[Gary Petty] We all have a desire for fairness. We have a desire to be recognized for our rights – that we have rights and it’s not right for somebody else to take those rights away.

A right, by definition, “is power or privilege that belongs to a person either by law or nature.” Now let me read that again. This is actually from Webster’s Dictionary. “A right is a power” – a power – it’s something that gives you the power to do something – it’s a “power or privilege that belongs to you” – you own it – “belongs to a person either by law or nature.”

In a Democratic society, people believe they have all kinds of rights. Of course, one of the things we believe we have a right to is the protection from bodily harm. We believe that other people, or the government, don’t have the right to hurt us. We believe in property rights. This is all part of the society that we live in.

It is common for human beings to feel that our rights establish our value as people. It is interesting that in nations where people have little rights – they have very few liberties or rights that are given to them or allowed, let’s say, by the government – that those people feel that they have no value. What’s amazing is in the Soviet Union and the Communist rule, which was supposed to make everybody happier, the most common thing that happened in their society in the fifties and the sixties and the seventies and the eighties was alcoholism. People just drank themselves silly because they felt like they had no purpose. And since the greatest possession we have is ourselves, we suffer great anxiety when we think somebody is taking away our rights.

So we have rights. They belong to us. And we feel very strongly about these rights. That’s why we find slavery to be so despicable. For one person to own another human being and to take away their rights – you know, “You belong to me. You are my property and, therefore, since I own you, my ownership takes away your rights.” We find that despicable. It’s amazing that in other parts of the world, and even in our history, there was a time period when slavery was not considered despicable. It was considered that people had the right to own and take other people’s rights away.

The Declaration of Independence…we’re going to talk a little bit about – I’m just talking about the environment we’re in – but we’re going to talk about a subject this afternoon…about the rights that God gives us and where do those rights come from, because I want to tie that into something else next week.

The Declaration of Independence, which, of course, laid the foundation for the US Constitution, makes this famous assertion. How many times have you heard this or read it yourself? I got it out this morning and read it, just so I could make sure I had it right. “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. And among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Now those are incredible words. They have a great sound to them and they have great meaning to them. But I have to ask, “What do they actually mean?” What does it mean that I have the right to pursue happiness? What does that mean? What if your pursuit of happiness and my pursuit of happiness come in conflict with each other? What does that mean? What does it mean that I have the right to pursue liberty? What does the mean?

You know, one of the first things that the United States faced under George Washington – from where I came from in Pennsylvania – was western Pennsylvania seceded from the Union, because they were making them pay taxes on whiskey and everybody in the mountains of western Pennsylvania made whiskey! It’s known in history as the Whiskey Rebellion. My sister lives in a town called Washington, Pennsylvania, and the reason for the name of the town is because that’s where Washington led 15,000 soldiers into western Pennsylvania to hang these people who said, “Wait a minute. We just fought a war so we don’t have to pay taxes and now our President is going to hang us because we have to pay taxes. My pursuit of liberty says, ‘I don’t have to pay taxes.’” What does it mean: life, liberty and pursuit of happiness?

It’s funny. The Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution, as brilliant as they are, laid the foundation for eventual collapse of the nation. How do you even define these terms after a while? And our founding fathers, how they defined those terms and how we define those terms today are probably quite different, in some ways.

In the pursuit of happiness, if I want to steal your cow, can I steal your cow? Can I take your wife, since that will make me happy? Right? I mean, there are people who believe that. “I should be able to take your wife because it’ll make me happy. And you are keeping me from my pursuit of happiness.”

You know, we look at some of the great moral questions that people face today – abortion, homosexuality. You know, abortion and homosexuality are based on the idea that they have an inalienable right to pursue life, liberty and happiness. And whose business is it of anybody else to tell them how to define life, liberty and happiness? Interesting problem when we get down to what are rights. The US Constitution is an attempt to take those words and put them into law and government, because it became very apparent if everybody is going to pursue life, liberty and happiness, you have to have a set of laws that determine what you can and cannot do. Right? What if I’m a thrill seeker? I just love to create chaos. So I can run into a crowded room and yell, “Fire!” anytime I want. Don’t I have the right to do that, because that’s what makes me happy? I get a thrill from it. Well, the law says you can’t. Why? You’re keeping me from my pursuit of happiness. Well, you’re causing damage to other people’s life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. So they had to set up a set of laws and a government to try to enforce those rights and protect those rights. And now we have millions of laws – all in an attempt to protect and enforce the concept that our Creator gave us inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Eventually, the US government will fail, like all human governments, because it’s fatally flawed in certain concepts.

