The Road to Righteousness E-Book

Timothy Loyal Tingelstad

• Herausgeber: Proisle Publishing Services
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 580

Beschreibung

American Christians are very familiar with the Word of the Lord recorded in II Chronicles 7:14: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. But just three generations after God spoke these words to King Solomon, He again spoke the following words to His people:  The Lord is with you, if you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you. But if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach them, and without the law. But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. II Chronicles 15:2-3 Is it possible that American Christians today, like God's people of the past, have been for a long time without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without the law? Many Christians have been praying for the next Great Awakening without really understanding what it is they have been asking for. What exactly is a Great Awakening? History tells us that Great Awakenings are about more than stirring up our emotions. A truly Great Awakening is a point in time when there is an abrupt change in the hearts and in the lives of the people, over a sustained period of time. In a truly Great Awakening there is something that we are awakened to, and this book is about identifying what that something is.

Leseprobe

Timothy Loyal Tingelstad

The Road to Righteousness

Anything less than everything is nothing

The RoadTo Righteousness

Anything less than everything is nothing

AN ANCIENT PATH TO THE NEXT GREAT AWAKENING…

ONE SOUL AT A TIME

by

Timothy Loyal Tingelstad

Copyright © 2023 by Timothy Loyal Tingelstad

ISBN: 978-1-961526-19-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher disclaims any responsibility for them.

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“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”

Matthew 13:44

PREFACE

If you have been saved from drowning, but you still drown, have you been saved from drowning?

If you have been saved from starving, but you still starve, have you been saved from starving?

If you have been saved from depression, but you remain depressed, have you been saved from depression?

If you have been saved from cancer, but the cancer remains in your body, have you been saved from cancer?

The obvious answer to each of these questions is “No!”

In Matthew 1:21 we are told why Jesus was given his name, “… you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” The name Jesus means the Lord saves. To sin against God is to disobey His commands, so if the Lord has saved you from your sins, but you continue to sin, have you been saved from your sins?

The Scripture passages that you are about to read have the power to save you from your sins. They have the power to transform your life, by saving your soul from the sins which hold you captive. They have the power to give you complete victory over your sins, but only if you choose to believe what you read rather than read what you already believe! We are about to take a journey through God’s foundational story. It is His story. A story which, if believed, will awaken the souls of many who are now walking the path of destruction called Casual Christianity. It is a story which will transform God’s people into the manifest sons and daughters of God that we were created to be.

This journey will lead us to a hidden treasure, and a pearl of great value, for which we will gladly exchange everything we have to obtain. This journey will lead us to a life in the kingdom of heaven, beginning now and continuing for all of eternity! Our destination is the God ordained life in which we find the power to overcome our sins, the peace which surpasses all understanding, and a renewed mind that will restore purpose to every aspect of our life. It is a journey across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land which God has prepared for us, and which Jesus came to bring us into. It is the only journey which will lead God’s people to the Next Great Awakening, one soul at a time.

Just as God had a plan to save the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt to a life on the other side of the Jordan River, God has a plan to save His people today from our bondage of slavery to our sins, and into the Promised Land of the kingdom of heaven. The Lord spoke the following words to Joshua just before the Israelites were led across the Jordan into this land which God had covenanted to give them through their ancestor, Abraham:

Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land that I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:6-9

This God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land on the other side of the Jordan, is an unchanging God. His desire for His people today, both Jew and Gentile Christian, is to lead His people into the Promised Land of the kingdom of heaven, to a life lived in His manifest presence, with more purpose, more power, and a more peace than we can imagine. And He desires that life for us to begin before we die!

Have you crossed the Jordan and entered the Promised Land, living your life in the kingdom of heaven? Or are you waiting until after you die to enter this life? Are you living the life that Jesus went to the cross to offer you, or have you settled for less than what he paid for? The preaching of Jesus is summarized in Matthew 4:17, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Jesus told us why he came into this world when he said, “I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance.” John 10:10 Jesus came to announce this more abundant life, and he also came as a living testimony as to what this life in the kingdom of heaven looks like. Jesus came to give us the power to live this more abundant life beginning now and continuing for all of eternity. His invitation to cross the Jordan came with instructions to “Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33

