Ron Dunn Podcast - Ways Of God

Episode Date: July 3, 2019

From the sermon series on Exodus

Exodus chapter 33 verses 12 through 15, Psalm 103 verse 7, and Hebrews chapter 3 verses 7 through 11. Exodus chapter 33, verses 12 through 15. Psalm 103, verse 7. Hebrews chapter 3, or rather chapter 33, beginning with the 12th verse, And Moses said unto the Lord, See thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people. Thou hast not let me know Whom thou wilt send with me Yet thou hast said

I know thee by name And thou hast also found grace in my sight Now therefore I pray thee If I have found grace in thy sight Show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people. And he said, my presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Now that's where I want to stop, not with 15, but with 14. Moses' prayer in verse 13,

If I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee. God's answer, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Psalm 103, verse 7. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel. Now in Hebrews chapter 3 verses 7 through 11.

Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation, in the day of testing in the wilderness, when your fathers tested me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation and said, They do always err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. So I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest.

Now look at the 19th verse. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Now I want us to put these three passages together. As Moses begins the tremendous task that God has laid before him, he comes to the Lord and he makes this petition. If, as you said, I have found grace in thy sight, show me thy way that I may know thee. Psalm 103.7

tells us that God answered the prayer of Moses he made known his ways unto Moses and his acts unto the children of Israel. Then in Hebrews 3 the writer sums it all up. They saw my works, my acts for 40 years. I was grieved, angry, because they did not know my ways. Therefore, because they did not know my ways, I made an oath, you cannot enter in to my rest. Now, if you follow closely, you'll see that there are two levels of knowledge of God. Knowing God's works and knowing God's ways. Two levels.

One elementary, preliminary. One deeper, fuller, richer. The difference is really brought out in the 7th verse of 103 Psalm. He made known his ways unto Moses and his acts, his works, unto the children of Israel. Moses knew something Israel didn't know. Israel knew God's acts. They knew God's works. But Moses knew something more.

He knew God's ways. Now the importance of this difference is seen in Hebrews chapter 3. For 40 years the people of Israel saw they knew God's works. Yet God was grieved, the word indicates anger, God was angry with them because they did not know His ways. Therefore, they did always err in their hearts. They were always going astray. And God said, Because they do not know My ways and have not known My ways,

I made an oath, they cannot enter into my rest. And in the 19th verse he said, Therefore we see they could not enter in because of what? Unbelief. And he says in that chapter that not knowing God's ways is synonymous with unbelief. And not to know God's ways means to constantly be going astray in your heart and means that you can never

enter into God's rest. And rest is a synonym for Canaan, the promised land, the life of victory. In chapter 4 he says, So then there remaineth a rest for the people of God. And he that has entered into God's rest has, what?

Has ceased from his own works. What is entering into the land of Canaan? What is the life of victory? What is entering into God's works? It's entering into that realm of Christian living where we cease from our own works, our own struggling, the energy of the flesh, and we come to know what it means

to trust in God and to rest in Him. And God said, because they have known my works and have not known my ways, they have constantly gone astray and they cannot enter into my rest. Now I want to ask you a question. What do you know of God tonight?

Now probably everyone here knows God's works. That is not sufficient. In order for you to come to the place where you are able to trust God and enter into the life of victory enter into God's rest you must come to know God's ways and way back yonder at the beginning Moses had enough spiritual sense to know

that he would be unable to lead and feed and teach a nation merely by knowing God's acts. He had to know something deeper than that. He had to know God's ways. And really the only way he could ever know God was to know God's ways. And so he said, Now I pray thee, show me thy way that I may know thee. And I hope tonight the Holy Spirit of God will help us to understand the difference and understand the message.

Because until you and I move from the realm of simply knowing God's works into the realm of knowing God's ways, you are never going to be able to enter into God's rest and to come to the place where you can trust Him, come ill or come fair. Now, what is the difference between knowing the works of God and knowing the ways of God? There is a difference. And it is a very important difference

because it is simply the difference between defeat and victory. That's all. There is a difference. It's a very important difference. What is the difference between knowing God's works and knowing God's ways? The works of God are simply the acts of God, seeing what God has done. And to know God's works is simply to know what God has done.

