In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of knowing God and having a deep relationship with Him. He encourages listeners to be committed to God and not let anything hinder their pursuit of knowing Him. The speaker also highlights the negative impact of bitterness on our spiritual growth and urges listeners to deal with any unresolved conflicts or negative attitudes towards others. The sermon concludes with a reminder that eternal life is not just about a one-time prayer, but about truly knowing God through Jesus Christ.

Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not? Neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Heavenly Father, we bow humbly before you, asking today that thou would speak to us. Lord, we come need you, asking that you would meet us at our point of need. I pray, Father, that you give us ears to hear, that we would listen. Lord Jesus, you said he that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Oh, we pray, Holy Spirit, that you would speak to us today very clearly. We pray that we would hear what you have for each of us to hear. You know our needs. Father, you know the needs of each one listening. You know the struggles, the heartaches. You know what it is we need. I pray that you would minister to us now, and that it would be for your glory. And also, Father, I pray that if there would be one listening that doesn't know Jesus Christ as their Savior, that you would be gracious to them, that you would open up their heart to see the Lord Jesus Christ and his provision that he made for them at Calvary when he shed the blood. The precious blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. Thank you, Father. In Jesus' name, amen. The passage here in Isaiah, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, is a familiar passage, but I wonder how many times we apply the message of this passage to our lives of waiting upon God. I think many times we're tempted to get out and try to fight our own battles. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the demonic forces of this world. We're in a warfare, but our strength is to wait. And quietness and confidence is your strength. Some years ago, there was a preacher who delivered a message on the subject of bitterness. And we're going into our spring fling in the area where we have our revival meetings, and we have evangelists come in, and I believe many times what we need to do is we need to have revival before we have the evangelistic meetings. As a matter of fact, I believe if we'd let God do what he wants to do in our churches, we would see people getting saved naturally. This has been our experience in revival work ever since God worked back in 1985 in the church I was pastoring. We saw people, towards the end, when we began to get right with God as a church, people began to come then and get saved. Even coming to get saved, because they could see Jesus where before, all they saw was people that called themselves Christians. And it was really a tremendous thing. This preacher shared, when talking about the subject of bitterness, how he'd watched on the Phil Donahue show a woman, and I guess they were talking about their grievances with their husband, but this one woman said that she'd been divorced from her husband, and then he died, and she said that she was still bitter against her husband. Still bitter at a dead man. Well, you've got a problem. Someone said, aren't there some things you just can't forgive? What do you think about that? Do you think there are some things that you just don't have to forgive? As a Christian, the answer is no. One man was bitten by a woman's dog, so he took and had the woman's dog, thrown in the dog pound, the woman got mad, she eventually got her dog back, but she was bitter at that man for 43 years. Probably maybe still bitter if she's still alive. And the preacher asked the man, how do you know she's bitter at you after that long of a time? He says, because she calls me every day and lets me know. And he says, she will do it until she dies. She'd been taken to court, she's willing to go to jail, it didn't matter, she was just bitter at that man. My, we can let the smallest things ruin our lives sometimes. Over in 1 Corinthians, Paul got into the Christians because they were going to law, one with another. Going to law. And he says, get the least one in your church to judge the case. I know of one woman right now who's taking her husband and divorcing him. Going to the lawyer. She's supposed to be a Christian, he doesn't claim to be a Christian, and she is one miserable woman. Refused godly counsel. Going against the Scriptures. My, we get ourselves into some problems sometimes. Bitterness. Bitterness. I believe it's one of our biggest needs in our churches is to deal with this area. That's why I'm going to take a little time, the Lord willing, and share with you in the next few weeks about this area, because it's such a devastating area. It has to do with our personal relationship with one another, with people, and also with God. Dr. Paul S. Reese said, Hidden bitterness, hidden deep in the soul, is a far more fruitful cause of spiritual defeat and powerlessness in the lives of Christians than we have any idea. It smolders there for years. Years on end. Bitterness. A wrong was done to you, either real or imagined, and instead of committing it to God, you've allowed it to lodge in your heart and fester. And by such undisciplined emotions, you grieve the Holy Spirit. Are