INTRODUCTION

America is in trouble, but the problem is not what we think it is. The threat of terrorism is on the rise, and no amount of military intelligence can eliminate it, but it is not the terrorists that we should fear. Our economy is not sustainable and will eventually crumble, and no amount of government regulation will prevent it, but the greed of Wall Street is not the real problem. We have learned how drastically an epidemic can change every aspect of our lives, but all we can do is wait for the next one to strike. Physical and mental health issues and cancer are destroying lives, and the best that medical science can do is slow down the process of their destruction. Our highest courts have followed the court of public opinion and rejected God’s definition of marriage and family, and religious liberty is about to disappear. We have come to realize that our Constitution is simply a piece of paper which was made only for a moral and religious people as our founding fathers once warned us. America is in trouble, and at a time when it is needed more than ever, the Church seems to have become powerless to impact the culture. We need the Next Great Awakening!

For decades God’s people have been praying that God would deliver us from these great threats against our land, but things seem to be getting worse, not better. Why has God not moved to heal our land? It is hard to doubt the sincerity of our prayers. Could it be that our prayers lack the faith which God requires from us, a faith which is grounded in the knowledge of the true God, and of His great salvation plan for His people? Could it be that the many problems we face are the manifestations of the sword of judgment in the hands of God? Could it be that God is allowing these threats to prosper against His people to get us to change the way we think and act? Is it possible that if we are awakened to a great drift that has taken place in our knowledge of the true God, and in our understanding of His great salvation plan that God would then hear our prayers and heal our land?

History, which is His Story, tells us that God brings the sword of judgment against His own people when they drift away from Him and away from the life which He desires for them. The purpose of the sword is two-fold. It is to awaken His people to the fact that they have drifted into disobedience, and to persuade the people to repent from that sin. Until this two-fold purpose has been accomplished, the prayers of His people to save them from the sword, no matter how sincere and numerous, will not take the sword away! This was true of God’s people Israel throughout Biblical history, and it will be true for God’s people today. God takes no pleasure in bringing the sword upon His own people, so He has always warned the people that this sword is coming, to give them time to repent. But this grace period for repentance is only for a God ordained time, and then the sword of judgment must strike.

Consider the following words written by the Prophet Ezekiel, God’s watchman on the wall:

The Word of the Lord came to me, “Son of man, speak to your countrymen, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against the land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming against the land and does not sound the trumpet to warn the people, and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.

Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak, and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you, accountable for his blood. But if you warn the wicked man to turn from his ways, and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.

“Son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?” Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?”

Therefore, son of man, say to your countrymen, ‘The righteousness of a righteous man will not save him when he disobeys, and the wickedness of a wicked man will not cause him to fall, when he turns from it. The righteous man, if he sins, will not be allowed to live because of his former righteousness. If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but then he trusts in his righteousness and does evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered and he will die for the evil he has done. And if I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but then he turns away from his sin and does what is just and right, if he gives back what he took in pledge for a loan, returns what he has stolen, follows the decrees that bring life, and does no evil, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the sins he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live.

Yet your countrymen say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just. If a righteous man, turns from his righteousness and does evil, he will die for it. And if a wicked man turns away from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by doing so. Yet, O house of Israel, you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just!’ But I will judge each of you by his own ways.” Ezekiel 33:1-20

If we listen carefully to these words of the watchman on the wall, we will hear everything we need to experience the Next Great Awakening. Careful listening will bring us to a point of decision. Will we believe what we are reading, or will we continue to read what we have always believed? The purpose of these words of warning will be missed by most of today’s Casual Christians because they will read these words through the lens of their traditional beliefs about who God is, and what His great salvation plan is. The Next Great Awakening will require us to choose to believe what we read, rather than read what we already believe. God gives His people traditions to follow so that they do not forget what He has done for them. But traditional beliefs can keep us away from God’s plan when they have drifted away from the truth of God’s Word. In a Great Awakening truth and tradition are often on a collision course.

Does God take pleasure in destroying even one of His chosen people? Absolutely not! He clearly tells us in the words of Ezekiel, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their wicked ways and live.” Does God want His people to simply pray that He would change His mind, and not bring the sword against the land? Will it do any good for the people to fast and pray for deliverance from the impending danger if they refuse to repent, to change the way they think? Will God change His mind if enough people beg Him to take the sword away? Or is there a reason that God is bringing the sword against His own people? What response is God looking for? The answer is simple. God is looking for true repentance, a change in the way His people think, and change in the way they act.

