We All have Need…So Ask
By Pastor Michael McPherson

Part 6 of an 8 Part Series

I. Introduction: I like to begin each sermon with a reminder of the importance of getting ready to receive the Word of God. As you read these questions, realize the conditions that are necessary for the Word of God to produce fruit in your life.

a. Who believes they will hear the Word of God today?

b. Who is ready to have the Holy Spirit teach them?

c. Who has come to humbly receive God’s Word today?

d. Who is ready to put the Word you hear today into practice?

i. Hearing and comprehending alone will do you no good.

ii. If you allow God to enable you and to help you to do these things, His Word will produce much fruit in your life

II. Let’s review what we have learned over the past five lessons in this series.

a. Without abiding in fellowship with Jesus we can do nothing worthwhile.

b. One way to help maintain fellowship with God is by Asking, Seeking, and Knocking (A.S.K.)

c. We need to ask and keep on asking.

i. We are helpless on our own and prayer needs to be the foundation of everything we do.

d. We need to seek and keep on seeking.

i. We are not supposed to seek after things; we are supposed to keep seeking to “See the King”.

ii. In other words, we are supposed to keep seeking after God’s rule in our lives.

1. Remember there is a difference between submitting to God’s rules and submitting to God’s rule.

2. Submitting to God’s rules means trying to obey a bunch of external laws.

3. Submitting to God’s rule means personally listening to God in every decision.

4. Remember, rule and rules are different.

5. Rules are external guides that may be helpful but cannot make us fruitful.

6. Submitting to God’s rule in every decision is what helps make us fruitful.

7. One of the hardest parts of seeking God’s rule is hearing His voice.

8. We can seek God’s rule by hearing His voice through sign and wonders, the Bible, circumstances, the Church and through prayer.

iii. God is speaking, are you listening?

e. Hearing from God can be difficult.

i. On our own, we tend to misunderstand what God is saying.

ii. On our own, Satan tries to deceive us and can even use signs and wonders to misguide us.

iii. On our own, our selfish and deceitful hearts can twist what God is saying.

iv. This is why we absolutely need the Holy Spirit to guide us into the truth and application of what God is saying.

III. We absolutely need the Spirit to guide us into the truth of what God is saying.

a. There are 2 key ways the Spirit guides us into the truth of what God is trying to tell us.

i. First, the Spirit guides us into the truth of knowing God.

ii. Second, the Spirit guides us into the truth of knowing God’s voice.

iii. Today we will take a look at the first key.

b. It is hard to know God’s voice without first knowing God.

IV. I once had a friend who was quoted in a local paper.

a. The statement that was published in the paper sounded aggressive and somewhat mean spirited.

b. When I heard what was published in the paper I was troubled.

i. I had worked closely with this person for over three years.

ii. During that time I had known her to be rarely aggressive and never mean spirited.

c. When the truth came out about what she had said, it turned out that the newspaper had only printed a small portion of her statement and it was out of context.

d. When I found out the full statement, it changed the entire meaning of what she was trying to say.

e. The newspaper gave many people the wrong impression of what was being said, but because I knew the person being quoted I knew something was wrong.

V. We need to know God well enough to know what He would say or would not say.

John 10:14
14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

a. God wants His sheep to know Him.

b. God wants you to know Him!

i. God wants us to know Him so well that we know what He would and would not say.

ii. When you think you hear from God, you should be able to recognize if it is something God would say.

iii. I once heard a “word of prophecy” and the gist of what the man said was that God was going to judge Key West like Sodom and Gomorrah and God was going to destroy Key West unless we got the sin out of Key West.

1. When I heard the man speak this, something inside of me was bothered.

2. I am the first one that would admit there is a lot of sin in Key West that grieves God, so I could believe that God would speak out against sin.

3. But what bothered me was the part about God destroying Key West because of sin.

a. This did not sound like the God I knew.

b. The prophecy did not sound like the righteous and loving God the Spirit was revealing to me.

4. As I prayed about what the man had said, the Lord reminded me that He would have spared Sodom for the presence of 10 righteous people.

a. God was moved to destroy Sodom because of a lack of righteousness, not simply because of the presence of great sin.

5. Because the Holy Spirit had taught me about God, I had great trouble believing the Lord had inspired these exact words that were spoken by this man.

a. As I sought the truth about the “prophecy” spoken, the Spirit revealed more of the Lord to me.

b. God may bring chastisement upon Key West, but as long as His righteous people are here, He will not bring vengeance.

c. We need to allow the Spirit to help us to know God well enough to recognize what He would and would not say.

