[Dan Preston] You’ve probably heard the story about the guy who was taking a walk out through the wilderness. He was up in the mountains enjoying the pristine beauty, he was taking it all in. It was getting towards the end of the day and he wasn't paying too close attention to where he was walking, and he accidentally stepped over the side of the trail there and before he knew it he slipped and he fell off the edge of the trail down a 100-foot cliff. Now fortunately for this guy there were some roots hanging out he reached out and got hold of the roots. He started to cry for help, but like I said, it was the end of the day. He hadn't seen anybody on the trail for a while, nobody was around. So he kept crying out, "Help, help!" Nobody answered. He wasn't particularly a religious fellow, he believed in God, but didn't go to church very often. So he began to cry out to God he said, "God please spare me. Please save me from this trial."

I mean, it was 10 feet up to the top of the trail. There was no way he could get up. There was another 100-foot below him just of rock, no way to climb, nothing to hold on to. So he was crying out in desperation to God. He began to promise God, he said, "God, I'll start, no, not 10, not 20, 50, I'll give you everything God. Just get me out of this situation." After a while he heard this booming voice. He said, "I've heard you. I'm God and I will help you." The man said, "Oh, thank you, God. Thank you so much. Tell me, what do you want? What can I give you?" And God said, "Now let's just relax. I don't want you to make any kind of hasty promises here." He said "I only want to know one thing, I want to know that you have faith. That you believe in me."

And the fellow said, "Yes, God, I do." He said, "Okay." He said, "Then let go of the root." The guy sat there for a minute and said: "Is anybody else up there?" It's an oldie, but a goodie. You've probably heard that one before, but I think it illustrates a point. The man knew there was a God. But he really wasn't sure what he believed in. And had that been a real actual situation, not knowing what he believed, he could have found himself in very big trouble, very quickly. The question I'd like to ask today is, do you know what you believe? Do you know what you believe? When I say "know" I mean, do you know that you know, and know that you know that you know? To use an expression. Do you really understand what it is you believe? Now I don't mean details of end time prophecy, things like that. I'm not talking about Bible knowledge, do you have very scripture memorized? I'm talking about fundamental beliefs. Do we really know what it is we believe?

You can think of it a little bit differently, ask the question in a slightly different way, what's the cost of not knowing what you believe? What's the cost of not knowing what you believe? If you like titles, I've entitled this message "The High Price of Not Knowing." What are the costs associated with not knowing what it is you understand and believe? And does it really matter, as long as I obey? And I ask the question that specific way, what are the costs associated with not knowing from a lesson that I learned from my boss in my old job. Often times as I worked as an engineer when we needed to create a new product it was my job to estimate the cost and to come up with a price on what we were going to sell this particular product for. So most engineers, pretty much anybody who's worked in business will tell you there's two main things that go into anything you're going to sell: time and materials. All right?

So if we were going to make a custom product we might say, "All right, I'm going to buy this many dollars worth of steel. It's going to take us this many hours to machine the parts." Divide it up by the number, figure out what your margins are going to be, and boom, that's what we are going to sell it for. But he would ask the question, "What are the costs associated with the product?" Because think about this, let's say, for example, we're going to make these parts out of a certain amount of steel, and it's going to take us a certain amount of time. Well, that's good and fine. But let's consider the fact that steel, we have to machine that, we have to drill holes in it. Let's say, for example, every part needs four holes drilled in it, and we're selling 100 of these parts. That's 400 holes that need to be drilled. “Okay, that's fine. What's that got to do with anything?”

If you know anything about machining, or wood working even for that matter, you know that drills wear over time. Maybe you only get 50 holes out of a drill before you have to throw it away. So in that case, if you only get 50 holes and you need to make 400 holes, you've got to buy eight drill bit. So that's another cost, kind of associated, kind of hidden there.

It can extend into packaging as well, all sorts of things. So what are the costs associated? The cost associated with not knowing what we believe can be incredibly high, and you can probably come up with a few on your own. But I'd like to talk about three of them today. The first one we'll start in 1 Chronicles 13. We'll start in verse 6. 1 Chronicles 13:6. Just to give a little bit of background here, this was after Saul's death. And of course, the house of Saul, the house of David had been fighting for control over Israel. And eventually we know David went out there, and we see a united monarchy. And after that time, they decided to bring the ark back to Jerusalem, or bring the ark to Jerusalem.