There is an obvious condition that must be present before there can be an awakening. This precondition is often overlooked. To experience an awakening, the people must be asleep! If we have not fallen asleep, there can be no awakening. This is important because a person who is sleeping does not know that they are sleeping until after they wake up. When we say that we need the Next Great Awakening, we are admitting that we have drifted away from the truth about some aspect of God and of His will, but do not realize it. This confession will require great humility because it is not easy for the leaders of God’s people to acknowledge that our corporate faith has drifted away from some aspect of God’s truth. Just as it is uncomfortable to be awakened from our sleep by a bright light, the transition from darkness to the light of truth will be uncomfortable at first, as our eyes adjust to the light. Tragically, when a Great Awakening takes place, many who have been praying for the awakening will instead run back into the darkness.

God has a story to tell, and that story is called History, His story. It is a story that has been unfolding for over 6,000 years. It is a story about God’s people, those He created with the responsibility of taking dominion over His creation, in accordance with His commands. Throughout history, God’s people have periodically drifted away from God, often for long periods of time. The great King Solomon, in his God given wisdom, understood the tendency of God’s people to drift away from God. At the time of the completion of the great temple, which had been built to inhabit the manifest presence of God, King Solomon asked God to promise that if the people ever drifted away from Him, that He would forgive them and accept them back if they truly repented from their sins. God’s response to Solomon’s request is found in a well-known revival verse from II Chronicles 7:14, which reads:

If my people, who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

But few Christians today know that just three generations later God would speak the following words through the Prophet, Azariah, to Solomon’s great grandson, King Asa, the King of Judah:

The Lord will be with you, if you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. For a long time, Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach, and without the law. But in their distress, they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. II Chronicles 15:2-4

An understanding of the conditional language of these two passages of Scripture will be critically important to the Next Great Awakening, because it will enlighten us to our God ordained responsibility in experiencing the Next Great Awakening. Every Great Awakening throughout history has had a time and place of beginning. The purpose of this book is to be a catalyst which will spark the Next Great Awakening within God’s people. This spark will begin in the form of a question, which if answered in accordance with the truth of God’s Word, will lead us back to God, and to the purpose for which He created us:

Is it possible that today’s Casual Christians, like God’s people of the past, have been for a long time without the true God, without a teaching priest and without the law?

The Next Great Awakening will take place only if we are willing to first ask ourselves this question, and then answer it through the study of God’s Word. Many have been praying for the Next Great Awakening to come for many years, without really understanding what it is they have been asking for? What exactly is a Great Awakening? History tells us that true awakenings must do more than stir up of our emotions. A truly Great Awakening, is a point in time when there is an abrupt change in the hearts and in the lives of the people, over a long period of time. In a true Awakening there is something that we are awakened to, and this book is about identifying what that something is.

There are two Scripture passages which will lead us onto the ancient path toward the Next Great Awakening. The first passage is from the Old Testament:

This is what the Lord says, “Stand at the crossroads, and look. Ask for the ancient paths. Ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” But you said, “We will not walk in it.” I appointed watchmen over you and said, “Listen to the sound of the trumpet.” But you said, “We will not listen.” Therefore, hear O nations, observe O witnesses, what will happen to them. Hear O earth, for I am about to bring destruction upon this people, the fruit of their own plans, because they have failed to listen to my words and they have rejected my law. Jeremiah 6:16-19.

In this Scripture passage God is warning His people to listen, and to wake up to what is about to happen to them if they do not change the way they are living. God had appointed watchmen over His own people to sound the trumpet of warning, but they refused to listen. And He is doing the same for His people today. But will God’s people today have ears to listen carefully to what God has told us since the beginning of time?

It was God who was bringing destruction upon His own people who would not walk on the ancient path, and who would not listen to the warning sound of the trumpet. The sword was not in the hands of foreign enemies. The destruction would come as the fruit of their own plans, and it would be executed by God’s hand. But why would God bring destruction upon His own people? This is a difficult concept for Casual Christians to accept. Yet God clearly gives the two reasons for this destruction. He says that it is because, “They have not listened to my words, and they have rejected my law.” Could it be possible that American Christians today are guilty of these same two great errors?

