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[0:00] I want to address the subject of learning. Learning what things we are not to learn and what things we aren't to learn. Make a choice between learning and not learning some things. Life itself is a series of lessons and we need to choose wisely, choose carefully as we learn in the school of life.

[0:21] What should we learn and get more familiar with and what should we avoid learning altogether? Sadly, some have loads of learning yet miss what really counts. Paul tells Timothy of them in 2 Timothy 3 verse 7.

[0:38] 2 Timothy 3 verse 7. He tells of these people that they are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now you've got some people with some highfalutin kind of degrees and very high level qualifications, PhDs, whatever, and yet they miss the most elementary of vital truths for life.

[1:05] Now I had a relative like this who had long years of university but no job. He was ever learning yet not ever working. He was very highly qualified but totally unskilled in the kind of field as it were as far as practically applying his knowledge.

[1:24] People can't have loads and knowledge. People can have loads and loads of knowledge and yet miss the vital part. People can have loads of head knowledge yet no heart knowledge of God.

[1:37] Now you've got the Reverend Doctor, the Reverend Sitcher or whatever and people who are elevated in positions of ecclesiastical authority that don't know the very basics of salvation.

[1:55] That is a sad truth, isn't it? That there's many Reverend Doctors like, you know, in John 3 there's the Reverend Doctor Nicodemus. He was one of the highly respected religious leaders of his day and yet he did not know what it meant to be born again.

[2:14] To be born again. The fundamental truth to know is how to know God. Many know of God yet not know him.

[2:25] They've got a theological, theoretical knowledge, maybe a scriptural knowledge, yet not a knowledge of the Saviour. And that's a big lack, isn't it? It's a big fault.

[2:36] There are some things we are told definitely not to learn. Just to start with that. Jeremiah 10 verse 2. Jeremiah 10 verse 2 it says, Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them.

[2:57] I think the concept is talking of astrology and how people are following soothsayers and magicians and such. And many follow the, who's that one that people revere at times?

[3:12] Nostradamus. And the various supposed prophecies and supposed foretellings that, depending how you read it, you can read into it what you might believe it's saying.

[3:25] The Bible says, learn not the way of the heathen. An interesting command from God, isn't it? God's telling us specifically, there's things we are not to learn.

[3:39] To not learn, to learn not the way of the heathen. Now it's been said garbage in, garbage out. As we know with the computer world, what goes into the computer is what spurts out.

[3:51] And likewise, what goes in us, in the ear gate, in the eye gate, comes out in the light. There's things that we need to be guarding ourselves against. And many will have much learning.

[4:03] Much learning and yet miss the key truths of life. Many will have much learning, for example, of empty, godless, deceptive philosophies. The word philosophy means loving wisdom.

[4:18] Loving wisdom. Philosophy. Loving wisdom. The word philosophy. And philosophies, as the world would describe them, as we see in Colossians 2, it talks about philosophy.

[4:33] The philosophies we are to guard against are many and varied. Such philosophies, love of wisdom, actually miss the wisdom part.

[4:46] Because the wisdom that is so called by the general secular schools of philosophy, they deny the god part. They deny the biblical worldview.

[4:58] They deny the book. And they call philosophies. I'm talking about, for example, such things as evolution. It's evil. It's evolution. It's evil. It's evolution.

[5:09] It's denying that there was a god and that this world just happened by itself out of some amazing feat of non-supernatural miracles.

[5:20] It's all the evidence of life and the complexity of human kind and biological kind and the macro and the micro of the majesty of the heavens and of the infinite complexity of one human self.

[5:41] It's just mind-boggling that someone would believe that evolution made it happen. And I know we're looking at, as a church, we've got some intentions.

[5:52] I know Barry's prepared some material. And we're just going to work on that in the next couple of months or so to try to develop some kind of little seminar that we can deliver.

[6:02] And it might be over a series. I was talking to Roy this morning. I'm not sure Barry's got the word on this, but one of our number, Roy, as to whether we have it as a series, maybe of a number of nights, Sunday nights maybe, over a period of time.

[6:17] And cover some of the key information about creation and the solid weight of evidence that we can see just in the complexity of life that there is a creator.

[6:32] This does not happen by happenstance and by just random little things changing and adaption over time, whether millions of years or not.

[6:43] It just doesn't happen. We don't see such a thing. Evolution, one example of philosophies. Humanism, where God is on the throne. Humanism. Feminism, where there's this complete warped idea of, and of course we're not putting women down, but feminism goes to another level where it's an extremity.