I want to talk about your rights that God gives to you today and what gives Him the authority to give us those rights. Remember, a right is a power or privilege that belongs to a person by law or nature. Any rights that you and I have are from God. Any rights that you and I are given are from God. And they come because He has the power and authority to give those rights.

You know, what I want to talk about next week is the problem with delegated authority, because God delegates all kinds of authority. And all of us have to use authority that God has given to us. What is it based in? Well, first of all, we have to look at God’s authority and what it’s based in and then we have to look at the difference between human authority and God’s authority.

I’ll just give you an example so you understand what I’m talking about here. When we go through today, we’re going to show that God’s authority is based in ownership. He owns the universe. And as owner, He has owner’s rights. Now, you have, as a parent, authority over your children. We’ll show the scriptures that say that. Is it because you own them? That’s an interesting concept. Because, if it’s because we own them, then can we not do with them whatever we want? Well, we’ll deal with those things next week.

First of all, we have to look at God’s authority and where it comes from. When God created human beings, He gave them a perfect life. You know, in the Kingdom of God Seminar two weeks ago, I started in Genesis. We’re going to actually start in Genesis again today to start a premise. It’s amazing how many of the concepts of the Bible begin in Genesis – in the beginning. And then you go through the rest of the scriptures to put it together. But there is a right that He gave to human beings. It’s an interesting right. Let’s go to Genesis 2. Genesis, chapter 2 and verse 15 – we know the story here.

Genesis 2:15 – Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the Garden you may eat freely, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it, you will surely die.

Now, He didn’t take the tree away. He gave them a right. He said, “You have the power and privilege to choose. Now I’m telling you, as your Father, I’m telling as the One who has all authority, I’m telling you as the One who has all wisdom and all love, don’t take this action. But I’m giving you a right. You have the power to choose. But if you take that right, there will be consequences – you will die.” So we have been given a right to choose. God could have not given us that right. God could have never put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden. He could have just said, “You’re going to do everything I tell you to do. Satan’s never going to come along. And I’m going to hardwire your brain so that all you can do is obey and you can never make a choice.” He could have done that. We could have been hardwired to never make a choice. Right? Just like animals go on instinct, we could have been hardwired to be an instinctual being. But we weren’t. And God said, “I’m going to give you a right to choose, but I’m going to tell you what is good. And if you choose what I say is bad, there will be terrible consequences that you will own.” Remember, you own a right. I own this right. As owners of it, we not only own when we make the right decision, we own when we make the wrong decision. And those consequences become ours. We own them. Now we don’t like that. It’s very hard for us to understand that.

Look at Deuteronomy 30, because as Israel stood on the threshold of the Promised Land, what did God say to them? Deuteronomy 30, verse 15 – here Israel is before the Promised Land and God says to them:

Deuteronomy 30:15 – “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. Okay, I’ve given you a right.” God could have said, “You don’t have this right,” but He said, “I’m giving you a right. I’m setting before you life and good – this is one choice – and the other choice is death and evil. These are your choices here.”

Now we think this is a multiple choice issue. It’s not. There are only two choices. This is one of the great lies of Satan. He tells us we have five hundred choices. Everything is multiple choice with him. “Oh look, you have fifteen options.” Nah, there are only two. God says, “You have the right to choose this or this.” When Satan gives you the multiple choice, you’re still making one of two choices. You’re just making this choice in a different way, that’s all. But you’re still making this choice. He continues in verse 16:

V-16 – “…in that I command you today to love the LORD your God.” This is very important. As we go through and discuss here God’s authority to give us rights and to require consequences of our decisions, we also go back to His love. This isn’t an evil dictator or a mean-spirited being saying, “I want you to do it My way or I will punish you.” This is a Father who looks at His children, whom He loves, and says, “I give you a right and, if you choose the wrong way, I hate what’s going to happen to you. Just love Me and do it the way I say. Just trust Me and do it the way I say.” This is your choice. This is our choice. “…in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land when you cross over to the Jordan and go to possess it. I call heaven and earth as witness today against you, that I have set before you – I’ve given you a right; you have a power and you must own this right – you must own it and you must take responsibility for it,” He tells them. And He says, “I call heaven and earth today to witness that I hold you responsible.” With this right comes responsibility. “…that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore….” And God says, “By the way, I will tell you which way to choose.” It’s not like God said, “Okay, I’m going to give you these choices and then you’re not going to know.” You know, it’s like we say with our kids sometimes, “Well, I’m just going to let my kids make their own choices.” God never does it that way! God never has said to us, “Look, I’m just going to let it be up to you. You make your own choices.” God says, “I’m going to tell you what to choose.” He says, “Choose life, that both you and your descendants may live, that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers – to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob – to give them.”