So picking it up in verse 6 we read this familiar story. 1 Chronicles 13:6 it says, "And David and all Israel went up to Baalah, to Kirjath Jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God the Lord, who dwells between the cherubim, where His name is proclaimed. So they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahio drove the cart. Then David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, with singing, on harps, on stringed instruments, and tambourines, on cymbals, and with trumpets." So they were bringing the ark back, and they were very excited. And there's nothing wrong with that. But let's keep reading and notice what happens in verse 9. It says, "And when they came to Chidon's threshing floor, Uzzah put his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and He struck him because he put his hand on the ark; and he died there before God."

Does this seem reasonable to you, that Uzzah died for touching the ark? Why? We won't turn there, but in Numbers 4 we see specific instructions given to the Levites on how to carry the ark with the poles. That's probably a familiar story to you. But does it seem fair to Uzzah? I mean, he was just trying to help. He saw the ark starting to fall, maybe he just had a human reaction. He wanted to help out, he reaches up, he touches the ark, he dies. Does that seem reasonable? Well, David didn't think so. We read in verse 11, we read it says, "And David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah; therefore that place is called Perez Uzzah to this day." Perez means "outbreak against," so this place where it happened is called “Outbreak Against Uzzah.”

Verse 12, let's see, yes, verse 12 says, "David was afraid of God that day, saying, 'How can I bring the ark of God to me?’" So David was left a little bit demoralized saying, "Well, I'm trying to do this good thing, but it didn't work out. What am I supposed to do?" We'll read here a little later on how they kept the ark then at the house of a Levite Obed-Edom and it wound up staying there for about three months, but why did Uzzah have to die? He was only trying to help. I think to get some context here we can back up a little bit to verse 5 of 1 Chronicles 13. Whose idea was this? Verse 5, it says, "So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor in Egypt to as far the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath Jearim."

It was David's idea. David wanted to bring the ark back. Was that a bad idea? Not necessarily. Not necessarily, but why did he want to do it? Back up just a little a bit farther here. Verse 1 of 1 Chronicles 13 says, "Then David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. And David said to the assembly of Israel, 'If it seems good to you, and if it is of the Lord our God, let us send out to our brethren everywhere who are left in all the land of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites who are in their cities and their common-lands, that they may gather together to us; and let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of Saul.’" Revised Standard Version says it a little bit differently. It says, "They had neglected it since the days of Saul."

So it seems like a good idea, but again, was it? He said, "Well, we'll consult the people and if it is seems right to God." And I'll keep reading, verse 4 said, "Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of the people." Now we read here where it's "right in the eyes of the people," but we don't know really if it was right in the eyes of God. At this point in the story, we don't know if David had asked God about it. But I will point out, just a chapter before this when David was going into battle he did consult the high priests. He did ask God, "Should I go into battle?" The answer from God was, "Yes." We don't know exactly how he did that. If it was through the two stones that were kept the Ephod, the Urim and Thummim, or exactly. But he asked, and he got an answer.

So we don't know for sure yet if he asked God specifically, but it's not recorded at this point. Even if he had asked God specifically if they should do this thing, should David have known better than to bring the ark on a cart? Let's turn back a little bit to Deuteronomy 17. Deuteronomy 17. We'll read in verse 18. This was before Israel had a king but God knew that they were going to ask at some point. So in this section of scripture where we see where God gives some outlines for the character and the quality of a king and some requirements. Deuteronomy 17:18. He says, "Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites." Certainly would have contained Numbers 4 where they are told that only the Levites were to carry the ark, and it had to be done via poles.

Why were kings instructed to do this? Verse 19, we read on. He says, "And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes,” in short, the king was supposed to write and know the law so things like this wouldn't happen. David bears some responsibility here then for Uzzah's death, but it doesn't stop there. We read that a few months later they decided to go ahead and move the ark again. And we read a little bit more of this account in 1 Chronicles 15.

1 Chronicles 15, starting in verse 11. 1 Chronicles 15:11 “And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites: for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. He said to them, 'You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place that I have prepared for it.'" Note verse 13, "For because you did not do it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us,” remember that word "Perez Uzzah," broke out against Uzzah? "So he broke out against us, because we did not consult Him about the proper order." It seems that in these three months time David realized the mistake. But David wasn't the only one who bore some responsibility in knowing how the ark should be transported. The Levites should have known better as well, but they had neglected their duty.

