Bobby Bosler: Welcome to Thee Generation Podcast. I'm Bobby Bosler and I'm speaking to you today from Fairmont, West Virginia. That's right, I'm still here. I have not traveled very far in the last two and a half months, which has been very unusual for our normal summer schedule, but it's been outstanding.

The opportunities for ministry, for gospel advance, the opportunities to lead people to preach the word of God have honestly just been thrilling. In fact, I think it was two weeks ago, I was out for coffee with a couple, and God burned my heart to share the good news of the gospel with them.

And at the end of that time, they both bowed their heads and trusted Christ as their Savior. It was thrilling to see. And then we had vacation Bible school, and just to see several young people fall under conviction and trust Christ alone as their Savior.

I'll tell you, whether you're itinerant on the road or in the rolling hills of West Virginia or wherever you might find yourself, there are opportunities all around you. You just need to take the opportunities. But you know, here today, with us having experienced, at least from a human standpoint, a little bit more stability than we have before, I've been thinking about this.

And in fact, just the other day, I was reading in Psalm 15. In Psalm 15, at the end of the Psalm, he says, He that doeth these things shall never be moved. And when I saw that, I thought, wow, I'm not moved lately either.

I've stayed in one spot. But you know, young people, in all seriousness, it's easy for us to get shaken in life by things, isn't it? It's easy at times to find ourselves getting blown around by the storms of life or finding ourselves, whether through our own stupidity or the instability of other people, finding ourselves, like James talked about in James chapter one, driven with the wind and tossed that up and down, a constant moving, constant instability of life.

And as I saw that at the end of that psalm, I kind of stopped for a second and I went back up to the beginning because Psalm 15 tells us how to be stable, how to be so that we are not moved. Really, I have to say stability is based squarely upon being near to God.

In fact, that's where the whole psalm begins in Psalm 15, verse one. He asks the question, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He says essentially the same thing two different ways. He's saying, who's going to be in your tabernacle?

What's the tabernacle? That's talking about either the temple or the tent in which the presence of God was. When he says, who shall dwell in thy holy hill? That's another way of saying the hill of Jerusalem, where the tabernacle or the temple was, who is near to you?

Can I say, young people, the greatest way for you to find stability in your life is to be near, close to God. Oftentimes, the very reason why our lives are unstable, the reason why our homes and our relationships, and our own internal lives are an absolute wreck is because we have drifted away from God.

Listen, young person, is God as close to you now as he ever has been? Are you closer to God than you've ever been before? Or are you allowing the busyness of life? Are you allowing the entertainment mentality of the summer? Are you allowing perhaps the lax structure that's kind of natural of the summer schedule to infect your walk with God.

Can I tell you, young people, if you're drifting from God, chances are in some way, shape, or form, your life is starting to fall apart. Your stability is starting to become shaky. And I want you to know it's far better to solve it while it's just a little shaky than when it's an absolute tsunami.

He asks the question, who? Who's near to God in verse 1? And what he does is really from verse 2, really down towards the end of the chapter, he tells us what the characteristics are of a person who's not only close to God, but a person who is therefore stable, who is unshakable in their life.

The first thing he gives in verse 2, he says, in answer to that question, he that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness. Here, he's saying the person who lives with God, the person who is near to God, the person who is therefore unshakable is a person who is blameless and obedient.

Blameless and obedient. You know, young person, is your life blameworthy? And by that, I'm not saying a blameless person is not a person who's perfect. A blameless person is a person who is for all intents and purposes, to the best of their ability, doing right.

It's a person who, as we talk about when we talk about the qualifications of a pastor or a deacon, someone who doesn't have a handhold. Are there things that you're doing or saying in your life that gives people a handhold, a handle to say, now, wait a second, that isn't right.

You know, I'll tell you, there are opportunities all the time to cut corners, to do things maybe a little bit shady, maybe not quite by the book. And I will tell you that as a person who is not blameless, are you doing things properly?

Or are you just chucking the dirty clothes underneath the bed, so to speak? Are you truly doing what you're supposed to be doing in the way that you're supposed to be doing it? Or are you cutting corners? So there's that matter of blamelessness and obedience.

