Well, it's good to have you all here
this afternoon.
And as we already heard last night from
the speaker and from the speakers this morning,
that the theme and the subject this afternoon
is focusing our spiritual lives once again.
And so, this afternoon I have chosen for
my topic, with this in mind, a topic
centered around the various kinds of mountains.
And that every one of these mountains that
we will be talking about this afternoon will
in one way or another relate to our
own hearts and lives in our everyday walks.
Now, mountains are illustrative of many things.
It could be a mountain of temptation.
It could be a mountain of problems.
It could be a mountain of sin.
It could be a mountain of blessing.
It could be a mountain of strength.
It could be a mountain of warning to
us.
Mountains are positive and negative, good and evil.
So, whatever the mountains we will be talking
about this afternoon, I want you to say,
Lord God, what is the mountain that you
want me to conquer in my heart, in
my life today?
And say with Joshua and Caleb of old,
O Father, O God, give me this mountain.
And so, mountains are illustrations of many different
things in our hearts and lives.
Yielding to the temptation of sin and selfishness
grieves the Spirit of God.
Did you hear what I said?
Yielding to the temptation of sin and selfishness
grieves the heart of God.
But it does more than that.
It drives us into a spiritual dryness and
into defeat spiritually.
And that's why we have a time of
refreshing and a weekend like this, that we
might refocus our spiritual attention to a God
who is a mighty fortress in our lives
and in our generation.
It is comforting to know that on every
mountain of temptation there is a way out.
On every mountain of temptation in your life
there is a way out.
God never sends us or allows us to
have temptations in our lives and then we
have no answer for them.
But with every temptation He offers a way
out.
In the three temptations of Jesus, in Matthew
8 we read, And the devil took Jesus
to a very high mountain to tempt Him.
He took Him to a very high mountain
to tempt Him.
And that was a mountain of temptation.
And I often say, if the devil had
enough nerve and enough courage to tempt my
Jesus, then he has enough courage to tempt
each one of us here today.
And each one of us has a mountain
of some sort in our lives.
A mountain, a problem, an obstacle that God
can say, I have a way out for
you when you think indeed you have no
way out.
But God said, I have a way out
for you.
Just come to my mountain.
But strictly speaking there is no mountain of
temptation in the New Testament, is there?
And yet, even if there is no specific
mountain in the New Testament, let me say
this, something at least happened on that mountain
of temptation that can benefit us today.
And that's why we're here.
Oh, I want us to see that with
this temptation, with any temptation, with your temptation
and with mine, God offers a way out.
Sometimes we think, Lord, there is no way
around my mountain.
There is no way around my problem.
But God will, with temptation, offer you a
way out.
Eve's temptation is a picture of human life,
isn't it?
And in her life are mirrored your life
and mine.
The behavior and the actions of your life
and mine.
How soon Eve was tempted and how soon
she fell.
But with that temptation, God also made a
way out.
Well, now, we don't have to be very
old to realize that it doesn't take us
long, not very long after we move away
from the cradle, that we have to choose
from right and wrong.
And it doesn't take very many months before
a little one knows right from wrong.
And it doesn't take very long before they
have to make a choice whether or not
they will choose the good or the bad.
So, just a little ways away from the
cradle, we begin to make choices.
We sit in this very hour this afternoon,
and whether you want to or not, or
believe it or not, God is putting you
in a place where you have to choose.
And I'm asking you today, choose yourself a
mountain this hour, whether it be a good
mountain or an evil mountain.
Whatever that is, God has a way out
for you.
Now, temptation isn't a new thing.
It's as old as the hills.
It started with Eve, right?
So, temptation is not a new thing.
It is an old thing.
And you know, temptation does not only attack
one kind of a person.
It doesn't only attack the young.
It doesn't only attack the old.
It doesn't only attack those who have sexual
impurities or a tendency to social drinking or
whatever you might say.
Temptation comes to us on every level, rich,
poor, young, old, whatever we are.
Temptation comes to all of us.
But I want you to remember that temptation
is not always evil.
But there is a good side to temptation.
Many times when we talk or counsel with
women, they say, I am so afraid, I
am so tempted by this particular mountain or
problem or obstacle in my life, I fear
it, I can't conquer it.
But may I say to you this afternoon
that temptation is not always evil, but sometimes
it's good and for our benefit that we
might be able to grow and conquer the
mountains in our hearts and lives.
If you are tempted this afternoon, and I
know each of us are tempted in specific
areas, let me congratulate you.
And you say, congratulate me for temptation?
I say, yes, if you are tempted in
any way, let me congratulate you because it
shows that you have some moral insight within
you and that God is bringing to you
the opportunity to choose evil or good.
You have a choice.
God has made a way out.
When temptation for the evil comes to us,
God has made a way out.
When temptation for the good comes to us,
God has made a way out.