He told them, “I’m going to give you a right. And I’m going to tell you…this isn’t hard like, Okay, I’m going to…you’re going to have to figure out what to do. I’m going to tell you what to do.” He told Adam and Eve, “Don’t eat that tree. Now, I’m going to give you the right to make a choice, but don’t do it. And, if you do, you take ownership of that decision, and you will suffer the consequences of that decision.” It takes a great maturity – spiritual and emotional maturity – for us to actually understand that, because most of the time, as human beings, what we do is, we make the wrong choice and then we blame others. We make the wrong choice and then we blame others. Or…I always find this interesting. Do you ever deal with a child that a person goes to correct that child, and the child’s reaction is, then, to correct the parent or correct the adult? “Okay, I will accept the correction, but now it is my turn to correct you,” which is a great immaturity. “I’m not going to take full responsibility. If you correct me…okay, okay, I did something wrong. Now let me tell you where you’re wrong.” That’s at the heart of this problem when we start to talk about God’s authority over us, because we never accept full responsibility for the right. We never take ownership of the bad decision.

So He gives us this right to choose. He also tells us, “If you make the wrong…I’m going to tell you what the right one is and, if you make the wrong one, you will suffer.” And you will even face judgment from God.

You know, as human beings, sometimes, we even want to take other people’s choices away. We want to do that. Sometimes, as a pastor, I’ll sit down with somebody…I’ve sat down with some of you in this room, and said, “Please don’t do that. Please don’t do that,” and then watch you do it. Right? I couldn’t take away your choice any more than you can take away my choices. If we try to take away each other’s choices, we take their right away that God has given to them. All we can do is teach and love and guide and help, but in the end, we all make our own choices. You’ve been called by God to begin to understand this whole concept of God gave you a right and holds you responsible for that.

You say, “Okay then, life just comes down to a matter of making the right choices.” And no, it’s more than that. You know, when we deal with little children, we tell them all the time, “Well, this is a matter of learning to make the right choices. You choose this. You choose that.” But Christianity is more than just making the right choices, because what we read here in Deuteronomy says that He wants you to do this because you love the Lord your God. It’s not a matter of, “Well, I’m going to make this choice, because if I don’t, God’s going to hurt me,” or “I’m going to make this choice only because I get good consequences.” Because you know, in an evil world, sometimes a good choice gets bad consequences. Right? Sometimes, the good choice, in an evil world, produces bad consequences. So our maturity must go even beyond  just doing this for benefits or punishments, but because we love the Lord our God, which means that we must be doing what we do because we absolutely believe and submit to the will of God. We believe that His will – what He wants – that’s what that means – what He wants is so good and so right and so perfect that we will submit to His will – His wants – even when it goes against our wants. And we will submit to His wants no matter what the cost. But He gave us a right. That’s right. And in this right He said, “What I want you to learn – by this right that I’ve given to you – is to take responsibility for it, and ownership of it, and then choose what I tell you because you love Me.” Right? Isn’t that what He just said in Deuteronomy? “Choose what I tell you because you love Me. So I give you a right and this is what I want. And you must take responsibility for it.”

Mark, chapter 14. Jesus Christ came to show us what this means. He came to show us a perfect example. He died for our sins and He came to show us a perfect example of what it is to be a human being in a relationship with God. In Mark 14, verse 32, we’re looking at when Jesus, at that last Passover with His disciples, goes out to the Garden of Gethsemane – verse 32:
Mark 14:32 – They came to a place which was named Gethsemane, and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. He knew what was going to happen. Jesus knew what was going to happen. He knew He was going to be tortured, spat upon, made fun of and die, and He was going to do it for the very people who were doing it to Him. And He says in verse 34:

V-34 – “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.” What a brand new experience for God. Right? He said, “I feel so afraid I think I’m going to die.” He never felt this kind of distress as God. “This is so distressful I think I’m just going to have a heart attack right here and now. I’m going to go pray and get some help from My Father.” And He went a little further and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, “Abba, Father” – this is an emotional title – Abba – My Daddy – “Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless, not what I want, but what You want – not what I will, but what You will.”