The second passage is from the New Testament:

So we must listen very carefully then, to the truth that we have heard, or we may drift away from it. The message God delivered through angels has always proved true, and the people were punished for every violation of the law, and every act of disobedience. What makes us think that we can escape if we are indifferent to this great salvation, that was announced by the Lord, Jesus himself, it was passed on to us by those who heard him speak. And God verified the message through signs, wonders, various miracles, and by giving gifts of the Holy Spirit, whenever He chose to do so. Hebrews 2:1-4

This passage warns us again to listen very carefully to the truth, to God’s Word, or we may drift away from it. Could it be possible that we, as American Christians, have drifted away from the truth, without knowing it? What is this message God delivered through angels that has always proved true? Have we too become indifferent to this great salvation message? These are the questions we must ask and answer if we are to experience the Next Great Awakening.

What does it mean for a people to drift away from the truth, and could this even happen in this age of almost unlimited information that we live in today? We have more Bibles per capita than at any time in history. We have hundreds, if not thousands, of well-educated Christian authors who are writing more and more best-selling Christian books every day. The internet allows us to instantly look at almost any translations of the Bible we choose. And while the percentage of Americans who are Christians may be on the decline, the actual number of professing Christians remains in the millions. Is it even possible that God’s people in America today could have drifted away from God’s truth and toward a Casual Christianity which does not honor God?

With all the advantages we have as today’s Christians, why are we drifting away from God? This drift has been gradual, so it has gone unnoticed by Casual Christians. We do not have an information problem. We have a listening problem. To listen carefully to God’s Word requires us to ask questions. Questions are powerful. When we hear a question, our minds try to answer that question. God will not give us answers to questions which we have not asked. Jesus emphasized the need to ask questions and to fervently seek the answers when he said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:9-10

One of the first questions we need to ask is for an understanding of what it is that we have drifted away from? If we have fallen asleep, what is it that we are unaware of? It is in the substance of our faith, our belief about who God is and what His great plan of salvation really is. Hebrews 11:1 tells us “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” But what is it that today’s Christians are hoping for? Are we hoping for what God wants for us and from us, or for what we want from God? In Romans 10:17, we are told, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” God’s Word is the source of our faith, and it alone provides the substance of what we should hope for. God’s Word is the truth from which we have drifted. Jesus prayed for his disciples, “Sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth.” John 17:17 Today’s Casual Christianity is not lacking access to Bibles, but we are lacking the ability to listen carefully to God’s Word. When most casual Christians open their Bibles they read what they already believe about God and about His plan of salvation rather than believe what we are reading.

Casual Christians may be reluctant to accept a message that even suggests that a drift has taken place. People who have dedicated their lives to the teaching of God’s Word, do not want to hear that their teachings may have drifted away from the truth. But as we are warned in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” The path of Casual Christianity seems like a good path, and it is easy to give sermons and write books that help people enjoy their walk as sinners saved by grace. It is much easier to help people change their label than to change their life. The Apostle, James, reminds us of the high standard God has for those who choose to teach His Word to others; “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” James 3:1

Great Awakenings are uncommon because people who have drifted off to sleep are not looking to be awakened. Everyone enjoys a good night’s sleep. Nobody enjoys being abruptly awakened. In fact, the person who wakes us up will often receive a much less than grateful response from the person who has been awakened. For example, our first response to being awakened to a fire alarm will probably be great displeasure, but when we come to realize what is at stake, we begin to appreciate the sound of the alarm that may have saved our lives. The same can be true on a spiritual level. When we drift away from the truth, the status quo eventually becomes supported by our traditions. Many may become angry if those traditions are challenged. A Great Awakening will inevitably challenge our newly formed traditional beliefs, and it will function like a spiritual fire alarm, which is warning us of the great danger of remaining asleep.

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to listen very carefully to God’s warnings, but many of today’s Casual Christians, like God’s people in the past, will choose not to heed this warning. It is much easier to just keep listening to sermons on Sunday mornings, and to pick the next best-selling Christian devotional book, rather than to become a real student of God’s Word. Reading our devotions each day is a good habit to have, but the time has come for much more. As the Apostle Paul writes, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” II Timothy 2:16 Paul also writes, “All of Scripture is inspired by God, profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” II Timothy 3:16-17

The Next Great Awakening will require us to do more than hear God’s Word. We must also listen to God’s Word. The progression from hearing to listening takes place when we become doers of the Word. If we do not take this step of obedience to God’s Word we are deceiving ourselves, as the Apostle James warns us in James 1:22-25:

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do.