As future kings and priests, do we have a responsibility to know the law? To know why we believe what we believe? You bet, we certainly do. We don't know if Uzzah knew better and had a human reaction or maybe he hadn't been taught, because of poor leadership at the time from David and the Levites. We are not here to condemn David, the Levites, or Uzzah or anyone. But I think it makes a very important point. High cost number one of not knowing what you believe and why can be physical in nature. It can be physical in nature. If you don't believe that, try running through a 25-mile an hour zone at 40 miles an hour and telling the local law enforcement officials, "Oh, sorry, I didn't see it." Do you think they'll say, "Ah, you didn't see it? It's okay." You've heard the old saying, "Ignorance is no excuse for the law." There were laws in place. There were laws in place. Uzzah didn't know and didn't obey it the at least. Unfortunately, he paid with his life.

I would like to look in the book of Hosea for a moment and see if we can't draw this point out just a little bit further. Hosea 4, starting in verse 1. Hosea 4:1. We often read these stories in the Old Testament and we think, "Well, that's for Israel. I mean how much application is there to us today?" Let's read Hosea 4:1 and see if this reminds us of any nation we know. Hosea 4:1 "Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land." Does that sound familiar? Does it sound like this, and quite frankly, every other nation in the world today? Yeah, it does. What are the results then of not having knowledge? Hosea goes on to say in verse 6 he says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children." God says that when we forget His law, and we don't know, it hurts us. It hurts us.

High cost number one can be very physical in nature. Uzzah learned the hard way unfortunately. We don't know exactly the circumstances behind him not knowing, or why he did that. But there's good news for Uzzah. Uzzah doesn't seem as one of the very few in the Old Testament that had God's Spirit. So it would seem, as we understand, that Uzzah will have opportunity for life again in second resurrection. And he will learn. He will know what it is he believes, and why.

It illustrates the point, though, that not understanding what it is that we believe can have a very high cost, and that cost can be physical in nature. There's a second way of not knowing what we believe can hurt us. This past Feast we went to Galveston, Texas to keep the Feast. And by the way, if you've never been to Galveston for the Feast, I highly recommend it. Beautiful facility, beautiful area. We had wonderful weather while we were there, nice and warm. Beautiful Feast site, great people. Really enjoyed it. So if you're thinking about a place new to try next year, highly recommend Galveston.

On our way down, we took a couple of days to drive down, make it a bit of a road trip for our family. We stopped in a hotel on the way and as we were checking in I was talking to the desk clerk. And he was asking me a little bit about where I was going, and what I was doing, and of course I explained to him, "We're going to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." He said, "Oh." He said, "That's interesting." He said, "I belong to a church that we believe basically that you can't get into heaven if you can't speak in tongues. If you can't speak in tongues you're going to go straight to hell."

So I tried in a few minutes that I had to kind of comfort him and help him understand that these teachings weren't true, but it can be difficult. This is a man probably in his 50's, and in a 5-minute conversation it's hard to undo some of the things that he had been taught over the course of a lifetime. I tried to comfort him a bit, but I couldn't help but notice as I walked away from the desk that night to go get in to my room, he had sort of a dejected look on his face. I could tell he was thinking about going to hell because he couldn't speak in tongues.

Now aside from all this incorrect doctrinal belief about heaven and hell, it left me with a thought. What kind of hope is that, that his faith was giving him? What kind of hope did he have that unless someday soon he could start speaking in tongues, he was going to burn in hell forever? I felt bad for the man. I'm not condemning him. But I felt truly sad for this fellow. 1 Peter 3:15, this is a memory scripture I'm sure for most of us. 1 Peter 3:15 it says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who ask you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear." Now certainly we should be able to defend our faith. We should understand what it is we believe and why. But I'm not turning to this scripture to point out the fact that the man couldn't do that. Again, I'm not here to condemn this fellow. But notice something very important about what this scripture says — why is it we should be able to defend our faith?

It says, "For those who ask you a reason for the hope that is in you." This poor guy, he didn't have hope. He lived his life thinking, going to bed every night maybe thinking, "Boy, I hope it happens tomorrow, clock's ticking. I'm getting older, what's going to happen?" He didn't have hope. Is that what God wants for us? Does He want us to live life without hope? I think we know the very obvious answer is, "No," he doesn't. But it's something we do need to remind ourselves of every now and again. Paul had to with those in Thessalonica, if you turn over to 1 Thessalonians 4. 1 Thessalonians 4, starting in verse 13. 1 Thessalonians 4:13, this just prior to where Paul describes the return in Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 4:13, talking about physical death he says, "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep,” or died physically. He said, "lest you sorrow as others who have no hope."