This isn’t just a matter of the choices we make. It’s a matter of actually understanding a right that has been given to us and giving the right back. It’s actually giving the right back and saying, “I give up this power to You – not what I want, but what You want.” It’s giving the power up. And this – this – is the hardest thing for us to do. We want to maintain the power over what we want. And the hardest thing is to actually go to God and be able to say, “Not what I want, but what You want.” He felt like He was going to die. And He knew – He knew – that in less than twenty-four hours He was actually going to die. And He was so distressed! And yet His prayer was, “Even though this is not what I want, I pray what You want. I give this right to You – this power to You, this privilege to You.” “Choose this day!” “Oh, good, I get to make a choice.” Christianity is more than that. “Well, let’s see. Today is choose good, good, good, bad, bad, bad. Oh look, God, it was a pretty even day today.” Right? Or, “Today, I chose five good to one bad! It’s was a good day!” When we get down to the core of what this is, it’s giving up the privilege to choose at all – “not what I want, but what You want.” That doesn’t mean that God doesn’t take into account our feelings and our desires. Look at how many times God has answered your prayers and my prayers, where He’s given us something we wanted. That doesn’t mean that we don’t get to go to God with what we want and what we need, and pray and ask, but we’re talking about our approach to this choosing between good and evil. And it’s actually giving up the right that has been given to us. And it’s based on the fact that God has the authority to give us the right. He has the authority to take it away, but He doesn’t. He asks us to give it back. He asks us to love Him so much that we give it back.

You know, it’s interesting in Ezekiel 18, verse 4 – I won’t turn there – but it actually says, “All the souls are Mine.” God says, “Everything belongs to Me.” He gave us the right. You see, we seem to think that we were born with these unalienable rights. Even Thomas Jefferson, who had a strange viewpoint of Christianity.... He was Deist, didn’t believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, wrote his own Bible. You ought to see the Jeffersonian Bible. He edited the Bible to a very small edition of what we have today, because he took out everything he didn’t like. But anyway, even he had to admit certain things came from God. You and I don’t have rights, unless God gives them to us. We have a right. And this right is, “You choose.” And God says, “Now you choose. But what I want you to do is give back the right to Me. You love Me that much. You trust Me that much.” Because you believe God had the authority to give it to you and you believe that you love Him so much that you give it back to Him.

There’s an interesting scripture about God’s authority in Luke, chapter 7. Luke, chapter 7 – this idea that our response to God’s authority must be out of faith – this trust – and out of love and the belief that He has that authority. He has the right to take our lives forever. It’s His right! How are you going to argue that? I actually think there will be people standing, you know, right before the lake of fire, and say, “You don’t have the right to do this to me!” And He’ll say, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that you couldn’t see it.” Luke 7, verse 1:

Luke 7:1 – Jesus goes into Capernaum. Verse 2 says:

V-2 – And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. So when he heard about Jesus he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving. They came saying, “Look, this is a good centurion.” He probably was a proselyte. Well, it goes on and he says, “for he loves our nation and has built us a synagogue.” He was, at least, a God fearer. He had converted to Judaism and he worshipped the true God. And yet here he was in a nation where he worshipped the true God, but was considered a second-class citizen. The Jews would have treated him as a worshipper of God, but not an equal worshipper of God. And he was willing to accept that just to worship God. He had a lot of power. A centurion was a commander of a company of a hundred men. He had a lot of power. He understood the idea of power. Okay? He did not find it a difficulty that he was a second-class citizen in order to be part of the people of God. He just thought being part of the people of God was so important he was willing to be a second-class citizen, because God had the right to do with him whatever He wanted. Verse 6 says:

V-6 – Then Jesus went with them. He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. You’re a great Rabbi. You’re the Messiah. Don’t come to my house. I’m a Gentile. People will talk. Just don’t worry about it. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You.” He says, “I didn’t come to You in public doing all this. I sent a servant” – probably a Jewish servant. “I understand the protocol here. I understand that I’m not one of the chosen by birth, but I have become one of the chosen because God showed mercy to me. But say the word and my servant will be healed.”Verse 8:

V-8 – “For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, “Go,” and he goes, and to another, “Come,” and he comes, and to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it.” He said, “I understand Your authority and I have no value with Your rights –  Your right to be who You are” – God’s right to be who He is. He says, “I have no rights, except the right that God gives me, so therefore, I have no rights to defend here.” What an incredible mindset! And notice what Jesus says in verse 9:

V-9 – When Jesus heard these things, He marveled. Now what did it take to shock Jesus Christ? What would it take to make Him speechless? What would it take to make Him, “Wow!” It was this man who said, “I understand the authority of God. And I understand all my rights come from Him. And I understand that He either says it and it’s done, or He doesn’t say it and it’s not done. And whatever He wants, it’s okay. And I have no rights here.” And He turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.” He says, “I can’t even find a Jew with this kind of understanding – this kind of faith, this kind of humility before God – that says, “Every right I have is from you and if You want to take them away, You can take them away, and I will just worship. And I will just obey. And I will just follow.” And of course, you read the next verse – He healed the man’s servant. He healed the man’s servant.

