sermonette: Thinking the Righteous Way
Clyde Finklea
Given 07-Oct-25; Sermon #FT25-01PMs; 18 minutes
Let's begin opening our Bibles to Mark the 7th chapter. We'll begin there. We want to see what Jesus had to say about this. And we will start in verse 14.
Mark 7:14-15 Which He says after calling the multitudes to Him, He said to them, hear Me all of you and understand, there is nothing that enters into a man from outside which will be able to defile him. But the things that come from within him, those are the things which defile a man.
Mark 7:16 He says, if anyone has ears, let him hear.
Now when He went into a house away from the multitude, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. And He said to them, Are you likewise without understanding? Don't you perceive that anything that enters into a man from the outside is not able to defile him? Nor does it, or it does not enter into his heart. But into the belly. And then passes out into the sewer purging all foods.
Mark 7:20-23 And He said that which springs forth from within a man. That defiles man. For from within, out of the heart of men, go forth evil thoughts. [Now, I just want to reflect back to Genesis 6. You know, I turned I'll read it for you. Genesis 6 and verse 5.] Adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, guile, licentiousness, or lawlessness, and evil eye blasphemy, pride and foolishness. All these evils go forth from within, and these defile the man.
Genesis 6:5 So the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continuously.
Sort of sounds like a world today. He goes on to say, out of the heart of man goes forth the evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, guile, licentiousness, or lawlessness, and evil eye blasphemy, pride and foolishness. All these evils go forth from within, and these defile the man. So we see that we're not necessarily what we eat, but we are what we think.
Even, well, one more thing, let me, let me mention this in Proverbs 23:7 before I go on. It says, I'm just kind of pulling this right out of the middle of the scripture, for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. But even though we are what we think, we're not always what we think we are.
Turn to Romans the 12th chapter. Verse 3. Romans 12:3.
Romans 12:3 For Paul tells us, he said, for I say through the grace that was given to me to everyone who is among you not to think more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sound-mindedness.
Now, sound-mindedness means to be modest and humble or a humble mind. He says so think with sound mindedness or very humble mind as God has divided to each one a measure of faith. Now Paul is saying that that we are not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. And we can't allow ourselves to be puffed up.
Remember, pride is one of the things that defiles a man. So we can't really allow ourselves to be puffed up because of our positions, our abilities, our gifts or our authority that God has given to us in place in the church. Doesn't matter whether you're a deacon or whether you're an elder, a pastor, an evangelist we're not to be puffed up. Can't allow those things to puff us up with pride. Nor can any of us whatever we do.
Just like we some of us speak. I'm not ordained to do anything. I'm just asked to come up here and do a job. But I can't get puffed up about it. Because Jesus said that that's one of the things that defiles a man, and one of the most important things we do is we think.
Our thinking can be profitable or it can be defiling. We are the master of our thoughts. We think by choice. We can think good and we can think evil. The choice really is ours.
But we cannot think both good and evil simultaneously any more than you can travel east and west at the same time. We have to choose what to think. And we can choose to think the righteous way, or we can think to choose the unrighteous way.
Now in Psalm 119, I'll just read this to you. Just one little verse. Uh, Psalm 19 verse 11, the Psalmist says.
Psalm 119:11 Your word, I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Like a treasure, God's word should be hidden in our hearts, our minds, so that we do not sin against Him in thought, word, or deed. Because we always sin in thought before we sin in word or before we sin in deed. Uh, let's go to Isaiah which Bob and um we are going to be reading verses 7 8 and 9. Isaiah 55.
Isaiah 55:7 Where He says, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Now if you're going to return somewhere, that means that you have been there before, right? You can't return to somewhere you've never been. So apparently God is speaking to His people that were with Him or in tune with Him that have drifted away. But He says that if you return He will abundantly pardon.
I remember John Rothmo telling me one time that he said that God always defaults in mercy, and we see that all through His word.
Isaiah 55:8-9 Now verse 8 says, the Lord says, for My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways. For as heaven is higher for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Now the word forsake up there in verse 7 can mean to leave or refuse. We need to refuse to think unrighteous thoughts because unrighteous thoughts will lead to unrighteous ways or wicked ways. There is only two ways to think, the righteous way or the other way.
Herbert Armstrong for those in the worldwide come out of the worldwide. I think there is a few of us left, right. He always went back to the two trees. And he coined the phrase give way and to get way. Well, we can also say that there is a righteous way and an unrighteous way.