The times are urgent, and many today have lost hope that we will ever experience another Great Awakening. But God has prepared an Ancient Path for us to walk on. It is the only path which will lead us back to God, and into His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, where we can enjoy the blessings of total obedience and total dependence upon a God who loves us, and who desires to bless us. Walking on this Ancient Path will not be easy. But walking on this path will be worth every amount of effort that we can give. When we find this hidden treasure called life in the kingdom of heaven, we will praise God that anything less than everything is nothing!

THE ROAD TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

The Bible refers to the life of God’s people as a walk, a road, or a way. This analogy is used in both the Old and New Testaments in describing our path back into the kingdom of heaven. In one of our foundational verses the Prophet Jeremiah called God’s people to walk on this ancient path when he proclaimed, “This is what the Lord says, “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient path, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16 Several centuries later, Jesus would again use this analogy in teaching about the path to our salvation when he proclaimed, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 Jesus would go on to teach the people that to be saved they must, “Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the road which leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate, and narrow the road which leads to life, and few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14

God’s great salvation plan is truly analogous to walking through a narrow gate, and then following a narrow path which leads into the kingdom of heaven. But what is this narrow gate? How do we know that we have entered through it? What does it mean to stay on the narrow path which leads to life, and how do we find the strength to stay on this path to our salvation? Why does Jesus tell us that only a few will succeed in this journey back to God? If God wants us to succeed, then why did He make this gate and road narrow? Does God help us walk along this path?

God has preordained a path for every person whom He has created, but He has also ordained that each person must choose this path by their own free will. God has not predetermined our path for us, for that would eliminate our free will. If we do not choose His path, there is a default path for us. The ancient path which leads to life is paved by providence, and all other paths are paved by chance. We do not stumble onto this narrow path by chance or accident, but instead it must be chosen. We cannot enter the kingdom of heaven by default or accident because this narrow path leads to a life in His presence, and it is only for those who choose to walk it. Jesus tells us that the default gate is wide, it leads to destruction, and many will enter through it. The gate and path to destruction are wide because it is walked by those who are ignorant of the choice God has given them. But for those who know the truth, and who choose to live their lives on the narrow path, the destination will be a life in the kingdom of heaven, beginning now, and continuing for all of eternity.

Entering this path begins with a choice, and walking on this path is a learning process. “Show me your ways O Lord, teach me your paths, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior and my hope is in you all the day long.” Psalm 25:4-5 We can have confidence that God will help us on our journey back to Him. “If the Lord delights in a man’s way, He makes his steps firm; though he stumbles he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him in His grip.” Psalm 37:23-24 God has created us for the purpose of walking on this path in his kingdom. Scripture gives us a prayer from Psalm 139 that will bring us daily confidence as we walk along this ancient path;

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thought from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways… For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well… Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

God has made this walk on the narrow path possible for us, and He has done it without taking away our free will. There is nothing that the powers of darkness can do to take us off this path. The only way we leave this path is if we choose to leave it. That is why the last verse of Psalm 139 is so important, and why placing it into our memory is so powerful, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” God wants us to know whether we have left the narrow path. His presence and power will go with us if choose to walk in His ways.

God has given us His Word to show us the way to walk on this narrow path. Psalm 119:105 tells us, “Thy word is a lamp onto my feet and a light onto my path.” This light, which is God’s Word, is both the ability to see the path and the power to walk along this path. But the word of truth must be in our hearts and on our lips, or we are in danger of drifting away from God, and of leaving the narrow path. God revealed this truth through Moses, who told the people:

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you, it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. Deuteronomy 30:11-14

There are five road signs along this narrow path which leads to life in the kingdom of heaven. Knowing these signs will give us confidence that we have entered through the narrow gate and have not strayed off the narrow road. These signs are foundational to our walk on this ancient road to righteousness. These five signs are the light of truth from God’s Word, that will empower us to succeed on our journey back into the kingdom of heaven. Our prayers should be like those of King David who prayed, “Let your light and your truth lead me to the highest hill, to the place of your dwelling.” Psalm 43:3