Understand that God’s ownership of your life is the beginning of understanding His authority. Because, if we don’t understand God’s ownership – and I can tell you this from my own experience – when I’m not cognitively, intensely aware of God’s ownership, you know what I am? I’m a half-Christian. I’m sort of half-obedient. I just sort of half do it. “It’s okay. It’s my right.” We sort of half love. We have half faith. And we blame others for all the consequences. We sort or half do things.

It’s very interesting, in Isaiah, God’s send a message to King Cyrus. Now you have to understand, Persia is the greatest empire in the world at the time – huge empire – the biggest one the world had ever seen. And Cyrus is the king over this huge empire – sort of like, if the President of the United States received a personal letter – you know, like the prophet Jonah said, “I have personal letter for you from God.” And here’s what God says to him – in part. Let’s go to Isaiah 45. When we accept God’s ownership and His authority, He has the right to say and do what He wants, and we accept His love. Now you have to accept both. If you accept God’s authority and not His love, you live in fear. If you accept God’s love and not His authority, you live as a half-Christian. We have to accept both. We have to accept His authority – His ownership – and His love. And they have to work together. Let’s face it. I mean, think about your own life – how much of the time we spend either in fear or a half-Christian – and we go back and forth, because one time we’re accepting His authority and the next time we’re accepting His love. When we accept both together, something happens. What I find interesting is what Cyrus is told her in verse 9 – here’s what God says to the most powerful man on the face of the earth at the time:

Isaiah 45:9 – Woe to him who strives with His Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherd of the earth! In other words, you know, a potsherd was a piece of a pot that was broken off. He said, “Let all the little pieces of pots fight with all the other little pieces of pots.” Okay? This is a real demeaning term. “Let all the other broken pieces fight with all the other broken pieces.” Shall the clay say to him who forms it, “What are you making?” or shall your handiwork say, “He has no hands?” Woe to him who says to his father, “What are you begetting?” or to the woman, “What have you brought forth?” Thus says the LORD, The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, “Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons and concerning the work of My hands, you command Me. Go ahead, give Me a command. Go ahead, give Me a right. You’re the most powerful man on the earth. Go ahead, give Me some rights and I’ll take away your right to breathe. Okay? Let’s just even these things out here.” Verse 12, He says:

V-12 – I have made the earth, and created man on it. I—My hands—stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded. He says, “Okay, before you think you’re too big, let’s just have a comparison here. Where did you get your rights from? Where did you get them from?” He’s saying this to the most powerful man in the world.

You know, I don’t know about you, but I often struggled with what did Abraham go through when God said, “Go kill your son?” And especially since God had promised him that Isaac would have children. “Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You promised he will have children, but if I kill him, he can’t have children. So would that make You a liar?” Abraham could only do what he did because he had finally – finally – come to the realization, “God owns me, and God owns Isaac, and God has the right to do what He wants to do, and I love Him and trust Him that He will do good. God has the right to do it and I love Him and trust Him that He will do good.” The other option was, “God can’t be trusted. God is evil and, therefore, He doesn’t have the right to do this.” See the problem he’s dealt? This is the hand he’s dealt.

It gets very simple. There will come times in your life where you will choose. And there are all these complicated things we go through in life, but, you know, when you strip it down and strip it down and strip it down – which is what I do with everything – sometimes it takes me a long time to make a decision, because I strip it down and strip it down and strip it down until I end up with, “Choose you, life or death. Choose you, good or evil.” Sometimes it takes me a long time to get through all the stuff to get down to that, because, to me, every decision, when it comes to moral decisions, it eventually comes down to this or that. Now there are gray areas, but you still have to sort through the gray areas until you get down to, “Ah! Choose this or this.”

How did Abraham deal with that? It came down to, Abraham said, “I love You and I trust You enough.” You know, in Hebrews 11, it says – Hebrews 11…. I mean, I’ve thought about that. What if God had asked me to take one of my children and kill that child? My first response would be, “But God, You say human sacrifice is evil!” What would be His answer? “It is evil for human beings to sacrifice children, but I own your child. And I own you. It is My right to ask this.” Now you say, “Is God righteous?” This is what Abraham had to struggle with. “But is God righteous? Is God what He says He is?” Abraham’s conclusion was, “God is what He says He is. I can trust Him. He does love me. And He will work this out.” Look what it says in verse 17:

Hebrews 11:17 – By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called….” He was offering up the son that was promised to have children. Now how could God lie? And here’s the conclusion Abraham came to. …concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Abraham said, “God can be trusted, and God loves me, and God will raise my son after I kill him.” He absolutely believed that. He absolutely believed it. “God has the right to ask this of me and I believe God will do what He says.” And he gave up his right. He gave up his right to his son, believing that God would resurrect his son.