VI. It is important that we allow the Spirit to help us to get to know God.

a. Trying to know God with our own understanding and abilities leads us to a distorted concept of who God is.

b. This is because our natural mind cannot properly understand spiritual things.

1 Cor 2:13-14
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

i. Note the natural man cannot receive or know the things of God.

ii. The Apostle Paul had an understanding of spiritual concepts, not because he was a Christian, but because the Holy Spirit taught spiritual concepts to him.

VII. In order for us to understand the spiritual things of God, we also must be taught by the Spirit.

a. You cannot get to know God through the Word without the Holy Spirit.

i. The Scriptures testify or give record of God (Jn 5:39)

ii. One of the reasons we have been given the Scripture is so that we can learn about God through them.

iii. However, without the Holy Spirit guiding and teaching you, the Scriptures will not help you to know God.

b. In fact, many people have a distorted image of God by either knowingly or unknowingly trying to understand the Scriptures without the aid of the Spirit of Truth.

i. I have met some people who know that Scripture says, “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8).

1. When they grasp this Scripture with their carnal mind, they see God as carefree loving being who would never send anybody to hell.

a. Yet John 3:36 tells us that the person who does not believe in Jesus has the wrath of God upon them and they shall not see life.

b. And Revelations 20:15 tells us that any who are not written in the Book of Life shall be cast into the Lake of Fire.

ii. On the other hand, I have met people who know that Scripture says that God “will punish the world for its evil” (Isa 13:11).

1. They grasp this Scripture with the carnal mind and they see God as a vindictive Judge seeking out someone to punish.

a. Yet they forget that James 2:13 tells us mercy triumphs over judgment.

b. And that Ephesians 2:4 tells us that God is rich in mercy.

iii. In our carnal mind we cannot resolve these apparent dichotomies of God.

1. Our natural mind cannot see God as both a God of infinite love and a God who will condemn sinners to hell.

2. Our natural minds tend to distort or neglect one or the other of these aspects of God.

3. However, to get an accurate picture of God, the Spirit must reveal and help you to understand both aspects of who God is.

Rom 11:22
22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

4. To truly know God, you must consider both the goodness and severity of God.

a. You cannot do this with your carnal mind.

b. To truly know God, you must allow the Spirit to reveal both aspects of who God is.

VIII. Not only do we need the Spirit to guide us into knowing God through Scriptures, we also need the Spirit to help us to know God by experience.

a. Because spiritual things must be compared with the spiritual, our natural mind can grossly misinterpret God’s activity in our lives.

b. There was a time when the psalmist Asaph misinterpreted God’s activity in the world.

i. He looked around him with his carnal mind and saw the wicked “at ease” while the righteous seemed to struggle (Ps 73).

ii. He saw the proud unrighteous people speak against God, and yet they had more than their hearts could desire.

iii. This misperception of God’s activity in the world nearly led him down a dark path.

Ps 73:12-19
12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; They increase in riches. 13 Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. 14 For all day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning. 15 If I had said, "I will speak thus”, Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. 16 When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me — 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end. 18 Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. 19 Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. 20 As a dream when one awakes, so, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image.

iv. Note Asaph saw God allowing the ungodly to be at ease while God chastened him every morning.

v. Asaph looked at God through his carnal mind and it nearly led him to believe that it was futile to cleanse his heart and wash his hands (vs. 13).

1. In other words Asaph was saying it was useless to change his attitudes and actions for the Lord

2. Have you ever looked at the world around you and thought God was letting the ungodly have more fun than you?

3. Have you ever gotten angry with God because the unrighteous were prospering and you were struggling?

4. Have you ever thought you sacrificed an action or attitude for God and all it did was get you nothing?

5. Have you ever been so disappointed in trying to live a godly lifestyle that it hurt you to think about it?

6. Asaph did. At least until he went to the “sanctuary of God.”

vi. When Asaph finally got with God, he was given spiritual understanding about God’s action in the lives of the unrighteous.

1. God revealed to Asaph that there would be a time when God would “awake” and “despise their image (vs. 20).

2. Asaph then understood that God was not ignoring the unrighteous, but that God was waiting for an appointed time of judgment.

vii. Like Asaph, it is very easy for us to misinterpret God and His activity in our lives.

1. This is why we need the Holy Spirit to guide us into knowing God through our experience.

2. Without the Spirit guiding us into understanding God through experience, we will end up with a distorted view of God.

3. Without the Spirit helping us to understand our experience with God, it is easy for our carnal minds to perceive God’s chastening as angry punishment, God’s freedom as a license for the flesh, or God’s silence as abandonment.

a. In truth God chastens whom He loves, God does not give us liberty so that we can serve our flesh and God promises to never leave or forsake us.

b. However, in our carnal perception of reality it is very easy to misconstrue God’s activity around us.

viii. We must be aware of this trait when we try to hear from God because if we have a distorted view of God, it becomes very easy to misunderstand what God is saying.