And that's easy. That's very simple. And to know the works of God makes you a testifier. If you'll read the history of Israel, you'll find they were constantly giving testimony over and over again. The Israelites led by Moses would give a shout of triumph. They even did some dancing over there somewhere and sang a few songs. Not the kind we do today. Put that in real quick.

But giving testimony of what God had done. Recounting always the works of God, the acts of God, and knowing the acts of God made them a testifier. And you may know tonight the works of God. God may have done a marvelous work in your life. He may have saved you. He may have healed you. He may have delivered you.

This makes you a testifier, and that's good. But Hebrews 5.12 says that all of us must come to the place where we must be able to be not simply a testifier, but a teacher. And I want you to listen very carefully, because if you remain all of your Christian life simply a testifier, you're not making progress in the Christian life. Some people experienced a work of God years ago and they've been going around for 20 years giving testimony to what God did back yonder. Knowing the works of God makes you a testifier and that's great, but you must advance beyond that to where you can

be a teacher. Knowing the works of God makes you a testifier. Knowing the ways of God makes you a teacher. For instance, take the man born blind in John chapter 9. He experienced the work of Jesus. He knew the work of Jesus. Jesus healed him, gave him back his sight and the people came to him and said, what happened?

He said, I don't know. This one thing I know that once I was blind, now I see. Now that's great. That's great. This one thing I know, but the tragedy is that's the only thing he knew and he could not give them any information about Jesus. They said, this fellow that did this is a blasphemer. He's a sinner. And the man said, whether that's so or not, I don't know. I can't tell you much about this fellow. I think his name was Jesus. I think he was a preacher.

But I don't know anything about him. All I know is what he did for me. Now, that's great. That's wonderful. But if you come back to this fellow 20 years from now and say, hey, tell me about this Jesus. Oh, I don't know anything about Jesus, whether he's a sinner or not.

But I do know this, that whereas I was blind, now I can see it'll become a sad fact then. You see, after a while, being able to say this one thing I know, and this is the only thing I know, is not so much of a testimony as it once was. To know the works of God makes you a testifier, but to know the ways of God makes you a teacher. And so Jesus, if you'll check it out in John chapter 9, Jesus came back and gave that fellow some instruction and told him who he was,

and then the man became a teacher. What's the difference between the works of God and the ways of God? It's the difference between knowing what a person does and knowing the person who does it. It's the difference between infatuation and love. Here's a teenage girl who's infatuated with a football hero and she sees him catch the pass and run 73 yards for a touchdown, and oh, she just loves him.

Oh, she loves him. And she just, well, she just loves him. Next year, he doesn't go out for football. I mean, he's nothing. He's now, he's into study. And he decides now he just wants to be a brain, not a brawn. And so all he does now is stay in the library and study and dig into the books

and want to make good grades. What happens to this teenage girl's infatuation? She's no longer interested in him. Why? Because she knew his works. She did not know his ways. Israel was infatuated with the works of God. And there are a lot of people today that are infatuated with the works of God. Now notice, he says, because they did not know my ways, they

could not enter into my rest. Now, if all you know tonight are the works of God, you're not going to be able to rest. Let me illustrate. Israel knew only the acts, the works of God. you're not going to be able to rest. Let me illustrate. Israel knew only the acts, the works of God. Now, as long as those works were okay, they were okay, right? As long as God's acts were good, as long as God's acts were benevolent, as long as God's acts towards them were what they wanted, they believed in Him, they trusted Him. But when those acts turned and when suddenly God led them to the Red Sea and now it looked as though the work of God had

boxed them in and brought them to their death and to their destruction, what happened? They began to fly up apart. They began to panic. They lost confidence. They began to murmur. They began to criticize. Why? Because all they knew were the works of God. They did not know the ways of God. And I want you to know tonight, you can know the works of God and the acts of God and testify, and everything is all right as long as God is acting mercifully in your behalf, as it seems to you.

But suddenly when God no longer acts, when God no longer works, when the heavens are made of brass, when God is silent and it looks as though He has deserted you, you lose faith and confidence and you're filled with despair because you know only His works and not His ways.

And so you lose what? Your rest. You can't trust Him. You're walking by sight and not by faith. The fellow that knows only the works of God is the. You're walking by sight and not by faith. The fellow that knows only the works of God is the person that's walking by sight. The person that knows the ways of God is the person who's walking what?