Think how hard that is. But isn’t that what God asks of us – not that dramatically, fortunately – but He’s always asking us, “Will you do what I want?” and “Will you give Me back this privilege that I have given to you, because I own you? So I will do certain things that don’t make sense to you, but do you believe I love you and do you believe I am good? And do you believe, in the end, what I do is what’s best for you?” And our answer, most of the time, if we’re honest, is, “No. I don’t believe You love me. I don’t believe what You’re doing is good for me. And I don’t believe, in the end, You’re doing what’s best for me.” I mean, I’ve gone to God many times and said, “How in the world is this good for me? Explain this to me.” Right? And usually the answer is, “Is it not My right to do so?” “Well, yeah. Yeah…yeah…yeah! I guess it is Your right to do so. So I have to trust You.” I have to trust His authority. And we have to trust His ownership.

God didn’t make Abraham do this. Did you notice that? The choice was real. He didn’t make him do it any more than He made Adam and Eve do it. He just said, “Don’t do this.” Israel, standing on the threshold, “Don’t do this.” Abraham with his son, “You do this.” Jesus, in the Garden, saying, “Not what I want, but what You want.”

It’s an interesting phrase that Paul uses here in 1 Corinthians 6. Let’s go to 1 Corinthians 6. I’m just going to go through two quick ways that we can apply this, and then next week, really get into applications in terms of our daily lives and the authority that all of us have. Every human being has authority over something. 1 Corinthians 6:19. Or, we have to work with authority. How in the world do we interact with an evil government? You think ours is evil, man, the Roman government that the early church had to do deal with was sometimes down right insane! 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19 – Paul says:

1 Corinthians 6:19 – Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you – who you have from God – and you are not your own? You are not your own! He says, “Don’t you understand?” Who really owns us? We think the right makes us independent. That’s just human nature.

The right of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness produces what? They could have never envisioned what it was going to produce, but anyone who knows human nature knows exactly what it’s going to produce. Sooner or later, it’s going to produce three hundred and twenty million people – all in conflict, all pursuing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness at all costs. That’s what it’s going to produce! It started to produce that in their own lifetime. People don’t realize how close the United States came to breaking up into half a dozen countries all at war with each other. It came really close to that, because everybody pursued life, liberty and happiness at the price of everybody else!

Who owns you? You are not your own! God put His Spirit in you. God said, “Choose this day,” and you chose His Spirit. You chose His Spirit. You chose life. You gave up certain rights, by the way, when you did that. I gave up certain rights. I keep wanting them back, every once in awhile. And God says, “Why? You gave them to Me!” “Can I have that right back?” “No.” “Ah, come on, just for a little bit.” “No.” “Please? Just turn Your back and let me deal with this my way.” “No.” “You gave up that right.” We gave up certain rights. Verse 20 says:

V-20 – For you were bought at a price. This ties right into the sermonette. We were bought with this price, and with this price we are supposed to become something. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. Not just with our mind here, but with our bodies. Everything we do should be to the glory of God. Why? Because we understand His authority, and any right you and I have is given to us because of His love and because of His goodness. And, if we really understand His love and His goodness, there are certain rights we say, “I wish to give back to You. I don’t want this right. I don’t want what I want. I want what You want, because what You want is so infinitely better than what I want.”

So how do we do this? You know, first of all, let me say something here. You have to make little caveats every once in awhile. When I say we are to pursue the will of God, that doesn’t mean some kind of blind, “Okay, I’ll just wait for God’s will. I’m out of work, but God will give me a job, so I’ll just sit around and wait for God’s will, and God will give me something.” Nah, that’s not how that works. We have to look for what God wants. We have to understand what God wants. We have to apply what God wants. And sometimes, what we think…you know, God says, “Okay, I have four different jobs to choose from here. Which one do you want?” So we sit around and do nothing, waiting for some supernatural answer, and we lose all four jobs. You know, there are a lot of decisions…do you know what God’s will is? “Uh, I gave that right to you. Make your choice.” There are lots of rights that we still have. “What kind of car should I buy?” God says, “Ah, that’s your right – anything but a Yugo.” No. (Laughter) If you want to buy a Yugo, God’s given you that right! That’s your right! He doesn’t determine what car you’re going to get! Now, sometimes, you pray about it…I’ve prayed, “God, please give me a car that runs.” I’ve had cars that were falling apart and He’d give me a nice car. So I know that there are times that He’s given me blessings. I still had to make the decision. I still could have chosen a car that didn’t run. Right? And it wouldn’t have been a moral problem to make that kind of bad decision.