Well, I can hear a whole lot of
quiet little voices saying to me now, well,
how do I find a way out of
this temptation?
How do I know right from wrong sometimes
when I face my mountain?
Is there a way out for me?
And God says, I didn't say, God says,
yes, there is a way out for you.
How many times have you quoted 1 Corinthians
10, 13?
There hath no temptation taken you, you don't
know it, but such as is common to
man.
There are two words following that I want
you to listen.
There hath no temptation taken you, but such
as is common to man.
The next two words are, but God.
See, God has everything to do with temptation.
And when all is said and done, He
is not going to put a temptation on
you that you cannot bear.
Great news!
He's never going to put a temptation on
you that you can't bear.
Sometimes you'll see the mountain and you'll say,
God, I can't conquer it.
But God has promised that He will never
put a temptation on you that you cannot
bear.
Let me read it to you from the
Phillips translation, which I thought was very good.
No temptation has come your way that is
too hard for flesh and blood to bear.
But God can be trusted not to allow
you to suffer any temptation beyond your endurance.
He will see to it that every temptation
has a way out.
Now, doesn't that make you feel good to
know that you will not be pushed into
a corner and say, God, there's no way
out for me.
There is!
Not because I said it, but because God
said it.
If I were to stand up here and
say it this afternoon, you would have reason
not to believe me.
I can only tell you what 1 Corinthians
10, 13 says, right?
But God said He will not and He
won't.
But this letter that was written way back
there to the Philippines is also written for
us today.
But we have to make some choices, don't
we?
And so we have to make choices today.
Remember, if you remember nothing else, often we
have the fear of temptation.
Let us remember today that fear is not
one-sided, that temptation is not one-sided
toward evil.
But it has also another side, and that
temptation is good.
Being tempted to the good, there is a
way out.
There is a way out.
And if you are seated here this afternoon
and you have a mountain or a problem
in your life that you can't walk around,
but God, but God.
What did He say?
He said He would make a way out.
And if He says it, He will do
it.
Well, don't fear evil temptation.
Remember, God said there was a way out.
And fear of evil and being tempted is
a very, very real thing, ladies.
You know it.
I know that many of you face it
head on.
The fear of being tempted on a certain
situation or a mountain in your life that
you just can't conquer.
And over and over again, and maybe year
after year, you may come back to a
mountaintop experience like this and say, God, I
still haven't conquered that mountain.
And perhaps you're here today, and you were
here last year, and perhaps you're here today,
and you say, Lord, the mountain I was
not able to conquer last year, I am
still not able to conquer.
Can you remember two words?
But God is able, but God is able.
Don't look at the size of the mountain.
You know what's happening?
You're looking at the mountain, and you're losing
the goal.
No mountain is too big for God, good
or evil.
And so, don't be afraid of temptation, but
let it be a situation where you say,
God, You are able to cause me to
get to conquer this mountain.
Like Caleb said, God, give me this mountain.
And we'll be talking about that in just
a little minute.
There's something very fascinating and awesome about mountains,
isn't there?
Even those of us who are flatlanders and
raised on the prairies love the majesty of
mountains.
Mountains speak to people.
The smoke is in North Carolina, and the
bleakness and the beauty of Mount Juneau in
Alaska.
It doesn't matter where.
If you are standing and viewing a mountain,
there is something awesome about a mountain, isn't
there?
There is no way that a poet can
describe a mountain.
He's lost for words.
There is no way that an artist can
capture the expression of a mountain.
But mountains are awesome.
Not only are they awesome, but there's majesty
in the mountains.
Majesty and strength fixed in every mountain.
And I want you to know this afternoon,
and you already know, that the God of
the mountains is a strong God, and He
is available to meet each of us today
in the very place that you're seated.
Have you ever said to someone, I have
a mountain in my life that I cannot
move?
It just sits there, and it doesn't budge.
Perhaps it's an unsaved husband who comes home
drunk and beats you, or perhaps it's wayward
children, or perhaps it's broken homes.
It doesn't matter what it is.
Big mountains are small mountains.
But you have felt, Lord, I have endeavored
to conquer this mountain in my life for
years, and I still don't have victory.
And today I say, but God, who is
a God of strength and of majesty, said
He would make a way out for you,
and He does.
But God is strong enough to scale every
mountain in your personal life.
But more than that, He is able and
possible and strong enough to conquer and wage
any mountain in our generation.
The reason we sang the song a moment
ago is because in the generation when Martin
Luther was alive, he too faced mountains, perhaps
greater than our mountains today.
But he had obstacles and mountains to face,
and yet he did not shrink from the
mountains and penned the words, a mighty fortress
is our God, a bulwark never failing.
Our helper He amid the flood of mortal
ills prevailing.
Did we in our own strength confide?
Our striving would be losing.
Were not the right men on our side
the men of God's own choosing?
And though the world with devils filled should
threaten to undo us, we will not fear,
for God has willed His truth to triumph
through us.
