughts" (v 23). That's why we have to bring every thought into captivity unto obedience and to Christ!

Verse 24: "And see if any wicked way is in me; and lead me in the way everlasting."

What does it mean to be poor in spirit? It talks about a humble and contrite heart!

Psalm 131:1: "O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes lofty… [seeking high positions in this world, power in this world] …nor do I involve myself in great affairs..." In other words, he doesn't take upon him things that are not his to do!

"…nor in things too wondrous for me…. [here's his attitude] …Surely I have calmed and have quieted my soul as a child weaned by its mother…" (vs 1-2).

What did Jesus say about the little children? Allow the little children to come to Me for as such is the Kingdom of God! There it is, New Testament doctrine right in the Old Testament.

"…my soul as a child weaned..." (v 2)—so that he could understand the words of God! Let's tie this in with Isa. 28[corrected], which is where we have gone many times and how to understand the Bible. Now this is where we all need to come to:

Isaiah 28:9: "Whom shall He teach knowledge? And whom shall He make to understand doctrine? Those who are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts."

In other words you're a child of God but you're no longer an infant needing milk. Then you can understand. Then you are ready;

Verse 10: "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little.'

That's how you understand! For the world those who do not have God's Spirit those who do not have this attitude:

Verse 11: "For with stammering lips and foreign tongue He will speak to this people."

That by the same words you grow in grace and knowledge and understanding, they fall and do not understand because they reject God! Isn't that amazing? That's part of the mystery of the Kingdom of God!

Psalm 111:1: "Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart in the council of the upright and in the congregation"—wholehearted that's the whole thing we want here. Not only was David wholehearted to God but notice this:

Psalm 57:7: "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed… [he is not going to let it be wavered, he's not going to change] …I will sing and give praise."

Now let's finish this the heart of David by going to Psa. 103. There are many other Psalms you can add to it and go through it but with we can't be so exhaustive that we cover every Psalm word for word. Again, notice his attitude:

Psalm 103:1: "Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His Holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your desires with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (vs 1-5).

Verse 6: "The LORD executes righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in mercy. He will not always chasten, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities, for as the heavens are high above the earth, so is His mercy toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (vs 6-12).

Verse 13: "As a father has compassion upon his children, so the LORD has compassion upon those who fear Him, for He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes" (vs 13-15).

That is the heart of David!
All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• Psalm 25:10-22
• Psalm 62:1-8, 4-5, 7-11
• Deuteronomy 8:1-18
• Psalm 62:5-12
• Psalm 63:1
• Matthew 5:6
• John 1:14-16
• Colossians 2:6-9
• Psalm 63:1-11
• Psalm 84:1-12
• Romans 8:28
• Psalm 86:1-7
• Psalm 139:23-24
• Psalm 131:1-2
• Isaiah 28:9-11
• Psalm 111:1
• Psalm 57:7
• Psalm 103:1-15

Scriptures quoted, not referenced:

• John 14; 15
• Psalm 18
• Ezekiel 13
• Psalm 1
• Acts 13

Also referenced:

• Book: The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter
• Sermons: How to Develop the Mind of Christ #1 & 2
• Sermon Series
• Epistle to the Colossians
• The Mystery of Lawlessness

FRC:po/bo
Transcribed:8/22/18