Welcome to the Believers Bible Assembly This is the day that the Lord has made

and we're going to rejoice and be glad in it Today I want to talk to you about how

a lack of knowledge of the scripture we believers into error and spiritual confusion and that's not the will of

God for your life Matthew chapter 22 verse 29 says you are mistaken you are in error you're wrong because

you do not know the scriptures or the power of God Now Jesus was talking to a group of

religious leaders who should have known the scriptures But Jesus said you are in error You're wrong You're

mistaken because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God The scripture has power Hebrews 4:12 says

it's alive and full of power and because you don't know the scriptures you cannot experience the power of

God 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 33 says for God is not the God of confusion or disorder but

of peace So whenever there's error there's going to be confusion And Paul writing to the church

of Corinth is saying God is not the author of this confusion God is not the author of this

disorder Confusion and disorder comes when there is confusion about what the word says So any confusion that

you have in your life is not because of the scriptures it's not because of God

it's not because of Jesus Christ it's not because of the Holy Spirit We have to learn how to eliminate

error and confusion and you eliminate error and confusion by rightly dividing and understanding the word of

truth And when we do this we'll be able to overcome error and spiritual confusion because we'll know

the truth and the truth will help us discern error which leads to spiritual confusion And we have

to be wise in these last and evil days because of the deception that's running rampant in and out of

the church today The word protects us from error and spiritual confusion So that's what I want

to talk about today So let's get into the word this morning and see what the word has to

say about overcoming error and spiritual confusion The first thing we need to know and understand is that a lack

of knowledge leads to spiritual decline Hosea chapter 4 verse 6 God's people are destroyed for a lack

of knowledge They're ruined they're cut off They perish for a lack of knowledge God's revealed

will and purpose When we talk about knowledge we're just not talking about an accumulation

of information The word knowledge is talking about a relationship a deep understanding of who God is

You cannot say that you have a relationship with God and you don't know who God

is and we don't know who God is because we lack knowledge in the area

of who God is And because we don't have this information we are cut off we're

ruined and perish because we don't know who God is We don't understand His will His plans his purposes

for our life and God has revealed these things to us through the Word So this lack of

knowledge is going to lead to spiritual decline This lack of knowledge is going to lead to moral

decay because you don't know what kind of character you should be developing This lack of knowledge of who

God is that comes from His word is going to lead to spiritual decline which is going to result

in destruction It's going to result in ruin It's going to result in being cut off

from God and this is not the will of God for your life God wants you to know Him

and He wants you to know Him intimately but it begins with a knowledge of

who God is It begins with the wisdom that comes from God Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7 says

the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and

discipline The beginning of this relationship is knowledge of who He is And the scripture says

that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge That word fear means a

reverent awe that leads to humility trust and obedience That is the beginning of knowledge You can't come to

God with your knowledge and compare it with His knowledge or think that your knowledge is equal to

or greater than his The Bible tells us in Isaiah 55 that his ways are higher than

our ways and his thoughts are greater than our thoughts So the beginning of knowledge wisdom is

the fear the reverent awe of God that leads you to humility God I submit

my thoughts to you I submit my ways to you Teach me lead me guide me to the

truth That's where it begins If you think you know it all and you're just going

to add God to what you think you know you're setting yourself up for failure You're setting

yourself up for ruin You're setting yourself up to be cut off from God because God is not going

to deal with a rebellious individual who thinks that their knowledge is equal to or greater

than his He's just going to let you continue to think the way you want

to think and he's going to turn you over to whatever you believe That's what Romans talks about in Romans

chapter one the reprobate mind A reprobate mind is a mind that refuses to be

humble A reprobate mind is a mind that refuses to acknowledge God as God They have no reverent

awe They have no humility They have no trust and they sure enough not going to obey the

word of God because they think that their ways are greater than God's ways So what's God going to

do He's going to turn them over to the reprobate mind to their own thoughts

to their own ideas and the consequences that comes with that We have to understand

this is where it begins It begins with a deep respect and acknowledgment of God

and His wisdom and His power and His authority This is the beginning of all knowledge This

is the Starting point for acquiring true knowledge that's going to lead to spiritual growth and development God

is the source of all wisdom God is the source of all understanding and he has revealed this

to us through His word This is one of the ways that the word protects us by connecting us

with the wisdom and knowledge of God And when we connected to the wisdom and knowledge of