[7:06] There's an extremity of ideas that go just totally left field. Materialism is another philosophy where it's like the almighty dollar is what people virtually worship.

[7:19] That's materialism. Pragmatism is another philosophy where basically the end justifies the means. So do whatever it takes. Just do it.

[7:29] Just do it. That's pragmatism. Moral relativism. In other words, there's no measuring stick. There's no plumb line. It's all relative. It's all, oh, your truth is different from my truth.

[7:41] You know, really there is no truth. There's no absolute truth because you've got your truth. I've got mine. And it's whatever we make it out to be. Moral relativism. In other words, there's no morality.

[7:53] There's no thou shalt not anymore. It's just easy come, easy go. Do what feels good. That's the kind of moral relativism.

[8:04] Fascism is another more political kind of philosophy where it's just that, you know, that total domination of a people. Narcissism where it's all about, oh, where's my selfie?

[8:17] I've just got to take the selfie. Oh, do I look good? You know, just take the photos and plaster it all over the world. Let the whole internet see how good you look.

[8:29] Narcissism is another philosophy of our world, isn't it? It's just, you know, all about me, me, me. And there's this emphasis on the self. These are worldly philosophies of human aspiration.

[8:41] As if that's the be-all and end-all. You see some of these self-help gurus. You know, what's his name? Tony Robbins. It's only, what, $1,500 to go and watch him for a day.

[8:55] You know, I could charge that. These people, these self-help gurus that put people and tell people how to make life better for themselves. And it's all about human aspiration.

[9:06] As if that's the aim of life. It's making yourself a better self. It's unleashing the power within, is what Tony Robbins says. It's human aspiration.

[9:17] You know, take it or leave it. There's bits and pieces. You could say some of that might be good to get a bit more of a positive outlook on life. But when human aspiration is the ultimate goal, it's missing the whole point of what life is all about.

[9:31] Life. Humanity. The purpose of humankind is to know God. It's to know him and to follow him. And these worldly philosophies have overtaken people.

[9:45] And there's this worldliness, this love of the world, where they're preoccupied with such things. And really, it's a false wisdom. It's science falsely so called. It's pseudoscience.

[9:57] A pretense of knowledge. There's a smoke screen where it's called knowledge, but really it's foolishness. Because we can cloak things with spiritual language that wrap up lies.

[10:10] That's what the cultists do. Like was talked earlier. People knocking on doors and telling people garbage. It's falsehood. Telling people of a man in America finding golden plates and translating them with a funny gadget on his head.

[10:30] And somehow he's given us another testament of Jesus Christ. When Jesus came to the Americas and somehow delivered more of the gospels then.

[10:41] And the church was then lost for these thousand plus years until this man Joseph Smith appeared on the scene and restored the church of God.

[10:52] And what a philosophy that is. The Mormon philosophy. It really lies wrapped up in a cloak of spiritual language. And when you discern some of it, it's actually Freemasonic.

[11:03] It's Masonic stuff that's in there. It's just a garbled mess of man-made junk. And this is philosophies that we see in the world today. There's many other cults we could name too.

[11:15] But Paul tells the Colossians in Colossians 2 verse 4. This I say lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. Enticing words. Sounds good.

[11:27] Oh, I like what I'm hearing. Some people are like that these days with the internet and with YouTube. And with the TV preachers you can tune into via radio or TV.

[11:40] And it just tickles their ears. It makes them have that enticement. It's enticing. It's alluring. It draws people.

[11:51] And, you know, some of these preachers, there's good and bad. You can pick the bones out. But largely, you're better steering clear of a lot of it. Because it's enticing words. And Paul says, beware the staining men beguile you.

[12:04] Don't get tricked by that. Measure it. Here's the measuring stick. The Bible. That is the measuring stick. The Bible calls it a plumb line. In other words, you know, that heavy weight hanging on a cord where they set whether that's straight up and down or not.

[12:20] When you get your spirit level, you make sure that's plumb. It's plumb. It's straight up and down. Straight dinky dye. True blue. Straight up and down. The Bible is that measuring stick.

[12:32] And if it's wonky, we've got to get back to this. The Bible. Amen. So, ultimately, philosophies deny the final authority of God's words.

[12:45] As a Bible-believing church, as God's people, we believe the final authority is in our hands. The Bible. This is the final authority.