Sometimes what we do is, we take decisions that aren't moral and we make them moral decisions. Well, let’s see…how we set up the chairs in church, or what building we meet in, or which socials we have. These are moral…no they’re not. They’re just decisions! That’s all they are. They’re just decisions. And, you know, people have the right to make decisions. Over the years, we’ve had four different people in charge of the Outreach Committee. And all four of them have done things differently than the one before them. And my answer is, “Ah, they’re just decisions.” They’re just decisions. If we…and I’m just making something up. I say the Outreach Committee because they all get along, so I can…I mean, I wouldn’t use something where there was conflict. But, if somebody makes a decision, that’s their right. They have the right to make the decision. That’s what I tell all the elders and deacons and committee chairs: “When it works, you get the credit; when it doesn’t, the buck stops here. I get the blame when it doesn’t work.” That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

There are lots of things in life that are not God’s decision. It’s our right. Okay? You have the right – which house to build. Now you go pray about it – or which house to buy – and God, maybe, makes this one fall through, and you find out later, there was a big foundation problem. Sometimes He doesn’t and you buy the house with a foundation problem. Sometimes God intervenes in those decisions and sometimes He doesn’t, because why? Well, they’re not moral decisions. And sometimes, it’s just a blessing. God intervenes. And sometimes He doesn’t. And we think, “Why didn’t You?” Well, there are times that God says, “I’m not going to take away all your rights.” He gave them to us. Do you want to give away all your rights? “Okay God, make every decision for me.” He says, “I won’t do that.” But there are certain rights He wants us to give back. And it has to do with the choosing of right and wrong.

Two things that are very important in this process: First of all, God’s will is revealed through scripture. We want mystic…you know, we want to be able to roll the dice or find God’s will by...there are all kinds of ways people will try to find God’s will. It’s always revealed in scripture.

2 Timothy 3. Now that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t interact with people in different ways. People will come to me and say, “I had a dream. Is it from God?” And my answer usually is, “I don’t know. I wasn’t there.” Most dreams aren’t from God, but I’m not going to discount everything that happens in a person’s life. I don’t know. Most aren’t. Most of them are because you had chili before you went to bed. (Chuckles) 2 Timothy 3:16:

2 Timothy 3:16 – All scripture is given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Here’s the problem. We pursue the will of God without equipment. This is what this is like: If you’ve ever been spelunking…. Now I’ve never gone into the deep caves. I’ve gone exploring caves where you need lights and stuff, but you know, there are caves that I wouldn’t even go into. It scares me to death. These people go into caves, and they have to have ropes, climbing equipment, all kinds of lights. Sometimes they have to have scuba diving gear, because they’re going under the water. Here’s what we do. We drop ourselves into the darkest, deepest cave. We’re a half-mile underground, chest deep in water, and we say, “God, what is Your will?” Then we wonder, “Why isn’t He throwing me a rope?” We went into it unequipped. If we don’t know the scripture, we’re unequipped. We’re deep inside a cave, yelling, “God, where’s my equipment?”

We have to be equipped. If you don’t have time for Bible study, prayer and fasting, then do not expect God’s will to be in your life most of the time. Don’t expect it! Just don’t, because you won’t be equipped to know what it is. I mean, God’s answer is, “Why did you go into the cave in the first place?” “Seemed like a good idea at the time.” Yeah.

So, the will of God is revealed in the scripture. So, if we’re not doing this, we’re not going to get it. If we’re not deeply in prayer, asking God to show us His will; if we’re not deeply looking at it and spending lots of time in the scripture; if we’re not fasting for God’s will, then we’re not going to understand its revelation.

The second point is, it is revealed through the scripture and motivated through the Holy Spirit. John 14:26. We know what Jesus Christ said on that Passover before His death. He told his disciples:

John 14:26 – But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Jesus said, “When God gives you the Spirit, you’re going to be motivated by that and you’re going to remember.” Now, my question to you is, “If we’re not into the scripture, and through prayer and fasting, having His will revealed, then how are you going to remember it when the time comes?” See, it’s revealed through the scripture and motivated by God’s Spirit. So when we’re in situations, and we say, “God, what am I supposed to do?” what should come to our mind is a scriptural solution – a biblical solution to the problem.