you grieving the Holy Spirit? Right now. Title of this series, The Root and Fruit of Bitterness. You know, Paul said in Flipping Street 10 that his goal, his goal was to know Jesus. And he was not willing to let anything stop him from that goal, that I may know Him. Matter of fact, the Bible describes eternal life as knowing God and Jesus Christ. You look at John 17, 3, and this is eternal life, that they might know Him. And this is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Eternal life isn't that you walked the aisle and prayed a prayer. Eternal life isn't that you went to a crusade and you walked down 40 steps of bleachers and went up front and prayed a prayer and got some material. Eternal life isn't that. Eternal life is knowing God through Jesus Christ. It's coming into a personal relationship with Him. Eternal life isn't being baptized in a church or joining something or going through some kind of meetings or confirmations. Eternal life is where you are brought into a living relationship with God through the Holy Spirit when you've been born again by the Spirit of God. Eternal life is knowing Jesus Christ. And then once you get into that relationship of knowing Him, you want to continue knowing Him. You're never satisfied. Every day you want to know Him more. And you want to glorify Him. And you want to please Him. And you want to live for Him. So He said that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering being made conformable unto His death. You know, if you've got something in your life, or if I have something in my life, like bitterness, something that's happened and I'm not right with my brother or my sister, that bitterness will rob us of the power of the fellowship and of being conformed to His death. Back over in 1 Peter 4, 12-16, basically Paul said don't get caught off guard. Don't let your guard down. Something's going to come along and you've got to be alert continually. We have to be alert and sensitive to the Holy Spirit continually. And what He's doing, or we'll get caught. He said, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the firing trial which is to try you. You know, if you're going to be filled with the Spirit, don't think it strange that the demons might take their guns and try to shoot at you. Don't think it strange that your relatives, when you get saved, are going to turn on you. It's going to be the Jesus living in you that they're going to be turning on. So don't take it personally. Or it's going to get you bent out of shape and you won't have any power of God there to bring continual conviction on them. You'll get shot down. So He said, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, these fiery darts, the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye for the Spirit of glory. And if God resteth upon you, on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified. But, here's one of these buts, let none of you suffer, now notice the things he lists, as a murderer, as a thief, as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. One of the things I think we fell to realize is how much God hates the busybody, the gossip, the slander, the critical spirit that goes on. He rates it along with a murderer, a thief, and an evildoer. Yet, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God, and if it first start or begin at us, what shall the end of them be? Of them that obey not the gospel of God. You see, this is what I was saying. If we would let God come in and clean up our act, clean up our house, get our closet, get all the skeletons and the things out of our life, there'll be power there. Many people are seeking power, and you know the devil can give you power. He can give you money and riches. He can give you a healing. He's an imitator. He's a deceiver. So you better be careful where you go to get your answers, for your prayers. Make sure you get them from God, and make sure also that you're clean. But don't get caught, Peter's saying. You know, we're called to suffer as Christians. Back over in 1 Peter 2, we shared with you back some months ago about suffering. 1 Peter 2, verse 20. What glory is it if when you be busted for your faults, you take it patiently? He said, listen. If you get caught, just take it patiently. You were wrong, just confess it. Do it. Eat humble pie, whatever. Do it. But if you take it patiently, that's alright. But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable to God. God takes special notice. God can use the one that can patiently bear the wrong. For even here in 2 where you call, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps. And here's the guideline for it, my friend. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, who when He was reviled, reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judged it righteously. Who, His own self, bear our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. He committed Himself to the Father. Could it be that some years ago, something happened to you, and for a moment there, you forgot to commit yourself to God. And you picked up a little bad attitude against your brother, or your sister, or your mother, or your father, or somebody, or a pastor back there. You had a difference in the church, in a church meeting or something. And you picked up something. If somebody just came to your mind, and you remember that, then you've got something you need to deal with. If you don't have a clear conscience, maybe you said something that has continually plagued you, or you did something, you said something to somebody else, you said something about them, behind their back, and you've never forgot that, then the Spirit of God is saying there's something here. Now, I want to ask you a question. How did Jesus suffer? How did He suffer? If you look at 1 Peter 3, 18, it says, For Christ also had once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. He suffered as the just for the unjust. He didn't do anything wrong. All He did was live the holy life. That's all God can live. And so He suffered unjustly. What did He do? He committed Himself to the Father. We saw that in 1 Peter 2, and verse 23, when He was reviled, did He revile back? This is what little children do. One sticks out his tongue, and another one, well, the other one sticks his tongue out. One shoots a spit water at another one, well, he gets one back. That's the world. The flesh and the devil, that's the way. But not Jesus. It said, when He was reviled, He reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. The test of your spirit is, no matter what you go through, can you commit it to God? No matter what kind of trial, how deep the tragedy, the experience, or the problem, can you commit it to God? Can you continually commit it to God, and give it to God? Or do you feel like you need to take a little revenge? Do you need to defend yourself? Do you need to guard yourself? Do you need to guard your little kingdom? Whatever it is you try to guard, and you try to keep, you'll lose. I got a preacher friend of mine, he says he holds things like this, and he holds his hands out empty, wide open. God can bump off anything there He has. He holds it like that. If I commit my car to you, and I give you the keys, but I want to insist on hanging on to that steering wheel, I haven't committed my car to you. No, when you commit your life to Christ, you take your hands off. Many of us, many years back, maybe made a commitment to God. If you did, then you were committing to take your hands off. Commitment is not that you'll do more and more. That's not what God's wanting from us. God's not even want us to give our best to the Master. Because really the best the flesh can give, is still flesh. He wants us dead to self, so that He can live His life through us. That's the best we can do, is die. Paul said, I die daily. So we keep our gaze on God, and we just glance at these other things, and we make it through victorious. But once we begin to gaze at somebody else, or some kind of problem or circumstance, then we'll begin to get bitter. And we're either getting, someone said, we're either getting bitter or better. What are you gazing at right now? Have you done what 1 Peter 3 verse 15 says, that if you sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, that means, have you withdrawn into fellowship with God? And once you get into fellowship with God, it feels so good, and so wonderful, and it's such a soothing thing to your soul, that you never want to go out. And when you go out, you miss it. Until you get to the point, where we get to the point, that we want to abide in His presence all the time. This is what He wants. This is why He died on the cross, to bring us back into fellowship with Him. By the way, salvation isn't that God just died on the cross for your sins, that you can receive Christ and get to heaven. That's a false theology. Salvation is that God died on the cross, so that we repent of our sins, and get back into fellowship with Him. And heaven is a side benefit. So, are you sanctified? Jesus lived in the sanctified world of His Father's love. And He wants us to live in that world. You remember when John the Baptist was killed? He told the disciples, come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while. He was bringing them back, getting them away. They needed that rest. And we need that rest, moment by moment, as we go through the day. He that is entered into His rest, has ceased from His own works. Who's been saying the things that have been coming out of your mouth? Who's been doing the things that have been coming out of your life? Has it been the Holy Spirit? Or has it been some Holy Spirit in some self? Who's living your life? Or is there something, or someone zapping your strength? Do you have a clear conscience? In verse 16, having a good conscience, that whereas they speak evil of you as evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. Boy, when you're clean, then you'll be clear. People will say, what do you have? Just like this one man that was over at a factory. He had 300 women working under him. And I don't know what kind of factory that was, up in Pennsylvania. In Brockway, Pennsylvania. But anyway, God shook him. He was proud. Proud as a peacock, they said. And his wife, and he shook him. And then after he met God, and he was living in the Spirit now. A couple weeks later, they were in a hamburger place. And the Jewish proprietor there watched them. And pretty soon he came over to them, and he said, what do you folks have inside of you? And they led him to Jesus. That's why we need to be ready. If you sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, you've got a sanctuary within your heart. And God lives there. And you're aware of Him being there. And you don't want to do anything to upset Him. You don't want to do anything to quench Him, or grieve Him. You're living in the presence of God. That's what Christ died on the cross for, to bring us back