Should we fear?
Should we fear temptations?
I say no, we should not fear temptations.
But our restless generation today as well, as
well as in the day of Martin Luther,
has a restless feeling.
And our generation today seems to be telling
us that there is no certainty and no
assurance in the God of our Christianity.
And that's startling, isn't it?
But I want to say this.
Don't be angry or alarmed at our younger
generation that is saying there is no certainty
or assurance in the God of Christianity that
our parents are displaying.
Don't be angry with them.
But instead, you should say, God, let me
prove to them that the God that is
strong enough to hold up and fix the
mountains in this world and who is fixed
and changeless is still the same God that
will work for us today.
Mountains are mentioned all through the Bible.
And in every case, they have a significant
meaning.
And I trust that we will not miss
what that significant meaning is as we talk
about the different mountains.
God has mountains for us to conquer today.
God has mountains for us to scale today.
And that's why we're here, right?
We're here, we're interested in sharpening our spiritual
focus.
And God is asking us to deal with
mountains in our lives so that we can
be drawn to him and be refreshed in
a brand new and in a special way.
I was really excited last night when we
heard Brother Bill give his testimony and the
Scripture around it and the Scripture areas he
used.
And I said he took it right out
of what I was preparing for the hour
this afternoon.
But anyway, we read in Joshua where God's
people were just brought out of bondage and
they were preparing to go into the promised
land.
And God was leading them all the way.
He was providing.
He was doing the leading.
He was doing the providing.
And all of these things, he had promised
them the land.
He had promised everything for them.
And he brought them out and then there
were just a few obstacles that kept them
from going into the promised land.
So in the scene described in Joshua 14,
we know that Caleb was fully aware that
those obstacles or mountains were not yet removed
and they could not yet enter the promised
land.
And to think that 40 years earlier under
the direction of God that Caleb and Joshua
and 10 other men were asked to go
in and survey the land.
And they did.
And you know the story, don't you?
You know it so well.
You've heard the story since you were in
Sunday school.
But let me just touch on a few
spots this afternoon.
We know what happened.
The fearful majority came back, didn't they?
They were defeated.
They were negative.
And you know what they said to Moses?
They said, Moses, the giants are so big.
The mountains are so big.
And Moses, the cities are walled and they're
strong.
There's no way we can conquer these cities.
There is no way.
Do you know what their problem was?
They lost the gold.
They were looking at the giants, at the
mountains, at the cities, at the walls.
They lost the gold.
But God, they forgot that God was leading
them.
And do you know what?
The minority report came back too.
Only two.
And two of the minority were Joshua and
Caleb.
And their report came back the exact opposite.
You know what they said?
They said, Joshua, Moses, we too saw the
giants.
We too saw the walled cities.
But God.
You see, the two didn't see the grasshoppers
because they saw God, right?
And so they said, Moses, let us go
in at once and possess the land that
God has promised for us.
God has promised us a life of victory.
God has promised us a life of peace
and joy.
And the problem is that many of us
don't have the victory, the peace, and the
joys is that we don't believe God.
We are looking at a grasshopper image instead
of saying, but God, he said he would
scale every mountain in our lives.
But what happened?
The same thing that happens all the time
when you vote about things, right?
That Joshua and Caleb were voted down, right?
And the fearful people sided with the fearful
majority, didn't they?
And what happened?
Here they stand at the very border of
blessing.
Here they stand at the very border of
blessing.
God was ready to take them into their
promised land.
He was ready to scale every mountain.
He was ready to take every defeat and
turn it into victory.
And they stood with their toes touching the
border.
Can I say that perhaps once again this
weekend, some of us are standing here with
our toes touching the border of blessing.
And at this very point, we are going
to have to make a choice.
But do you know what they chose?
But they turned and they walked away.
And I pray this afternoon that as you
stand at this border of blessing this afternoon,
and God is talking to you about a
mountain that you think in your mind that
you cannot scale, please don't turn away.
Because the result was when they turned away,
that they wandered in the wilderness.
No victory.
No peace.
Instead, they were murmuring and complaining and blaming
and rumbling and in defeat and just a
treadmill spiritual existence.
God does not want us to have to
have a treadmill spiritual existence.
He wants us to be able to sharpen
our focus so that we can walk with
Him in victory and let Him conquer the
mountains for us.
But they were just wandering and complaining and
for not 5 years or 10 years, but
for 40 long years, they wandered in the
wilderness.
I would hate to think that even for
one more year, that any one of us
will leave this border of blessing this afternoon
and go back to wander in our own
puny spiritual wilderness.
God doesn't want that.
He has much more in store for all
of us.
They wandered there for 40 years until they
were all dead.
What an existence!
After they touched the borders of blessing, they
turned their backs.
And what an existence!
But now old Caleb comes into the picture
again.