By faith. To know the ways of God is to know not simply what God does, but to know why God does it, how God thinks, how God operates, the processes by which God Himself is outlining His plan. And so you don't really need to know His works. If the works seem to be withdrawn, if God seems to have deserted you,

if He seems to lead you to a red sea, or He seems to lead you to the lion's den, or He seems to lead you in the fiery furnace, you do not despair and throw up your hands and you do not think that God has deserted you because you know God's ways. You know God is working out his purpose in his own way. And so Moses said, Lord, I need to know something more than just your acts.

I need to know your ways because there are going to be times when you're not going to be acting right as far as we're concerned. And I need to know your ways that I may know you. And notice his answer. He says, all right, Moses, my presence shall go with thee and I will give you rest.

And Moses was the only one among the people that had rest at the Red Sea. Why? He knew more than God's ways, God's works. He knew God's ways. Now let me take you a little bit farther into this matter of knowing God's works and not His ways. And I want you to see tonight how that you must get beyond his works to his ways. I fear that so many of us become infatuated with the works of God, the acts of God. We hear God working over here and say, let's go over here and see God work. We hear God working over here. We hear testimonies of what God is doing over here in this country in this

place we say man I'm gonna catch a boat catch a plane I want to go there and see God work we become infatuated with God's works now I love to see God work as well as the next person but that will not lead you into rest because what are you going to do when God no longer works that way you've got to know more than just his works all right let me illustrate here is a person that is a wife and she has a lost husband and she gives her testimony she says my husband was, and I went to hear Bill Gothard or somebody else. And they laid down the plan how a wife is supposed to be submitted to her husband,

and once the wife is submitted to her husband, then God will take over, and God's power will be released, and the husband will be saved. And that's true. And she said, on Friday night, I got right with God. I submitted myself to my husband. I did all of those things, punched all the right buttons, turned all the right dials. Sunday morning, my husband was saved.

Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Some dear wife sitting here has a lost husband. She said, man, that's great. Oh, that's great. Man, that's great, the work of God. And so she rushes down to the altar, and she rededicates her life, and she submits herself to her husband. She punches all the right buttons, turns all the right dials. And she says, okay, now this is Sunday night. It took three days. And so Wednesday morning, my husband's supposed to be saved.

So three days later, her husband is not saved. Three months later, her husband is not saved. Three years later, her husband is not saved. And the woman her husband is not saved and the woman is in despair and defeated and discouraged. Why? All she knew was God's works. She did not know God's ways. The person who says God will always manifest himself in exactly this same way when points one two two, and three are made is a person who knows only God's works and does not know God's ways. Here's a person who stands up and says,

I was born a cripple. And I want you to know that I came to the altar. Brother so-and-so laid hands on me and I was healed. God healed me. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. And there's a person out there who is a cripple and desperately needs healing. Their heart leaps with that

testimony. They have had testimony of God's works. And so they come to the altar and brother soul and soul lays hands on them and prays and nothing happens. They're not healed and they go out discouraged and in despair. Why? Because all they've known was God's works and not God's ways. You see, God is bigger than His works. You've got to know more than simply God's works. Are you with me? We understand at this point he made known his ways unto

Moses his acts under the children of Israel and although the children of Israel saw his acts for 40 years they never knew his ways and so they were always murmuring always criticizing always panicking and they never entered into rest and never entered into victory. They were infatuated with the works of God. They were dependent upon the visible, physical manifestations of the works of God. They never really came. They were satisfied with just a system of religion.

That's all. They never wanted to know the person behind the system and folks if all we're satisfied with tonight is simply the blessings and the works if we never want to get beyond that to the person who does the work and to know how he thinks and to know his mind and to know his way we will never enter into rest never know victory well then how do you come to know God's ways? That's the important thing, isn't it?

More than anything else tonight, I want to know God's ways. How do you come to know God's ways? Because, you see, when you come to know God's ways, this will enable you to be a real intercessor. As I was studying this, that thought came to me, and I remembered over in Genesis when Abraham was praying, interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah, he made a statement that revealed to me Abraham knew God's ways. Now, when a man knows God's ways, God will reveal to that man what he is going to do when he won't reveal it to anybody else.