[12:55] The absolute authority. It's not moral relativism. It's not relative. It's absolute. Absolute truth. And if my truth doesn't line up with God's truth, then my truth has got to be changed to match up with this.

[13:10] Colossians 2.8. It says, Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. Paul says, Beware lest any man spoil you.

[13:24] To spoil means to take you captive. Take you prisoner. And control you. To catch you. And to hold you. And bind you.

[13:36] And I know religion has the sense of bondage. You know, the root word of religion means to bind. Ligaments, yes. Religion talks about a binding up.

[13:48] We're not into religion. You know, when someone says, oh, you're religious. Actually, you're not. You're not religious. You're a Christian. It's the difference between religious or being spiritual.

[14:00] That's a lot of the jargon now is, oh, I'm spiritual. You know? I believe in spirits. Yeah. You're probably inhabited by spirits.

[14:12] There's one thing being spiritual. There's another thing actually being saved. A believer in Jesus Christ to know that you are heaven bound. You're saved by the blood of Jesus.

[14:24] You're a Christian. That's different. Not religious, which is really being bound up in bondage. And Paul tells us such that they want to spoil you. They want to capture you and bind you up through philosophy and vain deceit.

[14:38] After the tradition of man and after the rudiments of the world are not after Christ. You know, there's some quarters. Again, I'm conscious some might have some of these in their minds.

[14:51] But the tradition of man. You know, in some churches and it's, you know, dog collars and icons and statues and Hail Marys and Holy Smoke and bells and incantations and Latin utterances that no one knows what they're going on about.

[15:07] And this ritual, this ceremony of mantras, of repeated things. And it's just totally out there.

[15:19] And it's tradition of man. It's got nothing to do with the Bible. They're getting away from the Bible. And that kind of religion, that kind of religiosity just holds people captive. The world's philosophies can be captivating.

[15:32] And we're in the midst of a culture war, a clash of worldviews. We're being conditioned all the time by a world that is biased against God. God says to us, learn not the way of the heathen and beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy.

[15:47] We've seen through the Old Testament that the children of Israel, they made repeated mistakes. And they're an example for us what not to do when we see through the Old Testament what the children of Israel got up to a lot of the time in their repeated mistakes as they took on the culture of the pagan nations around them.

[16:06] In Deuteronomy 18 verse 9, God says, When you come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. God says don't learn after the abominations of those nations.

[16:20] But the children of Israel did. They learnt after the abominations of the nations. Even King Solomon was filled, as I think I referred to that of late.

[16:31] It's like the children of Israel, they got too acquainted with the neighbouring cultures that there was a falling away. As with Solomon 1 Kings 11, it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart after other gods.

[16:48] What a shame that would be. To be steered away after other gods. The idols and the pagan beliefs. We're warned not to learn their works.

[17:02] In Psalm 106.35 it says, But they were mingled among the heathen and learnt their works. Psalm 106.35. They were mingled. It was a mixed multitude.

[17:15] They followed after this mishmash, this mixed multitude, this mingling among the heathen and they learnt their works. What are the works that we can learn that we should not learn?

[17:27] We can gradually get acquainted with worldly wisdom and ways. I work in a worldly environment with worldly people in my day job.

[17:39] And you want to shine the light there. You want to be light in a dark place. You want to counteract that. As a Christian, hey, you're going to stand out like a sore thumb.

[17:51] You're going to stand out. You're going to stick out as a Christian. When you start to not join in. What the world laughs at and goes on about. What are some of the world's works? Now some of these things, you might think, well, I've never thought of it that way.

[18:04] But gambling. Oh, everybody joins the sweepstakes. Oh, let's go in the pool or whatever it is. The sweeps or the footy pool or whatever.

[18:15] Let's chuck a bit of money in. Or the Melbourne Cup or whatever it is. Oh, it's just harmless. It's gambling. It's using your God-given money on the chance that you're going to make something out of it.

[18:29] And it's wasteful and it's foolishness. You see some people are bound by those one-armed bandits. That's what they are, bandits. We see boozing.

[18:41] Another of the world's works. Some people just can't grasp a hold. Hey, it's just to be sober. Be temperate. Be sober-minded. And yet some will just go and booze away.

[18:53] Just join in with the crowd. And not give a thought for, hey, that's actually messing with my mind. And it's not good for me. Abortion. Pro-rights.

[19:07] What is it? No, the opposite of pro-life is pro-rights. I guess women's rights. What about the baby's rights? You know, abortion is a critical issue.

