Understanding God's Desires

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PSALM 40 Part II
APRIL 13th 2025

So, we left off last week without completing chapter 40. By the way, last week was a monumental day for the ministry and we praise and thank our God for His Spirit and the launching of things in His Name thereby. The verse I last mentioned was from Hosea 6:6 and the subject was about what God desires from us as it says,

Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice;

. . . a theme that is an essential to the minds and hearts of all who seek Him but the point I want to emphasize before we leave it is where Hosea adds to “For I desired mercy and not sacrifice (ready) “and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” I am speaking to the choir today and there are several billions around the world who have no, and have never sought to obtain, the knowledge of God.

In this line we are confronted with an interesting conflict – that of pleasing God by faith and having a knowledge of Him. I mean how does that work faith and knowledge? And isn’t is constantly getting confused by us in the fact that we will often say, “I know” something when all we really have is faith, and in things of knowledge, like of God, we tend to think that we just place our faith in what we think about Him?

Knowing God Through Faith

GRAPHIC

“Where faith is the substance of the promises of God hoped for, the evidence of the promises of God not seen,” there does, in fact, seem to be a reality promised in scripture that human beings can individually, “know God.” I want to emphasize that faith in God, and “Knowing God” are not collectively derived but ENTIRELY individual and based on objectively demanded instructions but on each individual searching and seeking by the Spirit and how much insight they are given.

This suggests, frightening as this is to Objectively driven institutions, that the illiterate farm-hand in 1000 AD Micronesia can know God better than the Oxford Scholar in biblical studies today. To war over our respective knowledge is equally insipid because who can say who is right?

Studies on Knowing God

There are numerous realms of study about God as well, and I am not going to include studies about doctrine, practice, soteriology or ecclesiology but only those studies aimed at Knowing Him. These have been broken down systematically over the years by men into Paterology, Christology, and Pneumatology because of the influence of the formation of the Trinity, but I am going to avoid this man-made trap and simply resort to the tools the Bible describes as helpful in our personally knowing Him and again, we do this, as believers, based on inscriptions like what we just read in Hosea but also because when Yeshua was incarnate He made the following plain, saying,

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Yeshua Christ, whom thou hast sent.

In Hosea, YAHAVAH said to the Nation,

“For I desired mercy and not sacrifice (ready) “and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”

But we note that Yeshua modified this and said,

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, (and) Yeshua Christ, whom thou hast sent.

The Apostolic Record and Eternal Life

To a modern Jewish leader in that day, this addition was untenable. In fact, we meet people every day who reject Yeshua’s addition. But to those who want access to God His Father, the Apostolic Record makes it plain, through the very words of Yeshua,

Matthew 11:27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

To the Bride, Yeshua made the following plain, saying,

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Emphasizing this relationship of those elected as the Bride in that day, Yeshua added

John 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

But then bringing it all full circle, to them and then to the world, Yeshua adds the definitive declaration in John 14:6

John 14:6 Yeshua saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Many many many souls

The Incarnation and Access to God

Refuse His place in the line-up to gaining knowledge and access to God the Father – it is too hard for them to accept that God was made flesh and dwelled among us as a means to bring us into direct relationship and access to God and amuse themselves with fleshly ideas that we can know God without Christ (who paradoxically was God with us). For them the incarnation, God in flesh, God in Man, is far too difficult a concept to accept and so we have billions of people who insist that they can and do have access to God, and even a knowledge of God without Him.

As a YeshuanSomeone who makes Yeshua their foundation—living by faith and love, not religious tradition., I personally see few things being further from the truth and even though I see all things reconciled to God through His incarnate Son, I do not believe His victory removes the Son from the picture. Instead, I see the God having subsumed Himself into His Son who sits on the throne fulfilling the words of Christ when on earth to Philip, saying, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.”

Yeshua's Words to His Disciples

The whole context of that phrase was when Yeshua was speaking with His disciples in John 14 where we read the following:

John 14:5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
6 Yeshua saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Yeshua saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

Yeshua's Defense Before the Religious Leaders

In John 5 Yeshua was being criticized by the religious leaders of His day for laboring on the Sabbath and He said the following to them:

John 5:17 My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
19 Then answered Yeshua and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
23 That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. unto life.
25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that…

Knowing God and His Son

have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

So, automatically, when we hear God say through Hosea that he seeks them to have a knowledge of Him over burnt offerings WE are left to accept that in the course of Ancient Israel, to whom God promised a Messiah, that God became flesh so as to give us direct material knowledge of Himself which all who receive this story by faith, are able to individually KNOW God as perfectly as we Know His Son. Knowing God, therefore, is synonymous with KNOWING His Son, and we all can individually KNOW His Son by and through the bestowal of the Spirit of His Son within us.

Personal Witness of God's Existence

When I have sat with atheists and debaters on my understanding of God my go-to, as much as they do not like it, is that I have a personal witness of the veracity of God’s existence present in three biblical events or teachings shared told in the Apostolic record.