God there will not be any spiritual decline in our life but we will be growing in the knowledge

and the wisdom of the Lord day by day And this is important because this spiritual

decline that happens because of a lack of knowledge can lead an entire generation to spiritual

decline Judges chapter 2 verse 10 says this After that the whole generation had also been gathered to their fathers

talking about those who knew and experienced the Lord Then it says another generation rose up who did

not know the Lord All the works that he had done for Israel They did not

know they did not recognize they did not understand the Lord or the works that

he had done for Israel So a whole generation fell away because they did not

know the Lord And this is where we are today We have a whole generation that's

fallen away because they do not know the Lord They refuse to know the Lord They

refuse to acknowledge Him as God There is no awe that leads to humility trust and obedience And

because of this an entire generation today has fallen away This is why it's critical that

we know and understand the word so we can pass it on to future generations so

they will not perish They will not be destroyed ruined and cut off from God

Deuteronomy Chapter 6 verses 6 to 9 Moses told Israel to keep God's command in your hearts

in your inner being and consistently teach them to our children God's word was designed to be a continual part

of a believer's life not just something we do on Sunday morning but a lifestyle God's word is

to be continually part of a believer's life spoken at home from morning to night That means consistently constantly and

the result would be the word of God will shape and form our thoughts and our actions and

lead us to have healthy family lives The reason why the world is in a

condition that it is in right now is because we haven't done this We replace

God's ways with the world's ways We replace God's thoughts with the thoughts of culture And because of this a

whole generation has fallen away from God They don't even acknowledge God They don't even know God Oh

some claim they know about Him but they want to argue they want to take the God of the Bible

and turn him into a myth of fantasy because there is no fear of the Lord because

it wasn't passed down from generation to generation Or if it was passed down the generation that was passed

down to thought they knew better thought they had a better way And this has led to a

generational decline because we did not do what the word of God instructed us to do The word

of God is designed to shape our thoughts and our actions which will lead to healthy family lives

If you look at the family today the family is being destroyed There's no unity There's

no love The Bible talks about this These are things that are going to happen in

the last days The family would turn on family and the families would be divided But this

is not the will of God The will of God is for families to be united

so that the teachings of the Lord can continue to pass on from generation to generation That's

why Proverbs 22:6 teaches us to train up a child in the way he should go

by teaching them to seek God's wisdom and will for their lives Instead of leaning on

their individual talents and abilities teach them the wisdom of God that's going to lead

them to guide them and direct them for the proper use of their abilities and their talents

And here's the reason so that when they are old they will not depart from it The

reason why our children are in the condition they're in today because we did not

train up our children in the way they should go We did not teach them to seek God

and His wisdom primarily because we didn't know You can't teach something that you don't

know So if you don't know the ways of the Lord how in the world are you going to teach

them the ways of the Lord This is why it's incumbent upon us to know

the word so we can pass it on to future generations so they don't be destroyed

ruined perish and be cut off from God The word of God protects us when we pass

down the truth of God's word to future generations so they can pass it down

to their children and their children's children How the word protects us as it matures us Ephesians chapter 4

verse 13 to 14 talks about the goal of church leadership is to equip believers in the word

and to help them reach unity in the faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ That is the spiritual blueprint

for church leadership The role of the church leader is to equip believers in the scriptures

to equip believers in the faith and the knowledge of Jesus Christ so that they can have

an intimate experiential relationship and understanding of Jesus Christ that's going to lead to transformation growing in spiritual