Now, let's read in verse 17 of Genesis 18. You just listen as I read. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Isn't that beautiful? The Lord said, I can't keep this from Abraham. I'll take him into my confidence

that's what happens when you know God's ways seeing that Abraham surely become a great and mighty nation and so the Lord said because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin

is very grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is coming to me and if not i will know and the men turned their faces from thence and went towards sodom now notice but abraham stood yet before the lord and abraham drew near and said now i want you to listen to this wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked per adventure there be 50 righteous

within the city wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner. Do you see it? Abraham knew God's ways. The men of Sodom just knew God's works. God said, I'm going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. That's all they knew. They accepted it and they went their way.

But Abraham knew more. He knew God's ways and so he was able to intercede. He said, now Lord, I know you. I know your ways. And it's not according to your manner. It's not your way to destroy the righteous with the wicked. And so Abraham had then the ability to intercede. And if you'll check out Exodus 32,

where Moses interceded for the people of Israel, he did the same thing. He said, now, Father, Lord, if you do such and so, the Egyptians will be able to rise up and say this and that. And Moses knew the ways of God. He was able to intercede. Now, how do you know God's ways? I think that there are two ways,

two means that God uses to teach us His ways, and really, they are one, as you'll see. The only way that God can teach us His ways is by dealing with us directly. And I want you to turn now to Psalm 77. Psalm 77 is a psalm of a soul in despair because the acts of God have been withdrawn from this person's view. And he is in despair.

How does God make us to know his ways? How do we get beyond knowing simply the works of God and coming to know the ways of God? Number one, look at verse 13. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Some of the other translations translate that thy way is holy. It indicates thy way is the holy way or the holy place or the sanctuary. The way of God is in the sanctuary, in the presence of God. If God is going to answer the prayer of Moses,

Moses prays, show me thy way that I may know thee. How is God going to answer the prayer of Moses? By bringing Moses into his presence and so he answers this, my presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest. I will bring you into my presence. The Hebrew there is this, my face shall go with thee. I will

bring you to me face to face. God teaches us his ways by getting us into his presence, using some means or some method to force us to God. He shuts us up to faith. Now this is what he did at the Red Sea. The situation was so perilous, there was no way to go but up. And so Moses fell on his face and cried unto the Lord. What was God doing? God was teaching Moses his ways. How? By putting Moses in a situation so that Moses would have to come into the presence of God. This is beautifully illustrated in Psalm 73 when David is backsliding because he's envious at the wicked. And the first 16 verses of the 73rd Psalm is David relating his backslidden attitude.

He said, I thought I just wasted my time and energy in serving God because the people that weren't serving God, they were the ones that were getting along so well. Now notice in verse 17, what changes it? Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. What was it that solved David's problem? Now notice, at first all David saw was the works. He saw that the godly people got sick, lost their jobs. He saw that the godless people were fat. When they died, there were no bands in their death. They had fancy funerals. Everything seemed to go their way. And as long as David looked at the works and the acts of God, he was disturbed.

Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I therein. That's where you find understanding. That's where you come to know the ways of God when you come into God's presence. Now, you listen very carefully, and please not misunderstand what I'm about to say the only way that you'll ever come to know the ways of God is when you deal directly and personally with God the

place of counseling now Now listen carefully. I don't want you to misunderstand, but I want you to understand. The place of counseling is not to give you the answer to your problems, but to put you into the presence of God so you'll find it out yourself. Many of us are missing it

because God puts us in a situation there's no answer there's no way out his works have ceased on our behalf it seems what's God trying to do? he's trying to draw us into his presence he said I want to deal with you I want to show you what kind of God I am

I want you to discover out of the depths I want you to cry to me because I want you to discover what kind of God I am. I want you to discover out of the depths. I want you to cry to me because I want you to discover what kind of God I am. We run off here to a counselor. We say, now I have this problem. What should I do? And they say, oh, that's on page 313 of my psychology book I had in college.

Yes, here's what you're to do. Such and so, such and so. Oh, that's great. I'll go and do it. And you don't even need God. You don't go to God. God is not able to deal with you. And so the next time a problem comes up,

you run back to the counselor and you say, Well, I've got another problem now. You see, God's still re-enrolling you in this school you keep dropping out of. And he puts you back in that school. And so you say, I've got another problem now. And you explain. He says, Oh, yes, that's chapter 14, page, yes, right here it is. I have it underlined.