And you know, here by this time, Caleb
is 85 years of age.
And he said, we have gone in circles
long enough.
We have gone around this mountain long enough.
We have been walking in spiritual defeat, murmuring
and complaining long enough.
And he said, now therefore, give me this
mountain.
And that's what God is asking us this
afternoon to say with Caleb, Oh God, give
me my mountain.
Oh the mountains of God.
May every mountain of God speak to us
today.
And may we step out on God's promises,
literally and actually name that mountain within our
hearts and lives and say, God, give me
that mountain, not next year, but today.
Oh, I'm asking you today, ladies, for yourself
personally, will you choose yourself a mountain and
believe God that He is able?
Whether it be a good mountain, an evil
mountain, or whatever it is, but God will
give you the opportunity to make a choice
as to whether you want to conquer this
mountain.
Whether it's a mountain this weekend of a
brand new surrender to the Lord, or whether
it's a mountain of new understanding for God,
or the mountain of determining that this is
the day you're going to sharpen your focus
once more.
In the Bible, mountains are used to reveal
His plan for mankind.
May we allow Him again to deal with
every mountain.
And if we allow mountains in our lives,
it will hinder God's plan for our lives,
and we will be wandering in defeat.
And I'll tell you something, if we do
not allow God to deal with our mountains,
we have no other choice but to leave
the border of blessing and to turn and
walk into the wilderness.
Maybe not for one year or two, but
maybe for forty.
But maybe until we're dead.
And God forbid that we should turn from
this border of blessing and join that fearful
majority.
And to know that there is a fearful
majority out there.
And we live among them, right?
People all around us are a fearful majority.
But they're looking at us to see our
God.
How fitting it is that Jesus often taught
His disciples from a mountain scene.
He took the three disciples on a mountain
scene.
For one thing, the Sermon on the Mount.
He taught it from the mountain.
For another one, He taught the Beatitudes from
the mountain.
And for another thing, He taught the Law
from the mountain, didn't He?
Mount Sinai.
How many times have you heard the story
about Mount Sinai and the Law that was
given?
I would like to just take a moment
and talk about Mount Sinai today and see
what significance it has in your life and
in mine and to see whether God is
trying to say something to us on this
mountain today.
What does Mount Sinai mean to you?
Now, I'm not a theological person or anything,
but there are things in the Bible specifically
that speak to us.
And mountains do speak to us.
What does Mount Sinai say to you?
Well, in Exodus 20, we read where this
wandering tribe finally arrived at Mount Sinai and
there's where they received the Law.
Not only did they receive the Law, but
what an absolutely awesome experience it was to
be near that mountain.
Go back and read it in Exodus 20.
But here is where God showed His awesome
presence to the people.
And not only that, but He reestablished His
relationship with people.
He didn't have to, but He did.
Why?
Because of His love and His concern for
us today.
Do you think that we would be here
today if God was not continually and again
and again showing His love and concern for
us today, whoever we are, and bringing us
once again to the place where we can
conquer the mountains in our hearts and lives?
God came to the mountain so that He
could reestablish a living relationship with His people
today.
And we are part of that people, aren't
we?
To keep our relationship with God, we must
keep His Law.
You say, I can't.
You think God is going to come to
us?
Is it the kind of a God that's
going to come to us and pound us
and say, You keep my Law?
No!
God has made it so we can choose
right or wrong, good or evil, didn't He?
He's given us the understanding and the opportunity.
There are peoples of the world who don't
have the opportunity.
You and I have today.
We have had many times.
What are we doing with the choices?
But God has given us the Law to
keep our relationship to Him alive voluntarily.
Isn't that great?
You're away from the corner.
You're not backed into the corner with someone
having a hammer over your head and saying,
You do this.
God doesn't work that way.
He said, Mount Sinai, I should speak to
you that I have given you a Law
whereby you can live externally.
Keep it voluntarily.
You have a choice to make.
And God is asking us today.
You know the Law is not outdated.
It doesn't need rewriting, although people try to
rewrite it, don't they?
But it's not outdated.
It doesn't need any updating.
It was given on the mountain, and it
is as fixed and as changeless as the
very mountain.
That gives me courage.
That gives us stability as Christians to believe
in a God who never changes and who,
by the way, loves us, but He also
hates our sin.
The Law was written on tables of stone,
wasn't it?
It was given so that it would lead
us to Christ.
But when Christ came, He brought a brand
-new Law that was to be written on
the fleshly tables of my heart and yours.
And again, as before, He is not saying
to us, You must, you must, you must.
But again, we have to voluntarily obey His
Laws.
Break God's Law.
Don't you?
Many people break God's Law and disobey God's
Law.
And do you know what?
Their problems are not halved, but their problems
are multiplied and multiplied and multiplied.
When we break God's Law, our problems and
our mountains become multiplied, and there certainly is
no way around it.