But this is all based on God’s authority. This is all based in the belief that you are owned by God, and the Bible is His instruction book, and you’re looking for biblical solutions. Most of the time, we’re in trouble, because we’re applying human solutions to spiritual problems. We’re in trouble all the time. And they seem so reasonable and so intelligent. And they seem like they’re solutions that help us. And much of the time, they’re not, because much of the time, they’re actually not God’s solutions. God’s solutions are quite different than what we think, much of the time. And next week, when we get into delegated authority, God’s solutions are not what we think, much of the time. They go against our natural inclinations.

What aspect of your life are you not giving ownership to God? What aspect of your life are you still holding on to ownership – still holding on to it? I remember going through a time in my life where I decided I wanted to leave the ministry. So I went to God and I asked Him…I said, “This is too tough. I don’t want to do this anymore. Let me do something else with my life before I’m too old.” I was just discouraged and didn’t want to do it anymore. So I went and asked Him, “Take this away from me.” That was some of the worst times of my life. The reason why is, the answer was, “No!” And I kept saying, “Yeah.” “No!” But once I said, “Okay God, what You want, not me,” all of a sudden, I was really happy to be what I am – really happy to be what I am. I said, “Oh, wait minute, that’s what I was supposed to be. Oh yeah, this is what You made me to be. This is what You called me to be.” But boy did I fight it at one time in my life. I decided I wanted to go out and do something else – you know, live on the coast, wear Bermuda shorts – just hang out – be a beach bum or something. I don’t know what I wanted to be. No. Oh yeah, who owns us? What rights did we give up? What rights did we give up to our Owner?

So really, let’s think about this a minute. “Choose this day.” Is it really your choice to wear modest dress in a society that people…I mean, women wear clothes…well, they don’t wear clothes, or is it a right that you have given up – a right you gave back? Is it your choice which movies you watch? Is it really your choice which friends you have? Is it really your choice whether you should marry somebody outside of the faith or not? What does the Bible say? And, by the way, I list these as things that I can go to a scripture and show you what the Bible says. The Bible has an answer to every one of these things I’ve mentioned – a very clear answer. Is it your choice whether you break up your marriage because you can’t get along? Is it your choice whether you pay your taxes? Is it your choice whether you are willing to cooperate or resist proper authority? Is it your choice whether you honor your parents? Is it really your choice whether to forgive those who have hurt you? Is it your choice which animals you eat or not eat? Is it really your choice whether you should have premarital sex? Is it your choice whether you accept homosexuality? Is it really your choice whether you tithe? Is it your choice to covet your neighbor’s car? Is it your choice to lie so you can keep your job? Is it really your choice whether you get drunk or not? Is it your choice to let your job become more important than your Bible study? Is it really your choice to neglect your children and your family? Is it really your choice to compromise on the Sabbath and how we keep this day holy?

If you think it is your choice, you’re holding on to a right that you no longer have. We were supposed to give up that choice. We keep talking about choosing. You and I were supposed to give up that choice. When it came to morality, God doesn’t care whether you wear a red dress or a blue dress or a green dress. That’s your choice. That’s your right. God gives us certain rights. The choice between good and evil…He said, “Choose this day.” And when you choose this one, stay with this one! And give up the right. Is it really your choice? Or have we given up the right to that choice? Have we actually said, “God, I love You. God, I trust You. And God, I give up that right, because You have ownership. Your authority over me is absolute. Your authority over me is absolute, because You own me.”

You know, I could take a sledge hammer and go out here and beat my car to pieces. And you could say I was crazy. And I could say, “But I own it. I can do with my car whatever I want. I paid it off six months ago.” Right? It’s my car. I can do with it whatever I want, as long as I don’t hurt somebody else with it. And God wouldn’t stop me if I took a sledge hammer and beat my car up. He say, “Boy, is that stupid!” but He wouldn’t stop me. He’d say, “It’s your car. You have the right to do that, if you want to.” Now, if I took a sledge hammer to your car, I’d have a whole other problem, wouldn’t I, because you are owned by God and I have no right to take a sledge hammer to your car. And, hopefully, we’ve given up our right to choose that. We would never even think of doing that to each other.

So it is about our choices, but God doesn’t want automatons. He gives us free will. But then He says to recognize His ownership. Recognize His authority. Recognize the price that Christ paid so that we could say, “We are not our own.” Isn’t that what Paul said in 1 Corinthians? He paid this price, and He says, “Remember, because of this, you don’t own yourself.”

God has given us choices. Choose life. Choose life and stay with life. Give up the right to choose and live in life with your Creator.