maturity to the full measure of the fullness of Christ complete and perfect And the reason

for that is so that believers aren't easily swayed tossed to and fro like a wave of

the sea by all the false teaching the different gospels that are out here that are contrary

to the will of God so that they will be firmly grounded in The truth of God's word protected

from deceitful schemes of men false teachers prophets apostles the antichrists that are out here in

the world today That is the goal and purpose of church and church leaders But people aren't

being equipped they're not being taught the word They fall into spiritual decline But the

word protects us The word keeps us The word matures us It protects us from all of the false

teaching that's out here that's designed to sway us from the truth of God's word to these false

teachings these different gospels and too many of God's people are being tossed to and fro like the

wave of the sea They're running over here to this pastor they're running over here to

this preacher they're running over here They got a word over here they got a word over there

They're all over the place never firmly grounded in the truth That's why they're being taken out by

all these false teachers false prophets lying apostles anti-Christ that are in the world today The

word stabilizes us The word centers us on Christ and when the word stabilizes us and centers us

on Christ that's going to lead to victory and it increases our spiritual growth and development But we have

to adhere to the word We have to adhere to the scriptures It grows us up it matures

us but we got to want to be mature We got to desire spiritual growth Hebrews chapter

be spiritually mature but they have chosen to remain spiritually immature They still needed basic instruction and they

refused the deeper teachings of the word They were spiritual infants because they desired milk only What they

fail to understand is the fact that spiritual maturity comes from a desire for solid food They became

dependent on milk They've been in the church 1015 years on milk never designed solid food Spiritual

maturity comes from a desire for solid food putting into practice God's truth which trains believers to be able

to discern good from evil right from wrong You have to desire spiritual food solid food that's going

to train you to discern good from evil right from wrong and the reality of it is failure to

grow spiritually will lead to error and spiritual confusion in one's life That's where it comes from

lack of spiritual maturity a desire for milk a desire to just know those scriptures that make you

comfortable Spiritual growth and maturity comes from those scriptures that challenge you to be better that teaches you about

your ways and the path that you're on Remember we talked about 2 Timothy chapter 3:16 that the word

is profitable for doctrine for reproof and correction These spiritual milk drinkers they don't want

doctrine they don't want correction they don't want none of that Leave me alone I'm good

I want this milk But see they're never going to grow When the realities of life start

to smack them around they're the ones that's going to be crying like a baby because they don't know

how to handle the situations that arises They're the ones that are going to be

running now to that false pastor that false teacher that false apostle trying to find something easy

that they can wrap their minds around whereas the spiritual mature we want that solid food we want that

word that's going to push us We want that word that's going to train us to be

able to discern good from evil right from wrong And if you don't desire that

you're always going to have error and confusion in your life You're not going to know what's right you're

not going to know what's wrong You're going to be calling evil good and good evil and that's what's

going on in the world today within the church and outside the church You know it's

a shame and disgrace when you got the church in the world saying the same thing We've

been called out from the world come out from among them and be separated says the

Lord But because there's error and spiritual confusion in one's life you've got so-called Christians that are

calling evil good You've got so-called Christians that are calling good evil just like the world

and the reason for that is because they're still immature They're looking through the lenses of

emotion They're looking through the lenses of feelings instead of looking through the lenses of

the word That's why they're easily triggered Any little little thing will set them off because they're not

rooted and grounded in the scriptures So when the storms of light come they're going to be taken out

But those of us who have a desire to grow in the world will know that

the storms of life come to prepare us to better us to strengthen us if we stand

strong if we remain rooted and grounded in the truth of God's word We might

bend but we won't break You know why Because we're standing on the rock the solid

rock of Jesus Christ But if we don't grow spiritually If we never mature our lives are going to be

full of error and confusion Spiritual discernment is what we want Spiritual discernment is what we need

because it's going to help us distinguish what's good from what's evil and it comes through the practice of

seeking the practice of applying the word of God to your life on a daily basis The