[19:18] Gay rights. Oh, gay people have got rights. It's when the world gets that philosophy in our thinking that, hey, it doesn't matter anymore.

[19:32] What God says doesn't matter anymore. God says something is an abomination. He puts a period there. Full stop. That's what it is. That's what it is. There's no getting around it.

[19:42] People can do what they like, but whether it's right or wrong, this tells us what's right or wrong. And it says it's dead wrong. And what about worldly dressing and talking? Just this kind of sense where there's an immodesty.

[19:56] I'm showing a flesh. I'm worldly talking. I'm cursing and cussing. God's name is dragged down as a piece of rubbish flying along the street.

[20:09] And God's very much against talking corrupt. It's very clear from the word of God that we need to learn to sip the lip.

[20:22] Don't utter it. If it's questionable, try. Ask God to help you to talk with a new tongue, as it were, and learn a new language, as it were, the language of the godly.

[20:37] Astrology. That's one of the world's wisdoms and ways, isn't it? We can learn their works. Oh, you've seen the newspaper. Oh, I'm a Sagittarius. Oh, this is what it says for me.

[20:49] Garbage. It's the way of the heathen. It's worldly philosophies. It's learning their works. Euthanasia. Oh, you know, they're past it now.

[21:03] They just give up on it. They've got to that age. Just let them die. Suicide. It's that thinking that, oh, maybe that's okay for some people.

[21:18] It's moral decline. The world's ways. It's the world's thinking. It's the world's works. Questionable amusements. What is it that's tying us up? Our time.

[21:29] You see some of these graphic video games that are popular nowadays where it's like, that's the norm now. The norm is to play these video games where you just kill people.

[21:40] That's what people do now for, oh, it's just harmless entertainment. I just killed some people today. It was fun. You can't get that.

[21:52] It almost becomes like they get conditioned to think, oh, it's okay. Or those games where you drive and you knock people over when you're driving them. Apparently, there's all sorts of crazy things.

[22:04] But really, it's questionable, isn't it? Why should I waste my time with such things? Honestly. Questionable amusements. You know, in a way, some of these, you might say, oh, that's a personal preference thing.

[22:17] Look, just seek God and ask God yourself about these things. That's what matters, isn't it? I'm not meaning to put my standard on you, but I'm just asking you to make it, question it, question it before God.

[22:32] Ask God about it. And like the music that we listen to and we kind of tune into, that wavelength, some of the music has got such trashy lyrics. And so I think even, oh, I've come to you in Western is kind of, okay, okay.

[22:50] But when you actually see what the lyrics are saying, it's absolutely vile. You know, it's just a total looseness, moral looseness. And just anything goes about talking about moral things that are very bad.

[23:04] And we need to question such things as that. Because ultimately, it's anarchy. Anything goes, isn't it? Anything goes. Then what you want to do. And truly, we're living in a world without God, without hope.

[23:18] And through history, we see in history, these things have happened over time. There's a famous author called Edward Gibbon. He was no fan of the Christian faith, but he wrote a book called The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

[23:33] And there's many parallels in what Gibbon saw about how the Roman Empire fell. And learnings we can make from that as to why it's a sober warning for us in the Western world about the culture that's being destroyed all around us.

[23:51] And he listed five reasons for the collapse of the Roman Empire. Number one, the rapid increase of divorce with the undermining of the sanctity of the home, which is the basis of society.

[24:05] The home is under attack. You know, now the same-sex marriage, it kind of soils the whole idea of marriage now. It's all perverted and twisted and corrupted.

[24:17] Oh, it's just a piece of paper, some say. They just don't count it as what it is. It's sanctified by God. There's something about the home that's very precious, the basic building block of society.

[24:31] So we see the attacking of the home, number one. Secondly, it was higher and higher taxes. And the Romans, they would spend public money on bread and circuses.

[24:42] Just entertain people. Entertainment. It's kind of taken over, hasn't it? Entertainment. Entertainment. You can't go anywhere without having some screen blaring at you.

[24:55] Or some music, some message being imparted to you. Entertainment. Just entertain the masses. The third one is a mad craze for pleasure that happened in Rome, where sports became every year more exciting and more brutal.

[25:13] Don't we see that today too? But sports are becoming more and more brutal. More and more, it's just got to thrill the crowd. And you see some of these things, like what's it called?

[25:25] Muay Thai or something. You know, when you've got these, the cage fighting. And you see these guys and they're kicking each other. And just pulverizing each other.