It meant so much to me when I was taking my schooling. And here's what you're to do. And you say, well, thank you. That's a pat answer. And that gives me what I'm supposed to do. We run out and we do it. And the problem is solved. You see what we're doing?

We are never dealing with God. We're never coming into the presence of God. The place of the counselor is to give direction, but primarily to put you in a position where God can deal with you and you can deal with God. Because it is only as you deal with God directly and God deals directly and personally with you that you come to know his ways the only way a wife comes to know the ways of her husband is by

living with it you can know a man's works in a second but it takes you years to know his ways and the only way you can come to know the ways of a person is by long, intimate fellowship and communion. And God's way is in the sanctuary. God wants to bring you into his presence. Oh, thank God for those times when there is no way out but up, when there's no place to go but to the Lord, when it's past the hours of the counseling, it's past six o'clock, He's not here. He's on vacation. What am I to do? Well, I'll try God. I've tried everything else. And finally, I am forced to go into the presence of God and let God speak to me and let God deal with me. And I come out of that place knowing more than a formula given to me by some counselor. Now I know the

ways of God and I understand. God wants to bring you into his presence. Now the way of God is in the sanctuary and secondly, the way of God is in the sea. Look at verse 19 of Psalm 77. Thy way is in the sea and thy path in the great waters. Now get this, and thy footsteps are not known. Now you underline that. Thy footsteps are not known.

Now, here's what the psalmist is saying. Thy way is in the sanctuary, and that's a great place to be. You feel so good in God's presence. All is light. All is crystal clear when you come into God's presence. But that's not the only method

that God uses to teach us his ways. He says, Thy way is also in the sea, and thy footsteps are not known. Now there's one thing about a sea. The sea, of course, is the night, the mystery, the silence. you put your little boat in the sea there are no paths in the sea there are no tracks left in the sea a thousand ships may have gone the same way you've gone but they have not left any tracks they've not left any trails might as well have been that never a ship has sailed on this sea

for all you know you get it might as well have been that never a ship has sailed on this sea, for all you know. You get it? Advice won't help in the sea. I've gone that way. Yes, God brought me to the sea. He put me in a place where there was no way out. He shut me up.

He put me in a place of tragedy. He put me in a place of difficulty. He put me in a place of trial. And I can tell you what happened, but it won't help because you see when you go through the sea, you don't leave any trail. You don't leave any track. You have to find your own way. You have to find your own way. And there are those times when God will put you in a situation where, boy, there you are on the sea. There's no track.

There's no trace. There's no path. There are no landmarks. You're just there. You're just there. And all you can do is trust Him. Just to trust Him. And that's

how God teaches you his ways. Because I said a moment ago they are two, but they're only one. Because when you get into the sea, the only way that a mariner, a sailor, can chart his course over

the trackless and traceless sea is by looking to the side and shooting the stars. And when God sets you in the sea, he's simply bringing you back into his presence and putting you in a situation where the only way you can chart your course is by not asking this fellow, what do you think we ought to do? Which way do you think we ought to steer?

Not asking this man, you've been this way before. Don't you notice any landmarks? Nothing but water and the sky. And the only way that you can chart the course and get to the sea is to look up and get your direction from above. And so there's really just one way. God brings you back into his presence. Thy way, O Lord, is in the sanctuary. He'll bring you into his presence.

He wants to deal with you and teach you. And also his way is in the sea, the place of mystery where you don't know what's happening, when it's going to end, what causes it. It looks as though you're deserted and God has forgotten about you, but God is simply teaching you his ways and he does it by the sea. And so he says, they saw my works for 40 years, but I was grieved because they did

not know my ways, therefore they shall not enter into my rest. Moses said, Lord, teach me, show me thy ways. God did it by the sanctuary. My presence shall go with you. And he did it by the sea. He brought them through the Red Sea. I believe that's still the way God deals with us today. Teaching us God's ways. The way before me is an unknown sea. The past lies behind me.

Strong winds foam at the prow. The sails bend before the winds. Sometime, I know not when or how, all will be revealed. But until then, content am I to sail with orders sealed. Thy way, O Lord, is in the sea. And as he puts us in the sea, and we have to look up to him he teaches us his ways and brings us into that fellowship and opens his mind and we can look into it and see what God is like and when we see that, we're able then to trust Him, to trust Him, to trust Him.

And the heart is at rest. Let's pray together. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn. For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.