Again, he says, and worketh righteousness. Are you the best you know obeying God? Again, in the summertime, when things get a little bit more relaxed, it's easy to also relax in your surrender to the Lord. When God speaks to you, do you obey?

When God tells you to make sure you grab tracks on the way out the door, do you do it? When God tells you to open up your mouth and share the good news, do you do it? When God tells you to go get right with that person about that thing, do you do it?

See what I'm talking about? The person who's near to God is a person who is, in a certain sense, doing things by the book, who is yielding to the Lord, doing what God wants him to do. It's interesting. The next verse, he says, he that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness.

And the next phrase here, speaketh the truth in his heart. Isn't that interesting how he said that? Speaketh the truth in his heart. I wrote down this. This person is internally honest. You know, oftentimes what can happen is we can look great on the outside.

We can maybe be doing the right thing on the outside, but we're thinking lies in our minds. We're tolerating deception, things that just aren't true about us, about others, and maybe even about God. Let's start with a God thing. You know what? It's easy to get dishonest about God and to maybe think God really doesn't want your best.

And maybe you think God is just holding you back from living the life and experiencing all the things that you want to experience. That was the lie of the devil in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3, said, hath God said. Did God really say that?

Are you sure he's not just withholding something? He knows that you'll be like gods. Oh boy, God doesn't want competition around here. And Satan, in an essence, before Eve ever disobeyed, he got her to start entertaining lies in her mind. Are you tolerating what isn't true about other people?

Sometimes there are other people in your life and you begin to just imagine they're thinking this about you or you're imagining they said this about you or you imagine they feel this way about you when you have no verification that that's true. Can I say this?

If you're not sure it's true, don't believe it. If you're not sure it's true don't believe it like it is true lest you find yourself not being honest internally speak the truth in your heart whatsoever things are true think on these things okay let's keep going he goes on in verse three he that back biteth not with his tongue what does it mean to back bite Well, one idea of that is it's the idea of slander.

Slander is saying something that you know isn't true with the intention of damaging somebody. Sorry, girls, but you do this kind of thing a lot, you know, just to be petty, right? Just to be catty with somebody. You just throw something out there that either you know isn't true or you have no verification is true.

Maybe it's one of the lies you believed in your mind and you say it like it's true. It's called slander friends. And that is not what characterizes a person who is close to God, who is stable. He goes on, he says, nor doeth evil to his neighbor.

I wrote down, it's not an evil doer. Do you ever sometimes, listen, junior high boys, do you ever just flick your brother? Oh, this drives me nuts with my boys. They just pick at each other. And while evil is definitely much more significant than picking at each other, another idea of evil is to cause calamity.

It's something bad that happens. And do you ever just cause bad things to happen to people? Just trip people? Just maybe hurt people? Again, you just talked about hurting people with their words. Maybe there are other ways that you hurt people. Maybe you hurt people with a look.

Maybe you hurt people by just purposefully taking the last cupcake off of a platter when they're right behind you in line. Again, there are a thousand and one ways we can do evil to other people, but that's not what characterizes a person who's close to God.

We need a bit of a reality check here. The end of verse three, he says, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. What does that mean to take up an approach, a reproach? I like to think of it this way, to take up an offense.

In other words, there are things that other people are going through and you, you internalize their hurt. You become bitter because of what happened to them. You ever had a friend who maybe somebody did bad to them and listen, it's good to support them.

It's good to be there for them. It's good to comfort them, but don't swallow their bitterness. Young people don't, don't take up someone else's offense. That's not what characterizes somebody who is near to God, who is unshakable. He goes on, he says, in whose eyes a vile person is contemned.

Whoa, what in the world is that talking about? And the idea that word contemned is despised. In other words, he's saying the person who is near to God is a person who hates sin. Again, when he says he despises a vile person, I don't think the idea is to despise someone who's made in the image of God in the sense of despising him as a person, but despising the sinful things, the vile, awful things in their lives.