IX. In Asaph we find one important step in getting to know God.

a. In letting the Spirit help you to know God, it is important to allow the Spirit to change your mind.

b. We all have concepts of who God is and what He is like.

i. A fancy name for the concepts we use to understand things is a paradigm.

ii. I have heard a good explanation of how we use paradigms by comparing paradigms to maps.

1. We use maps to help us to understand about places.

a. The map is not the real place, but it is a picture that helps us to understand about the real place.

b. A map of Key West is not Key West, but rather a picture that helps me to understand about Key West.

i. The map shows me what Key West is an island.

ii. The map shows me where Key West is in relation to Florida.

iii. The map gives me an idea of the size of Key West.

iv. The map gives me an idea of how to get to Key West.

c. Similarly, we all have maps or paradigms about God we keep in our head.

i. These mental maps show things like what God is, who God is in relation to me, how big God is and how I get to God.

iii. These maps or paradigms of God can be very useful in helping us determine if what we are hearing sounds like the God we know.

c. Unfortunately, not all of our concepts about God are correct.

i. Not all of our mental maps of God are accurate.

ii. Asaph originally had a concept of God as one who would just sit by and let the unrighteous prosper.

d. Similarly, we have faulty mental maps about God.

i. You see not all of our understanding of God came from the Holy Spirit.

ii. Not all of our mental maps were drawn by the hand of God.

e. In order to allow the Spirit to help you to know God, you have to let Him destroy some of your erroneous mental maps.

i. Like the map on the opening of the old television show Bonanza, some of our maps need to be burned.

ii. Some of these maps were formed by carnal experience.

1. Our hearts drew the map based how we thought we saw God working in our lives.

a. One time I sinned and then bad things happened to me, so I have a map of God as someone who goes around looking to punish sinners.

b. The Spirit has to burn that map and show you that there is a big difference between loving chastisement and judicial punishment.

Heb 12:6
6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives."

iii. Some of these maps were given to us by the teaching of man.

1. We see God in a certain way because we were told about God by our pastors, parents, relatives, friends, Sunday school teachers.

a. Do you have a map in your mind that God is someone who will only release His miraculous power in your life if you make yourself holy by following God’s commandments?

b. The Spirit needs to burn that map and show you that it is the “hearing of faith”, not following the law, which releases the power of God.

Gal 3:5
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

c. Here Paul asks a rhetorical question to show the Galatians that the supply of the Spirit and miracles come from the hearing of faith.

i. In other words, Paul was telling these Christians that the supply of the Spirit and miracles came not from obeying the old law, but from hearing and believing the Word of God.

iv. Some of these maps were written in our minds by Satan.

1. The Bible tells us that we must stand against the wiles of Satan.

2. Satan’s greatest victories over the body of Christ have not been direct attacks against the church, but doctrines of demons that the Great Deceiver has planted in the Church.

3. Do you have a map in your mind that God will save you because you are a good person and go to church?

4. The Spirit needs to burn that map and show you that God will only save those who have a personal relationship with Jesus.

John 3:36
36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

5. Being good will not save you.

6. It is only those who have a personal faith in Jesus as their Saviro that will be saved.

f. Many of us have bad mental maps we are using to understand God.

g. In order to allow the Spirit to help us to know God, we need to allow the Spirit to burn the bad maps we are using to understand God.

i. Be sure, however, that it is the Holy Spirit who is burning the bad mental maps in your life.

ii. There are a lot of good mental maps the enemy, the world, and our flesh would like to burn.

iii. As much as God desires to consume the “bad maps”, Satan and the world desire to destroy our “good maps”.

h. We need to allow only the Spirit to create and destroy all of the mental maps we use to understand God.

Lesson Summary:

In order to seek God’s will, we need to be able to hear God’s voice.
Only the Spirit can guide us into the truth of what God is saying.
One way the Spirit helps us to know God’s voice is by helping us to know God.
We need to know God well enough to know what He would and would not say.
Our natural minds cannot properly know God.
We need the Spirit to guide us into knowing God through the Bible.
We need the Spirit to guide us into knowing God through our experience.
Part of allowing the Spirit to guide us into knowing God, is allowing the Spirit to change our mind by burning any wrong “mental maps” we have about God.