These five signs along the Ancient Path are in a specific order. The first sign on this path is to know the true God, because without God there is no truth. The second sign on this path is to know the truth, because without the truth, there is no law. The third sign on this path is to know the law, because without the law, there is no repentance. The fourth sign along this path is to know what true repentance is, because without repentance there is no salvation. The fifth and final sign is the name of a place called salvation. It is important to understand what salvation means, because salvation is the God ordained point of destination of this road to righteousness God has prepared for us. Without God, there is no Truth, without Truth there is no Law, without the Law there is no Repentance, and without Repentance there is no Salvation. This is our road map along the ancient path, the good way, of which the Prophet Jeremiah speaks of in Jeremiah 6:16, “This is what the Lord says, “Stand at the crossroads, and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls…”

The True God

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

John 17:3

Finding the correct knowledge of the true God is the first and most important step along the ancient path which leads into the kingdom of heaven. There is no more important knowledge in life than to know God. Knowing God is only possible because God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. We will never know everything about God, but what we do know about God must be true, because the correct knowledge of God is the lens through which all other understanding is obtained. This includes our understanding of God’s great salvation plan.

It is not a coincidence that the first sign along the road to righteousness is set forth in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God …” In the beginning was God. God is, was and ever will be. He is self-existing, or in other words He did not come from anything else. God has always been. Everything seen and unseen comes from Him. He has no equal. God simply exists. The true God is a sovereign God. Understanding the sovereignty of God is more than just an academic conclusion, it will lead us to finding the peace, the power and the purpose for which He created us. As Jesus taught, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” To know the true God, or to find the knowledge of God, is the first step toward eternal life.

The New Testament also has an account of the beginning, which is found in John 1:1-5:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines into the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.

The Word of God is the revealed will of God. Jesus was the Word made flesh, or the perfect reflection of God’s original intent and will for mankind. This is why the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent is necessary for us to obtain eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.

The writer of Hebrews writes, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 We will never know God if we do not believe He exists but coming to the knowledge of the true God is more than simply acknowledging the existence of God. While defending the existence of God is becoming more important with each passing generation, the existence of God is not the issue that will be addressed in this book. This book presumes that the reader believes that there is a God. The purpose of this book is to help today’s Casual Christians do what the Apostle Paul calls us to do, “Demolish all arguments and every pretention that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” II Corinthians 10:5

Demolishing arguments and pretentions regarding the knowledge of God is not an easy task. This is especially true when the arguments and pretentions have become embedded in our traditional thinking about who God is. As we read our Bibles in search of this knowledge of the true God, we will need to take the bold step of choosing to believe what we read, rather than read what we already believe about the nature and character of God. This will require great effort, as though we were searching for a great treasure, because that is exactly what we are doing! Consider the words of wisdom given to us through the Proverbs, which call us onto this path which leads to the knowledge of God:

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Proverbs 2:1-5

The first obstacle we will face on the road to righteousness will likely be the temptation to conclude that we already know who God is. As Casual Christians, we have been told who God is by our friends, our parents, our pastors, our teachers, as well as by Christian books and worship songs, for our entire lives. Many Casual Christian leaders will argue that all we need is to believe what we already know about God. They may even quote the writing of the Apostle John, who wrote, “… Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” I John 4:7-8 For many this may be the first detour sign off the narrow path, and if taken may end their search for knowledge of the true God. Those who choose to take this detour will unknowingly place a new lens over their eyes, as they continue to casually read their Bibles each day, allowing their traditional beliefs about what it means for God to love us, rather than upon the lens of the knowledge of the true God, who loves that which is good and hates that which is evil.

Losing knowledge of the God is not unique to our contemporary culture. Consider the Word of the Lord spoken through His Prophet, Azariah, “For a long time, Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach, and without the law. But in their distress, they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them.” II Chronicle 15:3-4 Losing the knowledge of the true God happens incrementally, as we redefine Him to be who we think we want Him to be. The result of this drift away from the knowledge of God inevitably results in the creation of a false god. When this happens, we also lose the ability to understand Scripture, because even God’s Word will be understood through the lens of who we believe God is. When we seek to understand God’s Word, we will do so through the lens of who we believe God is. If we interpret Scripture in a way that is not consistent with the nature and character of the true God, then we have made an error and we must change our interpretation.