You know, there's a lot of vile people in the world there's a lot of vile people in the music industry there's a lot of vile people in the entertainment industry and instead of despising that vileness we find ourselves being fans of these people and in being fans of these people we end up swallowing the vileness that they are portraying whether it's on the television screen or on the movie screen let's young people we have no business

we have no business tolerating the vileness of our culture whether it's on your social media feed whether it's the stuff that's talked about that's vile in the locker room at school or in the sports practice or at the neighborhood hangout place listen god expects us to hate sin he goes on in verse four but he that is god uh he honor it no actually, it's not God.

He, this is the person who's near to God. He honoreth them that fear the Lord. He loves good. Specifically here, it says he honors the people who fear God. This person who's near to God, he so loves good that he shows honor to people who are trying to serve God.

He respects them for the fact that they're just trying to do right. Do you show respect to people that trying to serve God or do you make fun of them? Do you respect and honor people who are just trying to do right or do you belittle them because maybe they're a little bit over the top?

Maybe they're a little loony. Maybe they're a little overzealous about things. Listen, we ought to be really happy when somebody's trying to do right. Now, I recognize people can be holier than thou and self-righteous and pharisaical and so on. That's not what I'm talking about.

I'm just talking about a kid who just wants to do right. Maybe it's a younger kid in your youth group and they're just trying to do right. And there's that temptation when maybe they get a little overzealous. Maybe they come across a little awkward and you're tempted to laugh at them.

Don't do it. Don't do it. Honor them that fear the Lord. This is a person who loves good. Then he says, he that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. I remember years ago, I was looking at that verse and I had a lease with an apartment and an opportunity had opened up for us to be able to potentially leave that lease and go to another apartment, but in terms of our lease had not finished.

In other words, I'd be leaving early. I'd be breaking my contract. And I remember I came across this verse as I was just seeking the Lord. And I remember thinking, I have to honor the contract that I signed. Listen, young people, if you say you're going to go and help, go and help.

If you say you're going to meet with somebody, go and meet with them. If you say you're going to show up to work, show up to work. If you kind of a things. This is the idea of lending out money and then charging an exorbitant amount of interest, almost to the point that the person can't even afford to repay you.

And while I don't know that any of you here have got your own personal bank that you are scalping people with your rates, seriously doubt that. Although if you do, although if you do, if you do have that, then stop it, okay?

But I think probably a more applicable way of saying this would be this person is not do you manipulate people to get what you want do you say things in such a way and draw people into circumstances in such a way to use and abuse them to twist them up and wring them out in order to get everything you want out of them are you manipulative in your relationships uh do you pout and cry in order to get your way with your friends with your parents do you find yourself at times trying to find any and all angles in order to twist your way into getting your desired outcomes.

That's not a person who's near to God. And that's not a person who's unshakable. Often these people are very unstable because the very manipulation of their lives causes instability in everyone around them and in their own lives. And then the next part, he says, nor taketh reward against the innocent.

In other words, the idea of this is taking a bribe against those that didn't do anything wrong. This person is, the person who is near to God is not corrupt. They are not corrupt. Have you ever seen somebody who did something purely to garner favor with the ruling class?

Have you ever seen somebody who is not truly unbiased, who played favorites, or who did the whole you pat my back, I'll pat your back to a point where justice was not served? Again, we've got to be careful not to take up the offense of other people.

But listen, we've all been in unjust situations, and we've been with people who are not acting justly. And Micah tells us they're not walking with God. To do justly, to love mercy is a part of walking humbly with thy God. You know, young person, again, as we look through this section, this is the person, end of verse 5, He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

They are unshakable because they are kept stable by their nearness to God. So young people, are you living blameless? Are you living obediently? Are you internally honest? Are you slandering? Are you doing evil to other people? Are you taking up other offenses of other people?

Are you hating sin? Are you loving good? Are you keeping your promises? Are you manipulating people? Are you being corrupt? Let's see, young people, I hope something here hits you square between the eyes. Because honestly, as I'm looking at some of these, there's one that God just spoke to me about.

I just need to follow through with a couple things in my life. And I trust that as you listen to this, you will let your surrender to Jesus Christ drive you near to him and in coming near to him it is my prayer that his very presence and holiness and his light will shine upon the deeds of darkness in your heart and that you will say yes to jesus no to yourself and you will find stability in walking near to god thanks so much for listening