The first is found in the story of the man born blind who after being healed by Christ and interrogated by the religious leaders of his day, suggesting that Yeshua was a sinner, the man simply said,

John 9:25 Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

This physical healing is a type for the spiritual healing Christ brings to all formerly blind to Him and the Truth. Prior to knowing Him by His Spirit, which is the spirit of Truth, I was as blind as a bat but once I was ready and equipped to see, there remains no doubt in me and (ready) I know. We are blind to some things, many things, and in the face of those we walk by faith. But when He opens our spiritual eyes and we clearly are equipped to see, faith – in the areas where we see is over, and we are blessed to KNOW. Because this is always subjectively experienced, it can never, ever be proven, hence the criticism of those in the world.

The second evidence I have subjectively and personally is told through the story of the possessed man of Gaderenes reported in Luke 8 and saying,

The Story of the Possessed Man of Gaderenes

Luke 8:26 And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee.
27 And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.
28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.
29 (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)
30 And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him.
31 And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.
32 And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them.
33 Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.
34 When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country.
35 Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.

Last week, we spoke about the power of Christ operating in what? That is right, our minds. Here we note in the story of the man possessed with demons, that when the city folk, who knew his history, came out to see what was done with him, they…

Understanding the Mind's Renewal

“found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.”

From this we directly learn that the warfare, the renewal and the place of Knowing God is in and through the mind, which led to the man being clothed, sitting at Yeshua’s feet.

For man, knowing God comes through a whole bunch of tions –

Organized religion attempts to impart this knowledge objectively through Regimentations, Ordinations, Incorporation, and Indoctrination. Where mystics suggest that people can KNOW him through Experimentations, Isolation, Hallucination, Explorations of their flesh, Incantations, and visiting certain Destinations.

Path to Knowing God

But the fact of the matter remains, the only way to KNOW GOD is through the realization of Him being in you, liberating our minds, clothing us in peace and reason, and sitting at the feet of Yeshua in the end.

Remember, Christ is the light that came into the world, who shines in the hearts of all souls and this is synonymous with illumination or light entering first and our decision to seek it or reject it. Yeshua plainly said that those in His day who rejected Him (listen) “love the dark more than the Light” keep that in mind as we move forward today.

The third teaching that tells me, personally, that I have come to Know God, and that He dwells in me through the Spirit of His Son is located in the teaching of the Sower, found in Matthew and Luke – we will read Luke's account this morning, as it says

Parable of the Sower

Luke 8:4 And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:
5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Fortunately, instead of leaving this parable up to our interpretation, we then read

9 And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?
10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of GodGod’s spiritual reign—fulfilled and present, not political or future.: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

And then He adds,

11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

Now, our translators translated the Greek Term logos here to word, like John did when describing Christ. We have slipped into the habit today of calling the scripture, “the word of God.” Scripture is used 31 times in the Apostolic record, and they all come from the Greek term, grapha, while words spoken are translated from rhema.

Logos, which is what Yeshua uses in Luke 8:11, saying, The Seed is the word of God, is translated from Logos, the name John uses to describe Christ, and logos is used 316 TIMES in the APOSTOLIC RECORD and translated to all sorts of things, but in seven of those times do the Translators make it upper case and assign it to Yeshua.

The rest of the time we might assign the use of it to his message, cause, heart, gospel, sayings, even teachings, truths, and the very words that Yeshua spoke from and on behalf of God. Because of all of this, I think we might BEST interpret Luke 8:11 as meaning,

11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God (Himself) and the words that He spoke on behalf of God.

NOT the scripture itself and alone – that is the grapha or writings conveying some of the things Yeshua said from God, but (Again) the seed Yeshua is referring to is Him, his teachings, His sayings.

And then what does He say about the Word when they are cast?

12 Those by the way side are they (meaning the people) that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

Again, this was to that audience who were Jews and when Satan (who was operating in the religious leaders of that day) came and took Him, His sayings and teachings OUT of their hearts in case they might believe and be saved from the coming day, hell

Understanding Spiritual Growth in Christian Teachings

I am not convinced that this continues today because of Christ’s victory and believe that today we allow our own minds, hearts, and the powers in the human realm to steal Him and His influence away as a means to draw us and keep us in the dark.

Yeshua continues and speaks to those where He and His teachings fall on the stoney ground and adds,

13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

The second heart soil group are the babes and infants in Christ who when they hear the message they rejoice and believe for a while, Yeshua says, but when they are met with temptation, which means what Yeshua says is challenged, they fall away because they have no root, proving that the immediate Yeshua experience is only the beginning, when the seed is received in the heart-soil excitedly, but in this state of early germination, the planted Christ cannot abide, and lacking roots, dies.

Receiving and Understanding the Teachings

Yeshua continues and says,

14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth,

That phrase means that they understand, so they are more matured than the Logos planted on stony ground that takes no root, but this time He and His sayings are received and understood, BUT they are

“are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.” (or completion)

The bearing of the fruit that Yeshua describes, which is agape loveSelfless love marked by patience, mercy, and humility—central to living in spiritual liberty. which is selfless, sacrificial insufferable love toward God and Man is literally IMPOSSIBLE without Him operating with us. That is why he said,

John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

If you ever wonder why God keeps turning up the heat in your life is it His means to help you bring forth MORE fruit.