[25:35] And there's blood and guts. It's like, it's just this, there's this appetite for entertainment that's gone ballistic. It's just going back to what it was in Rome's day, when you had the Colosseum and the Christians getting torn to pieces by lions.

[25:53] It's almost like this mad craze for pleasure is another sign of the end times. And then we see number four was another sign of the fall of the Roman Empire was these building of gigantic armies to fight external enemies.

[26:08] And the most deadly enemy was the decadence of the people that lay within. The decadence of the people. And it's just, people got so decadent. So, what's another word for decadence?

[26:21] They're just sort of careless and carefree. And just totally materialistically minded. And, you know, this liberty, this total laxness.

[26:34] And we're seeing that in our world today where we're seeing some cultures are coming in and undermining our Christian culture. Whether it be other religions, and you know who I'm talking about, coming in.

[26:46] You've got virtual Sharia law in some cities in Sydney. The stories of late. Where it's just, and in England, even in parts of America, you've got these foreign cultures coming in and totally taking over.

[27:03] And this internal threat is kind of missed to the people. And then fifth, the fifth one is the decay of religion. Where faith fades into mere form and becomes impotent.

[27:16] It's powerless. Religion is just a, it's a token thing. It's a fake and false thing. Yeah, a social club, indeed.

[27:31] So, let me just list those again. Five reasons for the collapse of the Roman Empire. Destruction of the home. Spending of money on bread and circuses.

[27:42] Mad craze for pleasure. Gigantic armies, yet missing the real enemy within. And the decay of religion. It's been said that history repeats itself.

[27:53] There's many parallels we can see. These are things that are going on. And these are the works of the world. As we've seen, learn of their works.

[28:04] This is what's going on in our godless world. And people in a godless world, as they reckon in their minds they're living in a godless state, I've got nobody to answer to.

[28:16] I've got nobody to answer to. I don't have to answer to a god. I don't believe. One day they will. One day they will have to answer to him.

[28:28] And so they think, as it were in Judges 17, verse 6, In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did what was right in his own eyes.

[28:41] Warped values, perverted truths. People, when people act godless, there's no rules. No rules, no restraint. And people do what's right in their own eyes.

[28:54] Oh, you can't tell me what to do. I'm the boss of my own life. I'm the master of my own destiny. No, we've all got to answer. I have to answer. We have to answer to him.

[29:05] And godless thinking and philosophies can start to rub off on us. And it becomes this underlying philosophy, this embedded culture that we're not even aware of sometimes. We absorb it into our thinking.

[29:17] Now, as Christians we can. The world is constantly bombarding us with such things. And we can start thinking and acting just like the rest of them.

[29:30] Psalm 1, verse 1 says, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. Don't walk along with them and agree with the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, kind of joining in the group, nor sitting in the seat of the scornful, actually joining in, laughing and scorning and mocking.

[29:52] We start acting and thinking. It's like a gradual decline. And it's sad to see in this present world, I'm talking about things to learn not here. In the name of education, we're seeing poison injected into young minds, in high doses, into the minds of students.

[30:12] You see primary school, kindergarten even. You know, you've seen some shocking things of, what do they call them? Drag queens.

[30:23] You know, I hate to talk about it, but I'm telling you what, it's factual here. Drag queens educating kindergarten children, telling them stories. And this is sick.

[30:33] It's vile. It's disgusting. That those young minds can be perverted from that young age. And what are they going to grow up to believe in? And then they're going to end up our political masters when they get voted in power one day.

[30:48] And then they'll be the governors and lawmakers of our society. Blatant lies and distorted truths. And in the universities too. They're systematically implanted. And once it's in people's minds, it's implanted.

[31:01] It's perpetually in their hearts. How we need, brothers and sisters, a Christian mindset. Now this might be foreign stuff to some of you here to hear this stuff, but I'm telling you honestly, as I see it, that we are under attack as a Christian people.

[31:18] And the counsel that we're receiving, the influences that we're absorbing, sometimes we're not even conscious of it because it's just so endemic. In other words, it's just so spread that it contaminates everything around us.

[31:33] And we can't believe what we see and hear on the media sometimes. As much as people say, oh, fake news, it's kind of like a bit of a throwaway line. In some ways, it's true. And likewise, the Word warns us to beware of these things.

[31:48] Learn not the way of the heathen. There's things that we should not learn. We shouldn't want to, I mean, in communicating a warning to you, I'm having to talk about these things to a degree.