God clearly also wants us to know and understand Him. Consider the words of the Prophet, Jeremiah:

This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the strong man boast in his strength, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts, boast in this: that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23-24

Knowing God is not optional for God’s people, it is required of us because the knowledge of God reveals what God both desires and requires of His people. We know that God desires us to know Him because He sent His Son, Jesus, to reveal the will of God to us. Jesus confirmed God’s desire for us to know Him when he said:

You are my friend if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:14-15

As we pursue the knowledge of God, there is no better place to begin than with the teachings of Jesus. We must build our understanding of who God is upon His own revelations through the Law and the Prophets, and through the teachings of His manifest Son, Jesus, rather than simply accepting the opinions of men. In the numeric center of our Bibles is Psalm 118:8, which says, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.” There is nothing wrong with listening to the teachings and opinions of men, but our conclusions must always be consistent with the knowledge of God as expressed through the Word of God.

What does it really mean to find the knowledge of God? The term knowledge is defined by Noah Webster’s 1828 American English Dictionary as having “… a clear and certain perception of that which exists, or of the truth and fact...” The first step toward this knowledge of God is to understand the truth of His nature or character. There are five absolute attributes of the true God, which we must know if we are to walk through the narrow gate and onto the narrow path which leads to life in His presence. These five absolute attributes of God are: 1) God is omnipotent, 2) God is omniscient, 3) God is righteous, 4) God is just, and 5) God is unchanging.

The first absolute attribute of God is that God is omnipotent. This means that He is all-powerful. There is nothing that God cannot do because He lacks the power to do it. There is nothing that can prevent God from getting everything He desires. God tells us of His omnipotence through His Prophet, Isaiah, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11 God spoke the creation into existence when He said, “Let there be light.” Genesis 1:3 This word light could have just as well been the word power, because that is what light is. In John 1:5 we are told that “… this light shines into the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.” In the laws of nature, we see that light always comes from a power source, and darkness from the absence of power. What God desires, God requires. An omnipotent God never settles for anything less than everything He desires. Coming to this knowledge of God has the power to change every aspect of our lives.

Understanding and accepting the omnipotence of God is foundational to our knowledge of God because it becomes the lamp unto our feet and the light unto our path into the kingdom of heaven. Psalm 119:105 There is no power which rivals the power of God’s Word. Satan is a created being, whose only power, is the power of deception. His only power over God’s people is in his ability to block the light of truth which comes to us from God’s Word. Jesus called Satan the father of lies. John 8:44 God’s power comes to us through the light of truth, which is found in His Word. To understand Scripture, we must read it through the lens of our knowledge of the omnipotence of God. If we ever interpret Scripture in a way that denies the omnipotence of God, then we must change our interpretation of Scripture.

The second absolute attribute of God is that God is omniscient. This means that there is no limit to what God can know. The only limit on God’s knowledge is God. God can choose not to know something, just as He has given each of us the free will to choose what we want to know. But we have been created in the image of God, He has not been made in our image. The omniscience of God can lead some to the conclusion that free will does not exist, because God knows in advance what we will choose. Some conclude that if God already knows whether a person will ultimately be saved or not, then what difference does it make what I believe or do? But these questions are answered when we understand what it means for God to be omniscient.

There is a limit to what we can know, and that limit was placed upon us by God. But there is nothing that God cannot know, or do, because He lacks the knowledge to do it. Unlike man, God is not learning by trial and error as time passes. He has always been omniscient. God does not experiment with ideas, making adjustments over time. For example, it did not take God four thousand years to come up with the idea of sending Jesus into the world to show us the way back into the kingdom of heaven, and to make that way possible by his death and resurrection. The plan of salvation was in place even before the fall of man took place.

A careful study of the concept of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man is a necessary step toward the knowledge of the true God, and to an understanding of His omniscience. It was God’s will to create mankind in His image, with free will, and to exercise that free will in perfect submission to His will. God did not give mankind sovereignty over His creation, He gave us dominion over His creation. God did not give us absolute freedom to do whatever we choose, without consequences. God gave us liberty, which is freedom from undue restraints. The commands of God are not undue restraints. It was God’s desire that mankind would exercise this dominion authority in accordance with His commands. God chose to give each person the ability to choose to either obey or disobey His commands, but He did not give us the ability to determine the consequences of our choices. If we ever interpret Scripture in a way which denies God’s omniscience, and His desire for our free will, we must change our interpretation of Scripture.