I wonder if you can say with me
today, Oh Lord, how I love Thy Law.
I want it to be the constant rule
of my life, not just today on this
mountain, but forever.
God is interested in a forever commitment.
And I want to stand on this mountain
and say, God, I love Your Law, and
I want it to be the commandment of
my life forever.
And then on the other hand, perhaps there
is someone here who will have to go
back to Mount Sinai today.
And you know you have broken God's Law.
And you know that God knows that you
have broken God's Law.
And God is asking you today, What significance
does Mount Sinai have in your life?
If you have broken His Law, come back
to Him and confess it and let Him
be your God.
He doesn't want us to turn from the
mountain and wander in spiritual defeat.
And again I want to ask you, if
you are willing and ready to say, God,
I have broken Your Law and I want
to come back today and say with Caleb,
I want that mountain.
But the Law of Mount Sinai was not
only given for the benefit of our fathers.
It is so easy for us to look
back in the book of Genesis and Exodus
and Leviticus and say, that all was written
for our fathers.
But it was not.
It was written for us today.
And so was the blessing of God meant
for us today.
All the blessings and benefits were not meant
for the people then only, but for us
today who are part of His family.
And so in Deuteronomy 5 we read, Not
with our fathers did the Lord make this
covenant of blessing, but with us who are
here and alive today.
Oh, I tell you, I want that blessing
for me.
Oh, that we might once again have the
spirit of refreshing and resharpening our focus that
God might once again quicken us, that we
might be what He wants us to be.
I want a Mount Hermon blessing.
You say, what is Mount Hermon?
Mount Hermon speaks of a mount of blessing.
And the psalmist David gives us a beautiful
word picture of this mountain of blessing.
133.3 it says, It is like the
dew of Mount Hermon which falls on the
mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even
life forevermore.
Mount Hermon is noted for its many dews.
And the psalmist David is saying here the
heavy dews of Mount Hermon actually speak or
symbolize our spiritual refreshing and a spiritual quickening.
And that's why we're here today.
I want to have Mount Hermon, the place
of blessing, speak to me.
And more than anything today I want the
dews, the heavy dews of Mount Hermon to
fall on me afresh today.
How about you?
Are you looking for that refreshing and blessing
that only comes from Him?
For it says, for here the Lord commanded
blessing.
Oh, I see.
Where?
Mount Hermon.
For here the Lord commanded blessing.
I'd like to believe that this is a
Mount Hermon this weekend.
For God says, for here the Lord commanded
a blessing.
I want that mountain of blessing.
Don't you?
I don't want to be among the ones
who will turn from the border of blessing
and say, No, no, that's not for me.
My mountains are too big.
And then you will have no other choice
but to walk in the wilderness with the
fearful majority.
And they will look at you and they
will see your defeat and your God.
Sad enough I'll have to say that according
to the law of averages, there are some
in this room who will disobey.
And I trust that that some will not
be you.
But there will be some of you in
this room who will disobey, walk away from
the border of blessing, turn around, and you
will make another choice.
And you know what mountain you will land
on?
Mount Gilboa.
And you say, Well, I know Mount Sinai.
I know that.
And you say, I know Mount Hermon, the
place of blessing.
I know that.
But what kind of a mountain is Mount
Gilboa?
I never heard of that.
And what significance does Mount Gilboa have on
my life?
Well, let's take a look.
Mount Gilboa is where we as human beings
settle down after we disobey God and make
every kind of worldly excuse that our hearts
and minds can conjure.
Oh, what a mountain.
When we sin, when we disobey, when we
turn our heels and walk from the border
of blessing, we willfully will settle on Mount
Gilboa.
I don't like that mountain.
It speaks of problems.
It's a mountain of warning.
And may I say today, it is a
mountain of warning.
It is here on this mountain that we
think sometimes that we can secretively and quietly
get by with disobedience and sin.
But not so.
It is on this mountain, after knowing some
of the blessing of God, we will turn
around and excuse sin, rationalize it, lie about
it, cover it, blame someone else.
If it wasn't for my husband not being
a Christian, I would.
If it wasn't for my children's thoughts and
soul, I would.
If I didn't have such a cantankerous neighbor,
I would.
If, if, if, if.
And someone said, I'm glad you stopped because
you didn't say my if.
Listen, I don't have to say your if
because God already knows your if.
Right?
But God is able.
Right?
I would like to think that Saul is
sitting up here on that balcony this morning
because he's the man I'm going to tell
you about Mount Gilboa.
And the next time you read 1 Samuel,
I want you to think about what I'm
saying.
Saul is our perfect example, a perfect illustration
of what I'm saying, of excusing sin and
of rationalizing, of blaming.
And I see Saul sit up there on
that balcony.
It's Mount Gilboa.
And what he's saying, he's looking down at
all of us here this afternoon, he's warning
us.
Don't you do what I did.
He's warning us.
It's a mountain of warning.