One will lead to life and the other will lead to death. You cannot really, you can't live a righteous life and be constantly thinking unrighteous thoughts.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:18, I'll just read this to you.
Matthew 7:18 A good tree cannot produce evil fruit nor can a corrupt tree produce good fruit.
A person who thinks unrighteous thoughts cannot live a righteous life. James says in verse 9 3 9, with it, we bless what he's speaking here, I, I kind of broke into the context here. And James was saying, speaking about our mouth, do not turn there with me. I've got a few verses to read. James 3, beginning in verse 9. He's talking about a mouth.
James 3:9-12 And He says, with it, we bless God the Father, and with it, we ourselves curse people who are made in the likeness of God. And we do that all the time. I know because I hear it. In verse 10, he says, from the same mouth comes out blessings and cursing. And, and, and, and James says, my brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a fountain pour out of the same opening sweetwater and bitter water. No. In verse 12, he says, my brethren, can a fig tree produce olives? I've never seen it. Or a vine produce figs. Well, hopefully it's making some good wine, grapes. But anyway, um, so in the same way, no fountain can produce saltwater and freshwater.
No one can live a righteous life and an unrighteous life at the same time. You can, however, forsake, refuse or leave or refuse to think your unrighteous thoughts and return to the Lord. And He will abundantly pardon. As for anyone who has slipped got off course a little bit.
Don't ever think that God will not default in mercy because He will. You know a thief is a thief because he thinks like a thief. In John 12 verse 6, again, I'll just read this to you. This is about um, Judas, when it, when they were using the oil, the lady was using oil to anoint Christ and he said, well, we could have sold that and give it to the poor.
John 12:6 But he said this, it says in verse 6, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief. It had the bag and carried what was put in.
A liar he is a liar why? Because he thinks like a liar. And John 8:44. I think Martin read this this morning.
John 8:44 Where it says you are, he was Jesus speaking to the Pharisees, He said, you are your father, the devil, and the lust of your father, you desire to practice. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whatever he speaks or whenever he speaks, he speaks a lie. He is speaking from his own self. Why? Because he's a liar and he's the father of it.
So he thinks like a liar. Again, in Proverbs 23:7, or as he thinks in his heart so is he. Now when I say I meant to tell you to hold your finger there.
Anyway, back down Isaiah 55. I want to touch on a few more things on verses 8 and 9. This is where it says thoughts, the word thoughts here means purpose. Our intentions. When we think unrighteous thoughts, our purpose and intentions are not the same as God's.
What? He never thinks unrighteous thoughts. Ways means direction. When we think unrighteous thoughts, they will lead us in the wrong direction, which is the very opposite of what God's direction is.
God said that David was a man after His own heart. Now we hear a lot about that, but I just want to give you my take on this. I think it means that David wanted to think just like God. He wanted his purpose and intentions to be like God's, and he wanted to go in the same direction that God was going in.
You know, wouldn't it be great if we could, if God would say this about us? That we are people after His own heart. Yes it would.
Now in Psalm 119 um, it reads, I'll just read this to you again. Touching on a few references as I go through this, oh how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day.
Now, if David wrote this, which, which he was possibly, possibly did. Um, you know, he did not sit around all day, you know, you see people thinking, you, you think about meditation with sitting down with their legs crossed and little fingers up humming. No, David did not do that.
Um, he was a king. And he had a, most likely had a pretty busy day every day. So he had to make decisions, solve many problems, and make crucial judgments every day.
So what this means to me is that he thought about God's law that was in his heart. And he applied it to all his decision making, problem solving, and judgments that he made all day. He was thinking the righteous way.
Meditation yes thank you. It's focusing or concentrating on a certain thing. The way to get rid of unrighteous thoughts is to, as Paul said in II Corinthians 10:5, is to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ.
That's a lot easier said than done, right? And that takes meditating or thinking on God's word and applying it to our life all the day long. We have to constantly be on top of that. I will never be able to do it.
Uh, let's begin to begin to close this up. And to conclude. To me the Philippians 4 verse 8, I guess some of you are probably thinking he's going to get there eventually, right? When it comes to thinking. Yeah. Uh, Philippians 4:8.
Philippians 4:8 Paul says, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.
This is thinking the righteous way. The unrighteous way would be to think on things that are untrue, dishonorable, unjust, impure, unlovely, and are of a bad report. We do not want to do that.
So Paul is saying, there are two ways to think. The righteous way that leads to life or the unrighteous way that leads to death. So choose to think the righteous way. Because we are what we think.