Trust in God part two, obedience is driven by trusting God. These topics are discussed more fully in the books. The glory of God is intelligence and seek ye this Jesus. They're both available on Amazon in print form and in Kindle. And you can also get them for free in PDF at upward thought.blogspot.com
. So the topic of this talk is all about how trusting God relates to uh obedience to God. Trusting God determines obedience and effort. We'll focus specifically on obedience in this discussion. But uh remember that that God's light is everywhere at all times. It's, it's uh obtainable by everyone, but
we don't all perceive or receive it in equal quantities. And this is because we differ in our obedience and effort when it comes to God, not all of us equally seek Him, not all of us equally obey Him. And it turns out that the key to both of these things, what drives them is our trust in God. Those who
trust God more will obey Him more fully, those who trust in God more will seek Him with greater effort. This is the key to all good things that God has sometimes we mistakenly think of uh God's blessings is something that we have to go out and obtain. And sometimes it's useful to think of it that way
. But the reality is that God's blessings are kind of like uh water stored behind a dam and we hold the key to the sluice gates. That's fun to say. Um But what, what opens those gates or shuts those gates and, and what determines how, how wide open they are is our choice of how much we trust in Him,
the more we obey Him and the greater effort we spend in seeking him, the more of those things we can obtain, they're already there. They've already been paid for, they've already been obtained by God. He's already done the work to make all of that ready for us. The question is just whether we will receive
it or not and the way we receive it is by trusting in Him. There are three levels of trust in God. In the first level, you obey some things, you know, and the second level, you obey all things, you know, the third level, you obey all things known and unknown. Now, I realize quite well that the vast majority
of people are on level one, we'll talk about that, but just because few people make it past level one doesn't mean we have to pretend like that is all there is or somehow um somehow make these other levels out to be less than what they are. All of these are possible and you already have all the tools
you need to get to level three. So level one obey some things, you know, obeying some things, you know, is equivalent to disobeying some things. You know, it's either one or the other and if you're in the position where you sometimes or often, but at least, sometimes willingly disobey God, which means
to have some aspect of your life. That's not in complete alignment with your full sincere understanding of who God is and what He is, then you're in a condition called willful rebellion. And uh as you can read in the scriptures, that's not a good place to be because you do not qualify for salvation.
In other words, when you die, you will go to hell and you will pay the price of your own sins because you were not willing to listen to God and you weren't willing to receive the gift of eternal life. And Mosiah 32 excuse me, 312, we read w woe unto him who knoweth that he rebel against God for salvation
cometh to none such except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there are dozens of scriptures to teach this doctrine. It's crystal clear if you would like a more extensive argument about it, you can read the book Seek ye this Jesus. The first half of the book is about repentance
and it talks all about this. Level two is to obey all things. You know, this is the state that most Christians think is impossible. They're wrong. This is the state where you actually do everything you believe. God wants you to do without exception every day. Uh for your whole life, this is what it means
to be reconciled to God. Again, another phrase you'll find in the scriptures. Um but there are some caveats to this condition. You're still not to where God wants you to be because although you obey all things, you know, you have a laundry list of these things that God would never ask me to do. And for
each one of those, you're removing yourself from the opportunity to experience that much more of Him. In other words, your trust in God is conditioned, it's conditioned on your understanding of Him. And like all awareness, your awareness of God is limited, it's incomplete and it's incorrect to some extent
, right? So everything you currently believe about God is either incorrect or incomplete, it's there's more to know because in order to know God fully, you'd actually have to know everything He knows and you're not there yet, I'm not there yet. And until we're there, we have to develop unconditional
trust in Him so that he can continue to reveal the things that we don't yet understand about him. So the point here is, is that level two is kind of like a box and you say everything in the box I accept. Level one is like, hey, there are things in the box that I do not accept but I, I know about them
but I, I don't accept them. Level two is everything in the box I accept. We'll talk about level three but level three is there is no box. So in Mark 10, we read the following when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him good master, what shall I do that
? I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, why calls thou me good? There is none good but one that is God. I'm gonna pause there. Now, this is the story of this rich young ruler. Maybe you've heard of it before. But this guy comes up to Jesus and he says, hey, what can I do to inherit eternal
life? Great question, right? And Jesus says, why call us thou me good? There's none good but one that is God never decided by people who say there's no such thing as a good person clearly because Jesus said there isn't and I think they're taking this a little too far clearly, Jesus is good, right? It's