Mount Gilboa.
In 1 Samuel we read where Saul was
chosen of God.
Head and shoulders taller than anybody else.
Saul was chosen of God.
To be what?
King of Israel.
King of God's people.
Saul, you must be a special person.
I wonder if God would think more highly
of you than someone else.
But God chose him to be king over
his people.
And do you know what?
In the beginning, everything went rosy.
Everything went fine.
All things went for him.
He was walking in victory and in obedience.
But do you know what happened?
Little by little, little by little, little by
little, he turned from God.
Oh, not everything right away.
I can't tell you the story.
You probably know it.
But little by little.
And you know that a man who once
knew God's law like we do, and you
know Saul, a man who once knew God's
blessing like we do, little by little, by
little, he turned his back.
And he began to wander in the wilderness
of his own self-will because he was
somebody.
Right?
His pride got the best of him.
He was somebody.
And do you know the end of Saul's
life?
And he's sitting on that balcony here this
afternoon and he says, Don't do as I
did.
Don't do as I did.
I once knew God.
I once knew his law.
I once knew his blessing.
But don't do as I did.
Wander away from him and lose everything.
I mean everything.
Are you willing to listen to his warning
this afternoon?
If you read in Chapter 31, After the
battle of the Philistines came to strip the
slain, they found Saul and his three sons
on Mount Gilboa fallen.
And do you know what the enemy did?
They chopped off their heads.
That's the end of Saul.
That's the end of a man who once
knew God's law, who once knew God's blessing,
and who turned from the place of blessing,
and in his self-will he wandered away.
And God is saying, I am bringing you
Mount Gilboa as a reminder, that don't do
as Saul did.
You can't sin.
Excuse it.
Rationalize it.
Blame others.
And get away with it.
And I say so many times, I would
do this if my husband did this.
I would do this if my husband did
this.
And I finally have to say, Not so.
When I stand before God, He's not going
to ask me, What did your husband do?
Is he?
It strips off every facade, and God's going
to say, What did you do?
Perhaps when I stand before God and He
looks at me, He doesn't even know or
remember that I have a husband and children.
Right?
I'm sure He does.
But it might as well be that I
stand before Him, and He's not going to
ask us, What did my neighbor, my husband,
my father, my mother do?
Oh, are you telling me for a moment
today, that sin doesn't pay off?
If you think it doesn't, the sin of
disobedience, if you think it doesn't, we'll have
to look at Paul, at Saul, and let
us listen to his warnings.
Oh, what a dreadful sin.
Oh, what a dreadful end was that of
Saul who wandered away.
This afternoon I want us to not only
be warned, but beware that sin will ever
so slyly, ever so little by little, ever
so smoothly, lead us by the hand, quietly,
and sometimes we're not aware of it.
That's why we need to sharpen our focus
and let God give us the discernment when
we are slyly and little by little.
I have heard women come to me last
night here.
And one of the women said, I have
made a commitment to be an intercessor for
the Lord, but I have been slipping away.
Tonight I have come back and once again
promised God to be the intercessor.
He has called me to be.
But you see, little by little, in the
busyness of life, in the problems of life,
on and on we go, and we are
led away.
And we are led away into problems, we
are led away into disgraces of every kind.
And we begin to make excuses.
And I'll tell you something, if that doesn't
bring defeat, I want to know what does.
Do you know what our present day attitude
is?
If I don't like God's law or man's
law, I'm going to break it.
That's our attitude.
Maybe not so much our generation, but our
dear young people, and I'm not sure exactly
where they picked it up, but if I
don't like the law, I'll break it.
And break it they do.
But you see, could we say to them
without any anger, oh, but you'll never break
God's law.
God's law surely will break you and multiply
your sorrows and your mountains.
Just, it's all right, you know, if I
fudge at a red light and just sneak
through.
But you let someone else try it and
you watch the fire fly.
It's all right for me to do it
because I can excuse it, but you watch
that next person do it and you watch
the fire fly.
It's all right for me to cut across
the lane and cut someone else off in
a car next to me, especially if it's
an older person.
I have to be careful because I'm getting
there.
And they're not too quick in their reflexes
and maybe their vision and maybe their hearing
is not as good as mine and maybe
they are cutting me off at the lane.
What do I do?
You watch the fire fly?
No, no.
I look at that driver and I say,
Oh God, one of these days, very soon,
I'll be behind that wheel.
And then I want the person in the
next car to have mercy on me.
Right?
Yes.
Oh, how quick we are to judge, how
quick we are to let the fire fly.
Someone in that car can speak to you
and say, Father, I thank you for allowing
her to chop me off on this lane,
even though it almost caused a collision.
But, Father, I thank you for that illustration
you gave me again.
Be patient.
No, we can't break God's law and get
away with it.
I want Mount Gilboa.