The Role of Adversity and Abiding in Him

How and in what way does this manifest? In trials, disappointments, frustration with others, losses – all causing us to face ourselves and whether we will respond in the flesh or by His reigning Spirit within.

In this place in John 15 Yeshua continues and says to His disciples then and there,

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

That is logos, or His sayings and verily himself,

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

In John 13 Yeshua plainly said,

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Him/Fruit/Love – evidence that we are His disciples, and therefore proof that we know Him, causing the Apostle John to write in his first epistle, chapter 3 and listen to his use of KNOW, as he writes,

1st John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 18 My little children, let us not love

Understanding Spiritual Growth

19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.

Wrapping the parable of the Sower up, Yeshua says, 15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

This process, which obviously comes through NOTHING of ourselves, and contrary to what most people believe or accept, “PROVES we individually KNOW Him.” Not that we have faith, but that we KNOW.

Humility as the Foundation

After years of trying to analyze the process of “realizing Him,” “accepting Him” and allowing Him to “reign over our lives as a MEANS to both Know Him and do His will, we have worked hard to see some common traits present in those who frankly do KNOW Him by having eyes to see, freedom from our demons and bearing fruit.

Let’s wrap our time up today by quickly exploring what we have personally discovered after decades of meeting, teaching, and sitting with several hundred individuals. First, from all I can tell, humility is the precursor to spiritual growth. I think this is the reason why what He really desires of us is a “Broken Heart and a Contrite Spirit.” Nothing in heaven or earth in human beings can force someone to humble themselves before Him inwardly. This is the personal decision of every person made in His image.

We might think that pain and suffering cause us to choose humility – not so. Decades ago when I was working in a bank I met a young man who had Lou Gerigs disease which is a death sentence and brutal. We talked at my desk and even went to lunch together. I discovered he was an atheist and I asked him how he could deny the existence of God when he was headed toward the end of life and he said, “How could I believe in one?” The sun shines on the clay. It can warm and soften it or it can make it brittle and hard so do we determine how the Son works upon our own hearts.

The scripture says, humble yourself – it is in our hands. Why some do and some don’t – no idea. As we choose to humble ourselves before Him irrespective of our will, desires and wants we suggest that a desire for light over dark is also simultaneously made. Delaney believes that humbling oneself and embracing or pursuing the light are synonymous and I agree. It is a mindset to seek after eternal things, illuminated things and to turn from the things that stupefy, negate, destroy and harm.

The Journey of Learning and Love

Hand in hand with this desire for light, there is a desire to learn. Learn what? In the scheme of what we are talking about, it is to learn of Him which includes our knowing Him. We maintain that we learn of Him from a study of what He has done which is found in a reasonable exegetical contextual analysis of the ancient scripture, the living scripture, which when read by the Spirit, meaning it is illuminated by the Spirit of God, it serves to renew our minds from the corruption of former information and perspectives and this act serves to equip our will and emptions with the Spirit of His Son.

What does all this Light and Learning do for the individual? It leads us into a greater and greater capacity to love how God loves – selflessly, sacrificially and insufferably. Here is where our will and our emotions are better equipped to do what the will of Christ is through emotions that are his. My will and emotions are subject to my flesh and prior to the washing of the word rendered me like an animal. But once the learning, by the illumination of the Son within me, begins to take effect in my BRAIN, and therefore KNOWING Him thereby, my will and emotions dovetail into His – resulting in the very same attitude Christ had when He said in the garden, “thy will, not mine be done.”

But learning to choose His love is not the end game though in the scripture this love captures the two great commandments.

The Path to Freedom

There is one more L word after LIGHT, LEARNING AND LOVE. I maintain that this is God’s ultimate goal for every human being, which is why He gives commands, because He wants all of us to be . . . FREE. And another L word related to freedom, in fact even more.

The Path to Liberty

More powerful than freedom, is liberty.

LIGHT LEARNING LOVE LIBERTY

With the last being the reward to every soul who embraces the first three. The approach works – it is real – it is based in scriptural principles but like everything from God, once it falls into place, just like one a seed is planted in the right soils, all of the elements begin to work together more in a more integrated fashion than through some systematic order. But when we discover that He has been planted in us, there seems to be the initial requirement that each individual first chooses humility or light, then learning and once the fruit of those decisions take root downward, we begin to bear the fruit of love upward, which serves to liberate us in the end.

The Knowledge of God

And all of this increases our very KNOWLEDGE, not faith in, BUT KNOWLEDGE OF GOD which is why Paul wrote to the church at Colosse in his day, the following, giving us the final text for today which says,

Colossians 1:9 ¶ For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Upcoming Study

Just to let you know, next week I will hit on some salient points in our study but the majority of our time will simply be reading through Psalm 41-50 because they, in my opinion do not bring much new to our minds from what we have read thus far. But I want to read them with you as a means to cover all of the Psalms before the year end.

Comments/Insight, please PRAYER