Other people don't have hope sometimes, especially if they don't understand what it is they believe and why. Verse 14 it says, "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus." Paul goes on to describe a little bit of the scene here at the first resurrection. We have a hope. We know Christ died and was resurrected. We know that promise is available for us, but what if we didn't? What if we didn't? High cost number two then, of not knowing what it is we believe is that it can hurt on an emotional level. It can hurt on an emotional level. If we really weren't convicted of what we believe, if we don't really understand what it is our fundamental faiths are about, it hurts us on an emotional level, especially if we lose hope. Especially if we lose hope. This fellow wasn't the first person who didn't have hope. He's probably not the last. Back in Ezekiel 37, and begin turning there, Ezekiel 37. We notice something very interesting here in the "Valley of the Dry Bones" chapter as we often call it. This is of course where we get much of our understanding on that second resurrection, the physical life.

See God telling Ezekiel here, Ezekiel 37, God telling Ezekiel in this vision to stand up, to prophesy that, "These bones come together." And of course, the bones come together. And He tells him to prophesy that they have flesh, arm, skin, ligaments, all those things. And He tells him to “Prophesy that they have breath, that they be alive." Notice then what happens in verse 11, Ezekiel 37:11. "Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, “Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!”’” We ourselves are cut off, our hope is lost. The vast majority of Israel didn't understand. They didn't know. This is representative of the thought that goes on in most people's minds who don't understand God's truth. There isn't a hope out there, not a real hope, not an everlasting hope that you and I have.

One of the major points of any Beyond Today productions tone and voice is to leave people with hope, give them hope. Whether that's in a TV program. Whether it's in a blog or an article, it's to give people hope. If people don't have hope, life sometimes is just a long miserable experience. For those in ancient Israel who didn't have real hope spend their time scratching out the ground planting some seed, hoping it rains. They get enough food to make it through the winter, start the same thing all over next year. It's not a lot of real hope for people today who don't understand God's plan. They might hope that they go to college, graduate, meet somebody, have a family, have children so that the human race will continue on. They're just playing their little part in it. That's not a lot of hope. That's not the kind of hope that you and I have.

The other thing that we must be very cautious of is not only does a lack of hope, does not knowing what it is we believe and understand, not only does it cost us emotionally. It can cost those who we love dearly emotionally. I had an opportunity awhile back, I was standing in a check-out line and saw there was a dad and his little daughter there in front of me. She was probably about six, seven years old. And I'm just sitting there waiting for my turn and the little girl pipes up and asks her dad, says, "Daddy, what's spirit?" And I thought, first I was surprised, "Wow, from the mouths of babes here, that's a pretty heavy question for a seven or eight-year-old kid.

The dad had trouble answering the question. He said "Well, you know, honey, we really don't know. We think that when people die that if they don't go to heaven or they don't go to hell they just become spirit. And they just kind of exist out there. We really don't know but that's the best of our understanding." And I thought, "Wow, how sad. That's not giving a lot of hope to his daughter." Not only was this man confused and not only had he perhaps lived his life with the emotional hurt from not knowing, he was passing that on to his children.

We know, we understand God's plan is salvation for all mankind. But for those who don't understand, who don't know right now, one of the very high costs for them is hurt on an emotional level. "There's a third cost out there that we need to consider," as my boss liked to say. And this is the one that is probably the most real for you and I, and it is by far the highest cost.

You can begin turning to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. Here we read about religious deception. It's a danger that is ever present, but it's especially dangerous when we, as firstfruits, don't understand what it is we believe and why. 2 Thessalonians 2, starting in verse 9 says, "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie."

We're told if we don't have a love, a genuine, sincere, diligent love of the truth we'll be deceived. Think about that question this way or think about that statement this way. If we don't know what it is that we believe, do you really care about it? Do we really love it? If we don't know it's kind of hard to make that argument, isn't it? It's hard question, it's a hard question, but one that we must consider. If we don't desire to know what it is we believe, and why, enough that we spend time studying and growing, then you know what? Maybe we don't love it.