I want Saul from the crest of Mount
Gilboa this afternoon to stand there and to
be ever a symbol and a reminder that
it doesn't pay to disobey God.
That it doesn't pay to wander away from
God.
Do you want that Mount Gilboa to be
a reminder to you this afternoon?
Tell me.
Do you want...
Some of you are almost asleep, I can
tell.
Do you want Mount Gilboa and Saul to
stand as a significant reminder to you that
you cannot break God's law and get away
with it?
Do you?
Yes.
So, Mount Sinai we know, a place where
God tells us what to do.
Mount Hermon we know, where God is waiting
to bless us.
And that's what we want, the dew of
blessing from Mount Hermon.
Mount Gilboa, yes, I want it to stand
forever a symbol and a mountain to remind
me that you do not do as did
Saul.
I want God to make the mountain big
for me and every mountain, whether good or
bad, I want to conquer it.
I want to conquer them all.
We read in Matthew 17 that Jesus took
three of his disciples to the mountain apart.
Apart from the rat race and the busyness
and the problems of life.
Why did he take them up to the
mountain?
I believe Jesus took his disciples up the
mountain to teach them things that he personally
wanted them to know.
Right?
It says, And after six days Jesus took
Peter, James, and John his brother and bringeth
them up into a high mountain apart.
And certainly I want to say this, that
there are things you can learn on a
mountain that you can't learn anywhere else.
On the mountain of quietness, away from the
busyness and the problems of your life, where
God wants to speak to you and say
things that only you need to know from
him.
You've got a mountain that the lady next
to you does not have.
Each of us have different mountains that we
need to scale.
And God wants to teach us how to
scale every mountain.
I doubt if there is anybody here this
afternoon that does not have a mountain or
a problem in your life of one sort
or another that you must grapple with.
I really doubt it.
Working with people all the time everywhere and
where we live and where we work, people
have problems.
But just in case there's one of you
here this afternoon that doesn't have a problem,
I wish you would stand for a minute
so we could see you.
Anybody here with no problems?
We'll rejoice with you if you do and
want to see what you look like.
But all of us have mountains to face.
Oh, I should maybe retract that somewhat and
say if you don't have a problem in
your life, would you still stand?
Maybe we could envy you.
Huh?
Oh, it's pretty common that we all have
mountains to face.
But oh, God has brought us here this
weekend, I believe, to deal with mountains in
our lives, right?
Every year all of us look forward to
this weekend.
And one great reason is that we see
people we haven't seen all year or not
maybe for several years.
And what a time of rejoicing where we
can visit together, say hello, eat together, pray
together, laugh together, weep together, bring ourselves, get
ourselves caught up on your family situations.
And I'll tell you, there's people here this
afternoon whose lifestyles have drastically changed since last
year.
You know that?
And I wonder, I wonder what this weekend
will hold in store, this weekend between now
and next year will hold in store for
some of us seated here this afternoon.
We don't know, do we?
We don't know what mountains we might have
to scale or face.
Isn't it a good thing and a wise
thing, as we are on this Mount of
Blessings this weekend, to scale that Mount of
Blessings, to be able to stand like did
Mrs. Stamper here this morning, for those of
you who have heard her.
Her husband was here with her last year.
He was rejoicing with her last year.
But did you sense the note of victory
in her heart and her spirit as she
laid her dear one aside just in April?
There are mountains in our lives within the
next 12 months, perhaps the next 12 days,
that none of us know about.
Only wisdom tells me that we might be
prepared to scale this mountain and remember that
God said He would not put anything on
our lives, but He'd make a way out.
And He makes a way out for us,
doesn't He?
Yes, it's good to be here, to be
with all the friends and to be able
to visit and all that again, but some
of you are here maybe can say, well,
I was able to leave my children at
home and what a tremendous, marvelous opportunity to
get away from those lively little rascals.
And the best part of it all is
that my husband's home, having to fight with
them, right?
Maybe you're saying that.
I don't know.
But I'd like to believe this afternoon that
greater than any reason at all why you're
here, I don't know why you're here.
God knows why you are here and so
do you.
But I'd like to believe this afternoon that
greater than all of the reasons that you
have come up to this mountain apart, this
weekend here in Illyria to allow Jesus to
speak to you afresh and to know Him
better and to hear Him.
Are you hearing Him at all?
You know, I just look at Saturday afternoon
and before you know it, it will be
history.
You can't afford to miss any speaker lest
you will miss something that God wants you
to hear.
And so I would like to believe that
God has not only brought His disciples to
the mountain apart, but He's brought all of
us to this mountain apart that you and
I might hear individually what God is going
to say to us in these days.
Certainly while on the mountain with Jesus, Peter
must have had a tremendous underlying and a
tremendous overwhelming feeling of the presence of God
and the blessing.
You know what Peter said, don't you?
Who knows what Peter said?
Of course, of course.