not just the father who's good. The son is also good because he's one with the father because he shares the, the attributes of character and the knowledge with the father. So personality wise, character wise, their equivalent. OK? As far as we know, as far as our purposes. So why did Jesus say there
is none good? But one that is God. The reason is that this guy that came up to him thought he was good. We'll see that in a second. And Jesus knowing this starts out by saying I am, don't call me good because only the father is good. Now, if you came up to Jesus and you were full of yourself and you
said, hey, I'm I'm doing great, but you're good. And he said actually, only the father is good. What he's actually saying is maybe you should check your pride at the door and you're probably not as good as you think you are. You get that anyway. Let's continue. That's a side note verse 19 thou knowest
the commandments. This is Jesus telling this guy what he needs to do to be to inherit eternal life. He says, thou knowest the commandments do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness defraud, not honor thy father and mother. So he goes laundry list, right? So the guy
answers and he says, master all these have I observed from my youth, right? That's the good. Like, hey, I'm already doing all of this, aren't I great right now? I'm not trying to like tear this guy down too much. He was obviously sincere. Um He genuinely came up and, and he was interested, he wanted
to know how he could do better. But let's keep reading. Then Jesus beholding him, loved him. Very interesting phrase and said unto him, one thing thou lacks go thy way. So whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come take up the cross and follow me. And he
was sad at that saying and went away, grieved for he had great possessions. So Jesus knows exactly what's in this, this guy's heart. He knows what's going to happen. But because this guy has shown faith by coming to him and saying, Lord, I'm doing everything I know to do. Please give me further light
and truth. So he's at level two, he obeys all things he knows and he, he goes to the Lord and he says, I seek further light and truth. I've been obedient to everything I know perfectly. Then Jesus, it doesn't mean he's perfect. It means according to his imperfect awareness, he sincerely is obedient to
all things he knows as far as he knows, right? Very important. And that's the key to getting more. You can't get more unless you do what you have, right? So Jesus looks at him and he loves him that this could be its own topic. We could talk about what love actually means. But this, he loves him by giving
him more knowing full well that he's going to reject it. But knowing that only by showing him the cracks. Can he actually help this guy? So he says one thing thou lacks and he says, go sell everything you have. This guy was rich. He says sell everything you have and come with me and follow me. And the
guy was sad at that saying, and he went away, grieved. So he didn't sell his stuff as far as we know, we don't know what happened after this, but he surely didn't do that right away. He didn't receive it with a joyful heart. So did he trust God? He sure thought he did before he came and talked to Jesus
. But when he talked to Jesus, Jesus revealed exactly how he didn't trust in him. He showed him that and that's exactly what will happen to you. When you obey all things, you know, God will show you how you don't trust Him and he does that because He loves you because the only way you can receive the
blessings that He has that he has prepared for you is through trusting him unconditionally. That's what it takes because without that, you won't keep walking in the path and there's knowledge that you will um not acquire because you won't receive it because it requires you to trust in God in order to
get there. Now, in this presentation, I'm not going very much into why that is, but I'll give you a little nugget and if you want to, you can ponder and study about it and that is that um knowledge that you don't yet have is necessarily outside of your present awareness. And in order to actually learn
those things, there's a process and one key ingredient to that process is trusting God that's unconditional so that He can show you the things that lie outside of your awareness, which necessarily will make absolutely no sense to you from the onset. But trust in God is that required ingredient because
you trust in His character and you trust that He is good without defining what good means you see. So just by the general definition of good, meaning beneficial or improvement, that's as far as you get and you can't attach it to anything specific. You can't say improvement means more money or happier
marriage or more kids or I don't know whatever it is. You can't do any of that. You have to say good is God and God is good and leave it at that. And if you do and you trust in God, he can lead you in the path of teaching you what you don't yet understand and what you're not currently aware of and putting
you through the experiences you need, which will involve some hard things in order to learn what it means to be good. And then once you get there and you look backwards, it all makes sense. And every step of the way that's the process, it just happens over and over and over again. But that's why the
trust in God is required because He can't just explain everything to you from a logical perspective before you act. He has to, to rely on your trust in Him to give you these packets of things that are very foreign to the natural man and are very offensive and painful to the natural man. And then when