[32:00] But there's that sense of, you don't want to talk about the unfruitful works of darkness. You don't even talk about them because it's unfruitful. It's not good for you. It's unhealthy. It's unwise. But the Word warns us to beware, beware, as to the kind of people we hang with.

[32:17] Another thing we should not learn, in Proverbs 22, verse 24, it says, Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.

[32:30] So in other words, people are anti-Christ, people have got an attitude, people that are hateful, and angry, and vicious, and vile. Don't make friendship with them because you might learn his ways and become like him, and it'll be a snare to your soul.

[32:49] So in other words, guard yourself as to the friendships you make. It's good to develop godly Christian friendships. Develop friendships with like-minded people who can grow together in your faith and encourage one another in following the Lord.

[33:06] Guard yourself as to friendships that are contrary to that. As it says in 1 Corinthians 15, 33, Be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good manners. That evil company can corrupt.

[33:17] You know, put the bad apple in the bunch, and they all go bad. Corrupt. Don't follow the crowd. In Exodus 23, 2, it says, Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.

[33:33] You might say, Oh, everybody else is doing it. Why do I have to be the odd one out? Don't follow the multitude to do evil. Don't follow the crowd.

[33:45] Following the crowd isn't always a good idea. Make sure you know where they're going before you follow them. And what is popular can oftentimes be wrong, deadly wrong.

[33:58] So I'll put to you here some things not to learn. Some things that evidently we are not to learn them. We are not to go that way. We're meant to avoid them. Use a large, long barge pole.

[34:09] Put it between yourself and such things. Some things we are called to learn, but there's some things we are not meant to learn. And just to recap, the way of the heathen, their abominations, their works, and their character.

[34:22] The angry man. Don't make a friendship with him because you could become like him. So these are things not to learn. Now, just hopefully to leave you on a positive note, some things that we are to learn, as the scriptures tell us.

[34:37] Things that we are to learn. Things that are good for us to learn. Number one, learn the scriptures. Learn the scriptures. Romans 15, 4, it says, For whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.

[34:56] They were written for our learning. This book is written for our learning. This is the Bible. I like to call it B-I-B-L-E, Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

[35:10] Make sure you know them. Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. These are the words of life. And they're written for our learning, for our comfort, for our hope. And God's wisdom is here.

[35:22] And God's wisdom, this is far, far above PhD level. Amen? God's wisdom. He says that my wisdom, I'm just going to get this right here.

[35:34] In Isaiah 55, there's a context there from 6 through 9. It says, My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.

[35:49] And my thoughts than your thoughts. So, this is the ultimate aspiration, is to grasp a hold of the word of God.

[36:01] Treasure the scriptures. Find your comfort, your hope there. Because God's truths are higher than anything this world can offer you. Nothing compares with the truth of God, the word of God.

[36:16] These words are far more and above any so-called human wisdom. This is above PhD. This is what we need to get a hold of.

[36:27] And educate yourself in that. To miss this is to miss everything that counts. Moses called all Israel in Deuteronomy 5 verse 1 and he says in part that you may learn them and keep and do them.

[36:39] Three things. Deuteronomy 5 verse 1. I'm going to speak them in your ears this day. He says that you may learn them and keep and do them. So, it's not just learning them. It's keeping them or treasuring them.

[36:51] Hide them in your heart. Keep them and trust them to your thinking, to your thoughts. Put them in your mind. Keep them. Guard them. And do them. Do the word of God.

[37:03] And apply them. Applied learning. That's what it is. And be a lifelong learner. Now, some people think, oh, you know, I've been to Bible school.

[37:15] I've got the certificate on the wall. You know, I know it all now. You know, I've got my theology down pat and I know ABCD. It's all here.

[37:27] I've got my doctrinal statement and everything is just line by line. I know it all. We never really get to that point. I put to you, I'm not at that point and I don't think really, truly, anyone gets to that point.

[37:40] This side of eternity. We're meant to be lifelong learners. We never stop learning. There's always some treasure to dig deeper into. Some new truth. Some new teaching. Some new learning.

[37:50] Well, it's not really new teaching. It's teaching that is new to us because we haven't grasped it and dug deep into it enough. Explore the book and don't just be like a tourist who kind of, like, you know, sometimes if you, you don't got much time as a tourist, you're trying to pack as many little sites to see in that scarce time you've got but be someone who's actually, I'm going to, I'm going to really learn this.