Continuing on, verse 11, it says "That they should believe the lie," verse 12, "that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Having pleasure in unrighteousness, it doesn't necessarily mean, "Oh boy, I really love to sin." No, it means taking things that aren't righteous, the things that the world has to offer, and making those more important to us than what God has to offer. When we do so we can condemn ourselves, we can perish.

High cost number three of not knowing what it is we really believe can be spiritual. It can cost our eternal life. Christ had much say on this subject. Look at one example back in Matthew 24. Matthew 24, we'll start in verse 45. Matthew 24:45 says, "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and an hour that he is not aware of, and he will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Notice something about this particular parable. This is a story about servants. This is a story about people who know who the master is. People who know who God, who Christ are, who we are as firstfruits. This isn't a story about the outside world. When we begin to get lazy, when we begin to get a little lax in our study and not being able to defend our faith, not knowing what it is we truly believe, we get into living, to eating, to drinking like the rest of the world. We get into that sort of a mentality. We say, "Well, I haven't seen the two witnesses pop up on the screen yet. Got a little bit of time here. I can do my Bible study a little later on." When we, who should know better, open ourselves up to that sort of a spiritual lethargy we have the greatest danger, the greatest danger. It says here, "Being cast out where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth."

If you want an eye-opening Bible study some time, do a study on that phrase the "gnashing of teeth." I think you'll see that it's a very loud clarion call to us, we must know what it is we believe, we must. We've seen, we discussed three very high costs of not knowing what it is we believe, not knowing what the Bible teaches. We should take the consideration of these costs very seriously, particularly as firstfruits, particularly in regards to our eternal life. We should take them for the vivid warnings that they are. We should not, however, live in fear. The point of considering these costs is not that we would live in fear. 2 Timothy 1:7 reminds us that God does not give us a spirit of fear. Rather considering these costs should make us ask ourselves a question. If you tuned into the Bible study this week on Haggai you know what the major theme of Haggai is. If you haven't by the way been tuning in to the bi-weekly Beyond Today Bible studies, I really encourage you to do so. If you can't be here in person, tune in. Listen to them later on. There's some very strong spiritual meat being given there. So please, please try to tune in and join us in those studies.

But what was the theme there of Haggai? Was simply this: consider your ways. Consider your ways. What is it you're doing? What am I doing? What is it that I'm a part of? What is it that I truly sincerely believe? We must ask ourselves these questions. And then we must be motivated to do something about it. What should we do? Well if we've looked at these costs, we've examined ourselves and we find that perhaps we've come up a little bit short. Then we must become convicted of what it is we believe, and again I don't mean we have to have every scripture memorized, we have to have infinite understanding of Bible prophecy. But we certainly should know what it is we believe, and why we should be able to defend our faith, as we were told in 1 Peter 3:15. Do we know what we believe? We should, but if we don't, if we have any sort of a doubt, maybe we're not quite clear what the nature of God is. Maybe three days, three nights is a little bit fuzzy in our mind.

Maybe why the Sabbath is so important, any sort of a thing, any sort of a question. And I'll warn, it has to go a little bit beyond that — we can't just sit there and resign ourselves to say, "Yeah, I know I understand all those things, I believe them." We have to take a little bit farther than that. What about for the new person who walks in the door and might have a question, are we able to explain to them? Are we able to defend our faith to help them to understand why it is we believe what we believe? Why the Church teaches what it teaches? Now is the time for us to be digging deep into our Bibles to making sure that we know why it is we believe what we believe. We don't want to be the guy hanging on the branch looking for another answer.

Matthew 24:46, probably still there. Reminds us of something important. Matthew 24:46 it said this. It says, "Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing." It doesn't say, "Blessed is the servant who is completely faultless and has the Bible memorized front to back." Because guess what? That's probably none of us. But it does point to a constant effort that we need to have. That we need to be digging deep, we need to be striving to understand. Christ is looking for the servant that He finds working earnestly. So if we have questions we need to work to understand what it is we believe and why. I would submit to you a great place to start www.ucg.org.

Go in that little white box that says, "Search." Type in anything you want to know about the Bible and you will have at your fingertips dozens, if not hundreds of articles, of videos, of blogs, of resources. Things that can help us when we have those questions. And you know the great thing about all of those resources is they point us right back to the Bible, right back to the source. So that we can have faith, we can have confidence in what it is we believe and why.

