How to know what SORT you've got:

Paul writes in I Corinthians 2:16, [16] For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

“That verse is telling you God wants to teach you; reveal to you His mind and His thinking,” explains Preacher Richard Jordan. “The way He does it is through His Word. Do you appreciate the fact that you tonight have the mind of Christ? You have the very counsels of the godhead opened up to you. We actually know what is in His mind!

“There’s a great song that goes, ‘When He was on the Cross, I was on His mind.’ Do you understand that we know what was IN the mind and ON the mind of God before the foundation of the world?! How? Ephesians 1:9 says, [9] Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

“Back there before the foundation of the world, God the Father planned some things and purposed to accomplish them and we now know what they are. We have all that laid out for us. Where? In the Word rightly divided. Without that rightly divided Word you’d be up the creek without a paddle.

*****

“In Jeremiah 20, old Jerry’s out there preaching on the street and some nitwit comes along and throws an apple, or a rotten tomato, at him and he gets all mad and says in verse 7, ‘O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.’

“You know that if the Lord deceives you, you’re really in for it! Jerry’s complaining, “Everyone mocks me; these people hate me. I’m out here preaching your Word and everybody just hates me for it, Lord. You deceived me. I thought everybody was going to love me.’

“Jeremiah’s saying, ‘Lord, I thought it was going to be like that and it turned out to be like this and man, this is a mess! I tell you what I’m going to do.’ As the passage continues:

[8] For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
[9] Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
[10] For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

“Jerry said, ‘I’m going to quit. I’m going to shut my mouth, sit down and hush. I can’t stand it. Every time I open my mouth, somebody throws something at me or there’s an editorial in the newspaper against me. Every time I get out here on the corner, the cops take me and throw me in the hoosegow. I’m tired of it. You’re not doing anything to protect me, Lord. You’re not doing anything to intervene. You’re not doing anything to make it different. I quit, I resign, here’s my resignation.’

“He goes on and shuts the door but quickly realizes, ‘His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.'

“I love that verse. You ever been like that? I know where that’s at. He goes home mad, sits down and shuts up, turns on the TV and somebody’s on it cussing God. He goes down to the corner grocery store to get him a Dr. Pepper and some Moon Pies to take back home and eat a little bit but there’s somebody down there demonstrating.

“Pretty soon old Jeremiah’s on the street corner preaching--didn’t even know he was doing it. You know why? That Word inside of him just wouldn’t quit. It was the Word of God in him and it was like a fire.

“You see, when you build that doctrinal edifice in your soul, His Word’s like a fire and it’s going to try your life. You know what that tells you right now? Your life ought to be built on the Book right now, not on human viewpoint. It ought not to be built on what you can do or what somebody else can do.

*****

"God tells Isaiah in Isaiah 30:8, ‘[8] Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
[9] That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
[10] Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
[11] Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

“That’s a fascinating passage. By the way, do you think He meant He’s going to preserve the original manuscript of what Isaiah wrote forever and ever? No. There’s a doctrine of preservation of His Word so that when you get over there, people have it.

“You know why Isaiah’s supposed to do that? He says they are a rebellious people; lying children. They say, ‘Don’t tell us the truth; speak unto us smooth things. Prophecy deceits.’

“Frankly, he’s talking about ‘the man of sin,’ doctrinally. Psalm 55 talks about that Wicked one and says in verse 21, [21] The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.

“His words are smooth as butter. You know some of his kinfolk today, don’t you? Paul talks about it in Romans 16:18: [18] For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

“These are the professional church operators and Paul says, ‘You know what you’re going to face at the judgment seat of Christ? It’s not going to be some seminary professor grading your test paper or evaluating your preaching ministry. It’s not going to be a homiletics book that’s going to evaluate whether you delivered the goods. It’s going to be the Word of God.’

*****

“There was a young man in the original class of Grace School of the Bible who, for the sermon preparation delivery course, would bring a stack of books under his arm for every class.

"He had a real thick homiletics book that was, in fact, a famous book and one I had a copy of. He was dissecting everything in that book, parsing every sentence, getting all that stuff down and he’d have the hardest time of anybody in the class trying to learn to put a message together.

“He came to me one day and said, ‘I’m just not getting this,’ and I said, ‘I know.’ He asked what he should do and I told him, ‘Throw all those books in the garbage.’

“What I did was I took them and put them on my shelf and said, ‘I’m going to put a bag on top of them and when this class is over with, I’ll give them back to you, but until then you can’t have them anymore.’

“We were having practice preaching at that time and I would assign the class a passage, giving them two weeks to come up with a message. It had to be homiletically developed and all that business.

“I said, ‘You take that passage and study it, and when that passage burns in your soul . . .  there’s a truth in that passage and when the light from that passage burns in your heart, you’ll be ready.’

“Do you know, that young guy turned into quite a preacher. When you’ve got that thing burning in your heart like Jeremiah, you try and shut your mouth and, folks, steam comes out your ears because you can’t help it. In your ministry, that’s the issue.

*****

“When you get to the judgment seat of Christ, you know what’s going to be the issue? THAT'S going to be the issue. What SORT it is. And when your work abides it’s because God is working for Himself THROUGH you, and it’s what God is doing for Himself through you as you ‘access by faith the grace wherein you stand.’

“It’s His life, living in you out through you, as you walk by faith in the doctrine, taking your stand in the truth and making that the reality in your life, even when everything else looks like it’s different . . . when that’s what’s going on in your life and it’s God working, Paul says in I Corinthians 3:14, ‘[14] If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

“That’s what abides because that’s not YOU doing it; that’s God doing it. Now, I know the verse in Romans 4:4 is a puzzlement. Paul writes, [4] Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

“You read that and say, ‘Then how can God give me a reward at the judgment seat of Christ? If I’m living under grace, how am I going to get a reward over there? Doesn’t grace cancel out the reward?'

“The thing I can tell you is it explains itself in verse 5: [5] But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

“You see, if your Christian life is YOU doing it, there isn’t going to be a reward. But if your Christian life is Christ living IN you, that is a reward, isn’t it? That is ‘the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory.’ The very glory of grace is Christ living in us and THAT is the reward!

“You see, folks, we’re His workmanship. God by His grace saves you, God puts His life in you, and it’s His life in time that gives your life any meaning and purpose. It’s His life when you get there--in you, lived through you--that He’s going to approve and reward, and that’s the issue.

*****

“You know what all that is? That’s just appreciating who God in His grace has made you. You never appreciate that except the Word of God TEACHES it to you. That’s why we rightly divide the word of truth.

“That’s why we jump up and down, scream and holler and run all over the world talking about it. Right division is that important. Why? Because without it you’ll never understand who God’s made you in Christ; who you are as a member of the Body of Christ. You’re always going to think you’re somebody you’re not.

“The religious system, the satanic policy of evil, is designed against the Body of Christ to deceive you into thinking you’re somebody you’re not; that you’re Israel or whoever. What right division says is, ‘Here’s who you are and here’s what God is doing.’ ”