[38:18] I'm really going to be like a miner going down in the mineshaft and I'm going to get the pick out and chip away and dig deep, dig deeper and deeper. Discover its deep truths.

[38:29] The book is rich. It's full. It's so, so, it's exhausted what's in there and, you know, as a new Christian, as a younger Christian, you know, it's like a treasure trove and it never ceases to be that because we've always got something richer and deeper to learn and the Bible tells us study to show yourself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

[38:57] Study this book. Study it. Discover the truths of it. Starts with a receptivity. In the scriptures we see they received the word. Now get your concordance and check receive or, you know, an element of receive and the word.

[39:12] Numbers of times they received the word, people got saved. They received the word. They received the word. In Thessalonica they received the word with all readiness in mind and they searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so.

[39:27] Someone has said even in the worldly sense of it, receptivity must be present in each student or he will not learn. We can come with a closed mind as some would come conditioned and biased against this book to not believe it and then we will not learn.

[39:47] Become receptive to this book that God can teach you and you can learn of him. When the scriptures are opened let's have a receptivity to them. Be teachable in other words and teach the Bible to your children, to your family.

[40:02] Read the Bible to them. It's a good thing to do. Impart it spiritual truths. And so another thing to learn is to learn the fear of God. In Deuteronomy 4 verse 10 our Lord says that they may learn to fear me and that they may teach their children.

[40:21] The fear of the Lord that they may learn to teach to fear me he says. The fear of the Lord is the what? The beginning of the beginning of wisdom and the beginning of knowledge.

[40:33] There's a couple of references here in speak of the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Psalm 111 verse 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and good understanding of all they that do his commandments his praise and joy forever.

[40:49] The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Then Proverbs 1 verse 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction. And then Proverbs 9 10 it says The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

[41:04] So this is a vital element. It's first base in the education of the school of life it's where it begins. We don't begin to know wisdom.

[41:15] We don't begin to know knowledge unless we fear God. Unless we've got that healthy sense of hey God's bigger than me and I need to take him seriously.

[41:26] I need to get serious. I need to tremble at this book. This is holy stuff. This is holy. Holy, holy. And the one with whom we deal with he is holy, holy, holy.

[41:40] God Almighty. And it's the beginning to start with that to know him as your Lord and Saviour. And then it's just the beginning. And without God we can get clever but we can still be a fool.

[41:55] The Duke of Wellington said an educated man without religion is only a clever devil. In other words an educated man without salvation is just a clever devil.

[42:06] unless you fear God you haven't started at first base. It's the basic fact is to acknowledge that God is. To learn to know God. And that's the knowledge of the holy. That's not something you're going to learn from Hollywood.

[42:20] It's from this book that you'll learn the things of God. And to learn the knowledge of the holy talks about Proverbs 30 verse 3. Another one Isaiah 117 it says learn to do well.

[42:34] Learn to do well. Learn to do what is right. Applied learning to do. Learn to do. To do well. Put your faith into action.

[42:44] We're called to learn so we can apply these truths. God doesn't want us just to get I've kind of used the phrase before to be like a fat Christian as it were as a Christian who's you know just knows it knows it all but doesn't actually do anything with it.

[43:01] Doesn't actually impart it to others. We can learn learn learn but never pass the knowledge on. That's a big mistake too isn't it? God has given you so much you should be a teacher by now it talks about doesn't it?

[43:17] And we need to put these truths into action into our lives. I'm nearly there.