into that. They can come along, and they can bump you. They can bump your car. Something can happen. And you just keep on going in Jesus. Even if they want to put you on a cross, and nail you there. Which is what the early Christians were. They were crucified with Christ. Christ was living in their life. They could throw Him to the lions. They could saw Him in two. They could burn their homes. Whatever. They couldn't take the joy of Jesus out of their life. They had sanctified the Lord God in their hearts. Have you done it? Have you done it? It's said about this man that two weeks before, they said nobody would have asked him that two weeks before. You see, if Jesus is there, then Jesus will shine. And Jesus will speak. And Jesus will live. And Jesus will love through your life. But if it's self, trying to live the spiritual life, trying to impress others with your spirituality, with your godliness, with your knowledge, and all of this other stuff. That's not the Holy Spirit. No. The Holy Spirit will have the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Which will be love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, kindness, love, meekness. These things, the self-control. That's the fruit of the Spirit. We can't fake those things. And fool the unsaved. They can see. Look around. How many people have you drawn to Jesus in your neighborhood, at work? Are you running them away? That's what the flesh does. And then something else. In verse 17, For it is better if the will of God be so, that you suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. Are you willing to suffer for someone else's deliverance? Just like Jesus was willing to suffer for our deliverance. You see, His goal was to bring us to God. For Christ also had once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. His goal was to bring us to God. And then when we get to God, His goal in our life is to reach out and bring someone else to God through us. Who is God trying to reach out to through you right now? Are you being resistant? Are you getting your feelings hurt? Who is God trying to reach out through you? You know, the flesh does not agree to suffering. It doesn't like it. If you go over to Hebrews chapter 2, excuse me, Hebrews chapter 12, in verse 1 and 2, 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. By the way, do you have a besetting sin? Is it some lust? Envy? Jealousy? Bitterness? Anger? Whatever it is. As I said before, whatever it is that I would have or you would have, it would eat my lunch. It would zap me of the strength and the power of God. Even though I might have all kinds of knowledge and all kinds of experiences and all of this and whatever, you cannot fake the reality of a living, loving God living His life through you. That is the Spirit-filled life. When Christ is living His life through you. I can't fake it. And you can't either. And when you're filled with the Spirit, God may ask you to do some strange things. But you just do it and obey and abide in His presence. Let Him do what He wants. Do it. He may ask you to go to some faraway places. You get Spirit-filled. You may hear clearly for the first time in your life the Spirit of God saying, Listen, I want you to sell your business and go to the mission field. Well, I want you to do this or that. If we are clean, we'll be clear. We'll be able to hear clear. And by the way, it's very hard to minister to people that are not clean, that do not hear. Jesus said, He that has ears to hear. These are those that we're to minister to. Can you hear what God is saying to you today? The flesh does not agree, though, to suffering. See, the Spirit of God has been trying to say to us that there's going to be suffering if we follow Jesus and live in the Spirit. There is going to be suffering. Verse 2. Looking unto Jesus, the author, here's how we suffer. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. We must keep looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Once we stop looking at Jesus, we begin to look at our problems, begin to look at our circumstances, begin to look at the finances that are piling in, begin to look at the family situation, begin to look at this and that. Keep your gaze on Jesus. You keep looking. What is it you have not been able to forget? Whatever it is you haven't been able to forget, that's happened to you years before, that thing needs to be dealt with. Something done to you, made you bitter, or wrong done to you by someone, a tragedy that wrecked your life, or whatever. You need to go back and take that to Calvary. You need to get it under blood, you need to give it to God, let Him take care of it, tell Him that you're not going to worry about it anymore, you're not going to remember that anymore, you forgive that person, or whatever. You need to go make a restitution, you go do it. You know, Paul said, forgetting those things which are behind. I believe Paul, he had to die daily, because every day he remembered his past. He had to bring it to the cross, how he killed little Christians, little boys and girls, moms and dads. So he said, I die daily. And do you know what? The day you fail to die, a little seed of bitterness will enter in, and grow, and grow, and grow, until it takes your life away from you. Well, I've got to go. Until next time, may God bless you. And remember, Jesus Christ is all you need. But have you come to the point, where He's all you want. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my friend.