you have a greater grip on reality and and more increased awareness, then it all makes sense. Level three of trust in God is to obey all things known and unknown. This is unconditional trust in God. This is a blank check that you write to God and you say I trust you and whatever you tell me, that's,
that's what I need to have. Whatever you do to me is what needs to be done to me. And this is uh a challenging thing to, to reach. But the good news is what makes it easier, I guess is understanding that this really is just a matter of trust in God. I just did a video yesterday about uh what was it called
? Repentance is not willpower and this is the same concept. But if you're interested, you can go listen to that, watch that. But on a for an elaboration of this, this idea, it's all about trusting God. It's not about your willpower. So that's the good news if this is possible and it's 100% a decision
on your part, you can flip it like a light switch to say actually, yes, I just, I trust in God now, that doesn't mean your trust is perfect from day one or really completely unconditional. It's just every time you make that decision it's made based on what, you know, so far and then immediately what's
gonna happen to him is he's gonna send some hard stuff your way to, to show you the limits of your trust and then you get to decide. Well, do I really trust him or was I just saying, what was I just saying that or do I really believe this? So to underscore the fact that this is not some advanced topic
for spiritual gurus. This is what you promise at baptism. This is the baptismal covenant. Obey all things known and unknown. You say I will stand as witness of Christ at all times and in all places until I die, this is to obey all things known and unknown. You're acknowledging at baptism that you actually
have no idea what his commandments are. You know, a few of them that you've been taught, but you realize this is a continuous process and you'll be continued to be taught new things that are outside of your present awareness. Um There's no limit in growth when you have unconditional trust in God. There's
no box, there's no limit in obedience. There are no walls. He could tell you anything and you go with it and, and because of that your growth is, is uh unlimited. In Luke 14, we read for which of you intending to build a tower? Sitteth. Not down first and counte the cost whether he have sufficient to
finish it. Lest happily after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it all that behold, it begin to mock him saying this man began to build and was not able to finish or what king going to make war against another king. Sitteth, not down first and consulte whether he be able with 10,000
to meet him that cometh against him with 20,000. Or else while the other is yet a great way off. He sendeth an embassy and desire conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsake, not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. This is what Jesus was talking about. Most people when
they choose to accept Christ, they think of a few things that they have to offer on the altar of sacrifice and they say, well, OK, XYZ I can do that, you know, whatever it is. It depends on your religious background. Maybe you think all you need to do is confess that you believe in Jesus with your lips
and that's what you need to do. Or maybe somebody thinks that you need to like witness of God to people that don't believe in Him. Or someone thinks well, here are five commandments that some person told me is what God wants me to do and, and if I just do these things, then I'm good. Yeah, I'll make
that deal. That sounds like a good, good trade for eternal life doesn't work that way. Jesus says very clearly that he requires everything, everything. So not only are there a few things you'll have to put on the altar, you have to put everything on the altar and then when you're done burning everything
, you climb on the altar yourself, there is nothing left. There is nothing that's held back. It's all his. And unless you're, you trust him that to that degree to say there, there are no limits. It's no holds barred. If you're not at that point, then you can't inherit eternal life. That's the required
sacrifice. It's everything. So now I want to make a point that this is possible. It's not impossible. It's, it's simple too. It's hard, but it's not complicated. It's very simple. Um But it is possible in firstly, 537, we read um that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the Children of men save, he
shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commande them. Paul said the same thing somewhere else. God will not reveal to you a commandment that you do not have the power to obey. Another way of saying that is that God will not reveal to you any aspect of his character that
you are not presently capable of reconciling to everything, you know about God, the extent to which you understand His character, you are capable of reflecting that in your life right now. And the key to it is deciding to trust Him. In first John three, John writes whosoever abideth in Him sineth not
whosoever sinnet hath not seen him, neither known him little Children. Let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that commit sin is of the devil for the sin for the devil sinnet from the beginning, for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that
he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remain eth in Him and he cannot sin because He is born of God. In this, the Children of God are manifest in the Children of the devil. Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither He that loveth
not his brother. If you choose to truly follow God and you choose to trust Him, he will give you opportunities throughout the day, every day of your life to show that you're serious about it. It's not a matter of testing you. It's a matter of helping you see the ways that you still need to grow and decide