[43:29] Another one is to learn righteousness Isaiah 26 verse 9 we're called to learn righteousness in other words learn how to live godly in other words we're meant to be counter cultural we're meant to actually be salt we're meant to actually be light we are counter cultural in other words we're not meant to blend in and be like a chameleon and be a shape shifter and just sort of just sort of keep a low profile we're meant to be salt in a corrupt world it causes a preserving it causes an impact to stop corruption there's a godly influence that you have as salt and there's a godly influence that when you walk into a dark room as it were it's dark world so dark and dark and by the darkness that prevails the spiritual darkness that we're meant to be like a dazzling beaming shining blazing light that we can make such an impact that we'll learn to do well that we'll learn righteousness and another one just lastly for now is to learn doctrine isaiah 29 24 tells us we should learn sound bible doctrine we should learn bible teaching in other words don't just gloss over it and i like that about our sunday school program for example and our youth group as much as the youth group's in a recess just now but that ideally we're not there as some would have a sunday school just to tell bible stories but we're actually giving bible teaching we're teaching children about the truths of salvation we're teaching children we're teaching young people about how to live the christian life we're teaching people this is applied learning this is sound doctrine we want our young people to know the truth to know how to be saved to know the christian truths to apply them in their lives to study and appreciate bible teaching another one is learn to be content philippians 4 verse 11 paul says whatever state i am there with to be content i've learnt that he says but last not least just last but not least and this is probably the most important of all things that we are to learn and to leave you with this as the essential to learn learn of christ learn of christ matthew 11 29 he says take my yoke upon you he's talking the context here is that wooden beam that goes over the shoulders of the oxen and the as they plough the field and he's saying yoke yourself together with me in other words join yourself to me and i'm going to do the hard yards i'm going to pull that plough as it were he says take my yoke upon you in other words join together with me in this important work that i've called you to and he says learn of me learn of me for i'm meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls he says learn of me jesus says to you to me learn of me a wise man will hear and will increase learning proverbs 1 verse 5 where is wisdom found at the feet of jesus where mary sat and she sat at his feet and heard his word and you know she was just receptive she was receiving receiving his word you know tune in the wavelength tune out all the junk tune out all the stuff all the clutter and clatter and tune in to that heavenly wavelength tune in to the word wavelength tune in so you can sit at his

[47:29] feet and hear his word and receive his word so let me just recap in closing where we've travelled here today simple truths yet i hope it's useful for you to see and consider some things to learn and not to learn just to recap i've got to refresh myself here just to recap because i haven't got a recap down here where we come from things not to learn the ways of the heathen the ways of the world is trash oh have you seen the latest hot goss the latest goss have you seen the latest what hollywood's doing what the royal family's doing yeah have you seen the latest viral video wow you've got to watch this trash trash no not the way of the heathen it's garbage you might think i'm being a bit strong here i'm giving you what i think you might think oh i'm going to tune into a little bit of it look i tune into some bits and pieces i've got to be honest but the way of the heathen we don't get absorbed with that that dominates our mind our worldview becomes the world's worldview we don't want that we're different we're meant to be salt and light don't know the way of the heathen don't get don't get caught up with that don't let that be what overtakes you don't learn their abominations they might call it oh this is inclusive this is this is tolerance abomination god calls it the abomination don't learn the abominations the works the works of the of the world even the best works of the world are tainted and the character of the world the angry man the godless man don't make a friendship with them as it were don't get buddied up with them cosy up with them be salt and light to him but you don't make a friendship with an angry man you don't join join in with him in his ways because his character can rub off now that's no

[49:58] I'm just let me just put it to you I'm not saying don't make don't don't stop being an influence on worldly people I'm not saying that no one is outside the reach of his grace and you might be just the one to talk to him so I'm not saying that oh look you just isolate yourself from anyone who's godless because they need the god you know I'm not saying I'm not saying to to be standoffish towards them what I'm saying is you don't make friendships with them in that you're really closely you're walking in in accord with them because how can the two walk together unless they be agreed you can't walk together down the road with them in the direction they go but you can be a loving witness to them that's important so let me make that clear but we learn not their character we're different we're meant to be different and so things not to learn just to quickly recap again without labouring this unduly things that we are to learn learn the scriptures learn the scriptures nothing beats a knowledge of the bible knowing bible verses knowing some bible verses bible truths is so important some fundamental bible texts some bible verses hide them in your heart it's very very important learn the scriptures learn to fear god learn the fear of god that's where it begins learn to regard yourself as it were in comparison!

[52:00]  in comparison with the glory of god and we're just inadequate human vessels that he has by his grace he's given us his gift and all we can do is thank him and praise him and glorify him and to fear him and learn to know him learn to do well in other words don't just have head knowledge learn to do it to apply it learn to be learn doctrine dig deep learn and keep on learning get some good bible study books some good bible doctrine books and I can recommend some good bible doctrine bible teaching and learn to be content don't always have the attitude oh I've got to keep up with the joneses and life becomes something what they call it the wheel the rat wheel the rat race the only ones that win the rat race are the rats we're not in that race we learn to be content we learn to trust god with what we have and the very best thing the very best of all that we can learn learn of christ learn of me he says learn of me and you shall find rest onto your soul so let's pray lord we thank you that we can learn and we pray unlearn some things lord help us to learn what matters and to not learn it only but to live it to apply it to do it we pray in jesus name amen