Truth in the inward parts

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I would like to share a thought with you that has been cookin' inside me
for a few weeks now.  I've preached it at least 3 times in the last 
couple of months and feel to preach it again this weekend in Roswell, NM.

The basic text is from Psalm 51 where David says, behold, thou desirest
truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to
know wisdom. 

David speaks something so profound that it sends Holy Ghost chills up and
down my spine nearly every time I think about it.  ***GOD*** DESIRES TRUTH
IN THE INWARD PARTS!!!!!  Our heart is deceitful above all things and 
desperately wicked.  How many of us before we came to God would not rather
justify ourselves than admit to error?  How many of us would have passed 
the buck to others rather than to admit failure and go on from there? How
many of us would have lied to cover up a fault and by doing so add sin to
sin.

When we were confronted with the truth of God's word we had to make a 
choice.  We had to choose between our own image of ourselves and the
picture of us that was being painted of us by the word of God.  It may
be one of the first times that we had to take a good look at ourselves in
the mirror of the word of God and admit that we did not measure up. What 
really happened was that we were exposed to light and light reveals things
just as they are.  God was merciful to us and allowed us to repent to the
acknowledging of the truth.  We realized that we were hopelessly lost in 
sin unless we confessed our sinful state, quit doing the things we were 
doing and washed away our sins in the precious blood of Christ through
the waters of baptism.

Those who fail in this step will never have salvation.  They will be lost
because they do not have a love for the truth and will never have truth
in the inward parts.  There are those who will be born again of the water
and the Spirit that do not aquire a love for the truth. They will be lost
also.  Consider the church in Sardis. They had a reputation that they were
a thriving going church but the Lord told them that they were dead. It was
because they did not have TRUTH IN THE INWARD PARTS. Many sit in churches
today and act the part of the christian but do not really live the life
at home.  They live a sham and a deception, a mere facade of what the 
christian is supposed to be. The real christian should be WHYSIWYG (what
you see is what you get) and not a facade. How can people pretend to live
for God and really not serve Him?  It is because they don't have truth
in the inward parts.

The bible tells us that the man is blessed who has no guile in his spirit.
A man who has no guile does not put up a false front, he is not a hypocrite,
he is the same from the surface to the center, transparent, real and
genuine.  The bible tells us that the Father seeks those to worship Him who
will worship Him in spirit and in truth. He will call us children if we do
not lie, and will call us children without shame.

The way that we get truth in the inward parts is to get filled with His 
Spirit. Didn't Jesus tell us that He is the way, the truth and the life?
Didn't He tell the disciples that the Spirit of truth was with them and
would be in them?  Jesus is truth personified. His Spirit is the Spirit
of truth.  The word of God (the bible) came from His Spirit.  He told
Israel that He would take His statutes and judgements and right them upon
their heart and they would keep them and do them.

Have you ever seen someone who professed this great salvation and yet
justified behaviour that was not according to the word?  It is because
they have yet to let the Lord write His statutes and judgements upon their
heart.  They have not yet allowed the Spirit of truth sanctify them through
the word of God.  If we say that we have not sinned and set about to
justify ourselves instead of God the bible tells us that the truth is not
in us. Oh!! but if we confess and forsake sin we will have mercy.  The flow
of the river of life will continue to sanctify us through the truth,
we will be filled with the Spirit of truth, and we will have truth in the
inward parts. We will be pleasing to Him that gave His own blood to
sanctify us and separate us unto Him by His truth.

In Christ,
Mark Strahan

--
Mark Strahan	 ac928@rgfn.epcc.edu    GENUINE JESUS' NAME BRAND SALVATION
___________________________________________________________________________
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we *must* be saved.         Acts 4:12