We must be digging deeper every day. Find ourselves a little bit more improved, a little bit more steadfast faith in knowing what it is we believe and why. Christ is looking for that servant who works earnestly to improve themselves. I had a professor in college who had somewhat the same philosophy. It was one of those classes, it was the worst kind of college class where you had two grades: you had the midterm, it was worth a third, and you had your final, which was worth two-thirds. I always hated those classes.

Midterm came around and some guys did pretty well. Some guys not so good. So the guys who hadn't done so good go to the professor and say, "Hey, listen. We're sorry we didn't take this class as serious as we should. We apologize, but we really want to do better in your class." And the professor said, "Okay I'll tell you what. If you show me significant improvement on the final I will totally forget your first… your midterm exam." So they said, "Okay that's great." So these guys, they worked really hard. Some of them had D's and F's on the midterm, but on the final they got A's and B's. So they got A's and B's in the class.

Well, I got my grade in the class and I was little bit surprised because I got a B. And I knew my average was an A average by doing the math. So I went to him and I asked. I said, "Why did I get a B? I have an A.” And he said, "Well, you got an A on the midterm. But you got a B on the final. So you actually went downhill." And I said, "Are you kidding me?" I went to the dean. He said, "I understand. I'd probably feel the same way you do. But Dan, you've got about six months before you graduate college. This isn't really going to make that big of a difference one way or the other. It wasn't worth a lot of credit hours. You should just let it go." And as you can tell after 18 years I still haven't quite let it go. But he was looking for improvement.

I look back at that story and I think about, "Man, that still bothers me because I was wronged." And it reminds me that, "You know what? I need to keep digging." The Bible is full of stories of people who were wronged, far worse than a grade in engineering econ. Joseph, Jesus Christ, for example, they were wronged. They were hurt by people. I've got some work to do myself. It's not an overnight process, but it is a process that we are not in alone.

Luke 11 starting in verse 9. Luke 11, and we'll pick it up in verse 9. Luke 11:9. He says. "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asked for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or for he asked for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil," meaning being carnal, physical in nature, his human fathers. "If you then, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

I like the way the Message translation actually brings this out a little bit. It puts it this way. It says, "Don't bargain with God." Don't be that guy hanging on the branch saying, "I'll make you a deal God. It says, "Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in.” God is not trying to keep us from understanding His ways. Those who have been called out now as firstfruits. God does not want to keep us from understanding. He wants to give us knowledge and wisdom. But wait, there's more. There's something else He wants to give us. One chapter over, Luke 12, we read what I feel is one of the most encouraging scriptures in all the Bible. Luke 12:32 says, "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." God wants to give us His Kingdom. He wants to give us the gift of eternal life. He doesn't want to us to pay that high cost.

God is not a goalie. He's not trying to keep us out of His Kingdom. He's not trying to rob us of our inheritance. He wants to give us this gift; if we diligently seek Him, if we work hard, if we ask God for understanding, "Help us to understand more thoroughly what it is Your word teaches me, God. Help me to understand what it is I believe and why." He will grant that to us. Just as not knowing what it is we believe has a very, very high cost with it, knowing what we believe has a very high reward. Knowing and doing what it is God instructs us has the highest of rewards.

We'll conclude today over in 2 Peter, 2 Peter 1. And we'll start and we'll read verse 10. 2 Peter 1:10. It says, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent." This word carries the connotation of, "Do the utmost. Do the absolute most you possibly can." "Be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble."
Be diligent, do the most. Don't hold anything back in our efforts to understand what it is we believe and why. The gift of eternal life is just that, it's a gift. It's not anything we can earn, we understand that. But like David and the Levites, we have responsibility to know what it is we believe and why.

Later on here in Peter he reminds us, chapter 3 and verse 18 that, "We are to be seeking to grow in grace and knowledge." Back in 1 Peter, or excuse me, 2 Peter 1:10. Picking it up says, "You will never stumble; for an entrance will be supplied to you given abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Sure, we'll make mistakes, we'll slip up. Maybe we've gone through a spell where we haven't been seeking God diligently the way that we need to. We might see that oxcart stumble like Uzzah did. We might make a mistake and it might cost us physically. It might cost us emotionally. Sin hurts. But if we stay the course, if we work to grow, if we are diligent to make our election sure, we will not stumble on that road on that journey towards eternal life, which is supplied to us freely by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, into the everlasting Kingdom of God.