Lord does not want us to decline spiritually He wants us to grow and mature spiritually And you'll

only be able to grow and mature spiritually when you seek after solid food that comes from the

scriptures The last thing I want to talk to you about this morning is that truth must be

examined and truth must be tested We're living in the midst of a fallen and wicked world Everybody

got their truth and people being hoodwinked and bamboozled led astray run amok being destroyed by a lack

of knowledge because they fail to examine and test what they hear Acts chapter 17 verse 11

Let's talk about these Bareans They were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians because they received the

message with great eagerness readiness of mind and examined the scriptures every day To see if those teachings were

true Now you've got to go back up to chapter 17 and see how the Thessalonians dealt with the

truth that they heard They didn't receive it with all readiness of mind They went against it They

rejected the truth That's why the scriptures said the brand's more nobleminded because they received the message with readiness of

mind and they examined the scriptures every day to see if those teachings were true The Thessalonians

didn't do that And when they searched the scriptures that indicated their diligence and commitment to seek after the

truth And this is a practice that you and I and the church today should model But

again it's only for those who hunger and thirst after the truth They're the ones that's going to seek

the scriptures daily They're the ones that are going to hear some false apostle on

TV say something crazy And then go back to the word and check it and say man he

don't even know what he's talking about He's misleading people And Jesus talked about this He says in

the last days even the elective God will be deceived Many people are being deceived today because

they do not verify what they hear They just accept everything they hear as being truth But the

Qurans they examine the scripture daily The Bahrains did not take what they heard at face

value saying amen to everything they hear and don't even know what we're saying amen to Do you know when

you say amen to something that you're agreeing with what was being said and how can

you agree with something that's being said if you don't know what's being said is

true or not And the things we're saying amen to are the things that appeals to our

flesh but you're talking about best life now amen Talking about money cometh amen We can't

say amen to everything We've got to verify that what we're hearing is the truth

Now once we confirmed it's the truth oh yeah we can say amen all day long because

we're agreeing with what the scriptures said We're agreeing with what God said So now we can say amen but

you can't say amen to something you don't know That's how spiritual decline begins Morans

did not take what they heard at face value but they examined and verified what they heard

with the scriptures because they knew that the scriptures were authoritative and they were authoritative because the scriptures

came from God This is why we have to test all things In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5

verse 21 Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica and he told them but test examine

some things No no no no no Test and examine all things carefully and intentionally That's what the

Bareans did Once we've examined all things carefully and intentionally now we ought to hold

fast to what is good Have a firm grip on what is good and what is good the truth of

God's word That's what we have to hold on to That's what we have to have

a firm grip on the truth of God's word Today we have to test everything

everything we see everything we hear And we have to hold fast to the truth that is found only in

the word Just like Barran's you have to take what you hear examine it and then

the thing that's good the truth of God's word that comes from the scriptures you

hold firm to that and you don't let go We have to stop depending on other people for spiritual truth

The word is truth The Bible says in Romans Let God be true and every man a liar That's why

you can't depend on others for spiritual truth You have to examine the word of

God for yourself You have to examine every teaching of what people say about the word with the scriptures which

is the word of truth So let me leave you with this Spiritual renewal begins by diligent

seeking It begins with seeking the truth of God's word And when we prioritize God's kingdom and righteousness above

all else He will reward our diligent pursuit of Him The things we're looking for

He will reveal James chapter 1 verse 5 says If you lack wisdom ask God and He's going to give

it to you liberally He's going to give it to you freely God is not trying to keep

anything from you But we have to pursue Him We have to seek Him We

got to seek his word We got to seek his truth Through persistent prayer seeking and knocking God reveals his

truth to us by His Spirit through His word The amplified version of Matthew 7:7 says keep on asking keep

on seeking keep on knocking and God will reveal His truth to you by His Spirit through His

word And his word will always protect us from spiritual error and confusion when we believe

it and do what it says Amen