The third absolute attribute of the true God is that God is righteous. God’s righteousness is an absolute righteousness. Righteousness is His nature. In other words, God is good all the time. There is no evil in God. This is true because God’s character defines what righteousness is. When Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:33 that we should seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, He is telling us to rightly align every aspect of our lives with the nature, character and will of God.

Understanding the absolute righteous nature of God is important in our understanding of good and evil. God has not arbitrarily defined good and evil. Good is that which reflects His nature, character, and will, and evil is that which does not reflect His nature, character, and will. God made evil possible, because without the possibility for evil there could be no free will. When God created His moral standard of what is good and what is evil, God specifically told Adam that only He had the authority to define these words. The purpose of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was placed in the garden, was to give mankind free will. God desired Adam and Eve to have the power to choose to obey Him or disobey Him. But God also warned Adam and Eve that they had no power to determine the consequences of their choice. God told them that if they chose to disobey Him, and to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the consequence would be death.

An understanding of the absolute righteousness of God is necessary to understand what happened at the time of the fall of man in the garden, as set forth in Genesis Chapter 3. Our understanding of the absolute righteous nature of God is also necessary to obtain an understanding of God’s great salvation plan. Without this correct knowledge of God’s righteousness, we will not understand why God sent Jesus to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Without an understanding of God’s righteousness, we will not understand the role of mercy and grace in God’s great salvation plan. The great salvation plan of God could not compromise the absolute righteousness of God. If we ever interpret Scripture in a way that denies God’s righteous nature, then we must change our interpretation of Scripture.

The fourth absolute attribute of God is that God is just. God’s justice is an absolute justice. This means that God cannot ever act unjustly. God must always do what justice requires. God will always reward righteousness and He will always punish evil. God’s justice is always perfectly measured. He will not reward righteousness beyond what justice requires and He will not punish wickedness beyond what justice requires. Again, without a knowledge and understanding of this attribute of God, the cross makes no sense. Without this knowledge of God, the great salvation message of God becomes powerless to save us from our sins.

God’s Word tells us in Psalm 89:14, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and truth go before you.” Within this absolute justice of God’s nature there is room for mercy and grace, but these concepts cannot compromise God’s absolute righteousness and absolute justice. When sin is brought into the presence of this righteous and just God, there are only two ways He can respond. Righteousness and justice demand that the wage of sin is death, and therefore God cannot fail to act. God would be totally righteous and just by punishing the sin with the immediate consequence of eternal death. A just God cannot simply let the sin go unpunished, but God does have one other option. As Noah Webster’s 1828 American English Dictionary defines these days of grace we are living in, God can give us “a time of probation in which an offer is made to sinners.” God can give us a grace period to repent of our sins. We must never forget, however, that justice requires that this offer is only for a time, and that it is not unjust for this grace period to end anytime God chooses it to end. If we interpret Scripture in a way which portrays God as unjust we must change our interpretation of Scripture.

Finally, God is immutable. This means that God does not change. God is eternally the same. God is not growing, and He is not diminishing. God is the self-sustaining One. There is not an Old Testament God and a New Testament God. There is only one God, and He is the same yesterday, today and forever. And because God does not change, His will does not change. He does not change His mind. Recall again the words God has spoken to His people through the Prophet Malachi:

I am the Lord your God, and I do not change. That is why you, O descendants of Jacob, are not already completely destroyed, says the Lord. Ever since the days of your ancestors you have scorned my laws and failed to obey them. Now, return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord.” Malachi 3:6-7

God is an unchanging God, with an unchanging plan, for an ever changing and drifting people. It is God’s people who change over time. God cannot return to us until we choose to return to Him because this would change His standard of righteousness and justice. God cannot do the repenting for us, because to repent is to change the way we think. God will not change the way He thinks. God cannot repent. God’s people must repent by changing the way they think and live if they have drifted away from God’s will for them. If our interpretation of Scripture is based upon an evolving or changing God, then we must change our interpretation of Scripture.

One of the most quoted Scripture passages regarding the Next Great Awakening is the word of the Lord spoken to King Solomon in II Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” It is our God ordained responsibility to seek the face of God by coming to this knowledge of God and of His absolute attributes. But truly knowing God goes beyond learning His attributes. To know God also requires us to know His name. How many Christians today know God’s name? We casually refer to Him as God but that is not His name. Billions of people across the earth will say that they believe in God, but it is not the true God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.