How To Live On The Mountain Top
Psalm 24:1-10, "The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. 3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. 7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah."
Prerequisites For Living On The Mountain Top:
I. The Assurance of A Saved Soul.
A. Spiritual Regeneration precedes Personal Joy & Peace as well as Acceptable Service in God's work.
1 Peter 1:8, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:"
B. You Cannot Lead Another person over a route you have never taken.
2 Timothy 1:12, "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day."
C. Christians are responsible for Winning The Lost, but if you Doubt Your Salvation it will Severely Limit your witnessing --- as well as Destroy Your Joy.
II. The Separateness of A Consecrated Life.
A. You want to Live In The Valley, try living for God while Holding On To The World.
1. The Most Distressed Person in the world is a Christian out of fellowship with God.
2, Matthew 6:24, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
B. Galatians 6:14, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." --- 2:20,"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
C. 2 Corinthians 6:17, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,"
D. 1 John 2:15, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
E. Romans 12:1-2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
F. Hebrews 12:1, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,"
1. Indulgence in Worldly Pleasures is death to the Joy, Peace, and Influence we may have had in witnessing.
2. The harboring of Secret Sins is Spiritual Paralysis to our power with God.
3. 1 Corinthians 6:19, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"
III. The Obedience of A Yielded Life.
A. Acts 5:32, "And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him."
B. Peter --- John 21:6, "And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes."
C. 1 Samuel 15:22, "And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
D. Matthew 23:10, "Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ."
E. Isaiah 45:9, "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?"
IV. The Compassion of An Aspiring Life.
A. A Spiritual Hunger for Righteousness.
Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."
1. A Longing for a Deeper and Richer Fellowship with Jesus Christ.
2. An aspiration for a Higher Companionship with God.
B. Philippians 3:13-14, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
C. Not only should our inner life reach out for God, but our hearts should Reach Out To Lost Souls.
D. We should know something of what filled the Savior's loving heart when He had "Compassion on the multitude."
E. We should know something of Paul's Longing and burden of heart when he said:
Romans 9:1-4, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:"
Conclusion:
Are You Living On The Mountain Top And Are You Bring Someone Else Alone With You?
A Search For The Truth