That underlying, overwhelming sense of God's presence and
he was just bursting at the seams and
finally he said, Oh Lord, it's so good
for us to be here.
As a matter of fact, it's so good,
let's just build a house and stay.
I don't think Illyria would want us, do
you?
Huh?
But I trust that we can say, Oh
Lord, it is so good for me to
be here.
Barring all the good friends and all the
food and all the fellowship, barring all that,
but Oh Lord, it is so good to
be here where you are.
And you know, he was not finished speaking
yet and the next verse says, And while
he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overwhelmed
them and a voice out of the cloud
said, This is my beloved son, in whom
I am well pleased.
What are the next words?
Hear him, hear him.
That voice out of the cloud came and
said to Peter, to the disciples and Jesus,
This is my beloved son, I'm well pleased
in him, God said.
Hear him.
Now I don't have the foggiest notion what
God is speaking to you about.
But I do know this, that that voice
out of that cloud is saying, Hear him,
hear him.
I say this, if and while on this
mountain top, if we get a fresh glimpse
of Jesus and who he is and that
lofty one of heaven, then I really think
we ought to become fanatics about hearing him.
You say, well I don't like the word
fanatic.
I don't like a spiritual fanatic.
But I want to tell you something, if
what Jesus said is true, then you and
I should become spiritual fanatics about hearing what
he has to say to us from Mount
Sinai, about hearing what he has to say
from Mount Hermon, about hearing what he has
to say from warning Mount Gilboa.
We ought to become fanatics.
We become fanatics about a lot of things,
don't we?
We become fanatics about most anything.
Let any pet subject grab ahold of any
woman and she will become a fanatic, almost.
Right?
It's not easy to become a fanatic.
But a real good healthy sound fanatic about
hearing what the Lord has to say to
us in these days.
Did you know that the third chapter of
Philippians is known as the fanatics chapter?
Perhaps you've heard that before.
But the third chapter of Philippians is known
as the fanatics chapter.
And in this chapter we hear and we
read about this fantastic, lengthy, great pedigree of
Paul's, right?
Paul says, I am this, and I am
this, and I am this, and I am
this.
He was somebody, wasn't he?
He was somebody.
And what a pedigree he had.
Wow!
Have you ever written up your pedigree and
told God how important you were to Him?
Well, Paul did.
He said, I am all this.
Here I am.
Lord, you're so lucky to have me.
We've got it all together, you know.
But no, he said all this to say,
he turned from the border and he said,
and he said these words, Oh, that I
might know Him.
But that I might know Him.
You see, that whole line of pedigree didn't
really make that much difference after Paul met
the Lord on the mountain.
He said, I'm all this and everything.
But all of a sudden he takes his
pen and with one swipe, he says, I
count it all as done.
And I replace it with one desire.
Oh, that I might know Him.
That I might know Him and the power
of His resurrection and the fellowship of His
suffering being made conformable unto His death.
I believe that that day that Paul met
Jesus afresh on the mountain, when He, a
proud Jew, could set aside his pedigree and
said, Oh, can you feel the pain in
His bosom when He said, Oh, that I
might know Him.
Oh, that I might know Him.
Have you ever been to the place when
you said, Oh, that I might know Him.
That's the mountain I want.
How about you?
Well, there's one thing for sure that I
want to say this afternoon is that the
more you and I hunger after Paul's plea
when he says that I might know Him,
the more it will drive us to the
prayer of Paul right after that in Galatians
when he says, Oh, God, it's not I,
but it's Christ.
Paul, all his pedigree and all his positives
and all his pluses are set aside.
So if we're going to pursue his plea,
then we will have to pursue his prayer.
Oh, God, it's not me, it's you.
And that's what the speaker said this morning,
isn't it?
And if that's the prayer of your heart
this afternoon, I must ask you just a
few questions in closing.
How totally committed to Him are you?
How totally committed are you to say, Lord
God, I want that mountain?
And again, in the book of Joshua, there's
a little phrase used three times about this
stalwart giant called Caleb, who for 48 years
followed the Lord.
And you know what the phrase is about
Caleb?
I think you do.
It says, Caleb wholly followed the Lord.
Caleb wholly followed the Lord for 48 years.
Now, tell me, do you think that there
were no obstacles in his generation?
Oh, yes, there were.
It says, Caleb wholly followed the Lord in
spite of the obstacles, in spite of the
mountains.
A lot of his friends dropped out of
the race.
Ten in the group that were sent in
to survey the land, ten of them dropped
out of the race, but Caleb for 48
years followed the Lord wholly.
Oh, that we might have that determination.
It's too easy to fall out of the
race, but Caleb never did.
And throughout the entire Bible, there is a
small word used again that cannot be translated
and that can be easily understood by all.
And the word is all.
And it means the same thing as holy.
Deuteronomy 10, it says, Hearken diligently unto my
commandments that I have given you today to
love the Lord thy God.