1 Chronicles chapter 16, beginning in verse 10,
reading down through verse 12.
Glory ye in his holy name.
Let the heart of them rejoice that seek
the Lord.
Seek the Lord and his strength.
Seek his face continually.
Remember his marvelous works that he has done,
his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth.
Then, verse 27, glory and honor are in
his presence.
Strength and gladness are in his place.
Give unto the Lord ye kindreds of the
people.
Give unto the Lord glory and strength.
And now, give unto the Lord the glory.
Do his name.
Bring an offering.
And come before him.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
In the beauty of holiness.
Father, in Jesus' name, we pray that the
beauty of holiness will become our highest passion.
Because that holiness is really a life in
your presence.
We pray that you will have our soul
bless the Lord who reigns in beauty, in
wisdom, and in power.
We pray that our souls will bless the
Lord, and all that is within us will
say glory in his holy name.
And that we will live our lives continually
as an offering, as a praise, sacrifice, as
a member of your body.
And teach us practically how to do that,
and why.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Psalm 19, is David praying another way, what
Ian had spoken on.
In Psalm 19, in verse 12, the second
portion of that verse, David prays, Psalm 19,
verse 12, the second portion and reading on,
cleanse thou me from secret faults.
But the word faults is not there in
the original.
Cleanse me from secret things.
Verse 13, keep back your servant also from
presumptuous sins.
In another place in the Bible, it's called
sin with a high hand.
It's an arrogant, it's a presumptuous activity.
Don't let them have dominion over me.
Then shall I be upright, and I shall
be innocent from the great transgression.
And here David is surely speaking of a
sin against light, a sin against knowledge from
God.
Then he says, let the words of my
mouth and the meditation of my heart be
acceptable in man's sight.
No, in thy sight, O Lord, my strength
and my Redeemer.
I was reading the other day in a
scientific journal about this new discovery that they
had made in the bottom of the deep
and dark part of the sea where there's
no light.
They'd gone down there with their lights and
they discovered these absolutely beautiful flowers.
Down in the dark where no light reaches
and there were beautiful colors, just unbelievable.
And they showed some pictures and it was
it made the flowers that we see look
pale and just kind of drab.
Even in Atlanta at this time of year,
it was absolutely beautiful.
And I caught myself thinking, I wonder why
those flowers are like that.
I mean, nobody ever sees them.
There's no lights down there.
And so what's the point of having beautiful
flowers when no one can see them?
Why are they there?
And the Holy Spirit brought to my mind
because I like them.
The Bible says, you see, that God created
all things.
And for thy pleasure, they are and were
created.
And God likes those flowers that nobody ever
sees.
It's like the Arctic Explorer that was up
in the Arctic and he was picking along
through the barren ice where death is everywhere.
And he found a violet growing beneath a
big iceberg, just one solitary violet.
And it brought him to tears because he
saw their life holding on in the midst
of what was so barren.
And you see, why would why would God
want a holy life when no one ever
sees?
Why would God want you to be beautiful
in holiness when no man ever sees when
when you're in secret?
Well, because he likes it and he made
you for his pleasure.
Beauty for the eye of God when nobody
else can see.
I wonder what you think of when you
hear that word holy.
Someone came and said, tell us more what
holiness is.
Well, we're afraid to do that because then
you might go out and try to do
it on your own.
Holiness is something that God shows and we
become.
Maybe you think that holiness is a certain
kind of churchy lifestyle.
Walking around with this Cheshire grin, praise the
Lord, brother.
You know, that kind of thing.
Or maybe you're kind of repelled by that
word holiness.
You think it means lace cuffs like the
guys in the pictures.
And if you ever seen a fisherman with
lace cuffs like these medieval things say, that'd
be terrible, wouldn't it?
Or a halo or kind of a sissy
look.
Maybe it's exactly the opposite of macho to
you.
Kind of a limp wrist kind of activity.
Or maybe a holy person is someone who
lives in a hole.
They've dropped out of society.
No, that doesn't make you holy.
You just carry your sin with you and
makes you miserable.
Maybe some weirdo isolated from the world or
kind of going around this hocus pocus wide
eyed look.
You know, always looking like you're seeing something
that nobody else sees.
Or you carry this big black Bible like
this.
You know, maybe we think that's holiness.
Or maybe somebody who does nothing but read
the Bible.
You know, all he does is serve on
a physical level.
Is that what holiness really is?
Well, holiness may involve some of those things,
but there are a lot of misconceptions about
holiness today.
Real holiness is the result of only one
thing.
Only one.
And it's the presence of the Holy One
living in my life.
That's what makes a person holy.
And there's no other way.
It's Jesus Christ given the freedom by faith
to be himself in me.
That's what holiness is.
It is the disposition that says, Lord, be
who you are in me so that I
can be who you want me to be
unto you.
And so holiness is when God communicates his
presence into my being.
And, of course, it's progressive.
After all is said and done, the finest
life on earth, even in the Lord, is
yet full of dross in many areas when
it comes to the refiner's fire.
In the book of James, it says, in
many things we all offend.
Job was the best man on earth, but
when he was put in the fire, many
things were revealed that God had yet to
deal with.
He says, I know after God's finished with
me, after I've come to his fire, I'll
come forth like gold.
Well, the trumpet call of scripture is to
yours and to my holiness.
That's the call of scripture.
And there are two elements in holiness.
There's one that's a separation from and a
separation, secondly, unto.
Separation from involves cleansing.
That's the first side of the coin of
holiness.
Cleansing.
I must be cleansed from sin.
But the second side is separated unto.
And that's consecration.
That's separation unto God.
And so it's a life that is separating
and have been separated from sin and idols
and things that offend.
And on the other hand, it's being separated
unto God with all its faculties in communion.
You say, well, now, that's heavy.
I want to know about amazing grace.
I want to hear more about grace.
You're talking about works.
Did you know that grace teaches us something?
In fact, it says over in Titus, you
might want to turn to Titus chapter two.
And you'll see in verse eleven what the
point of grace is all about.
Titus chapter two, verse eleven.
Titus is just after all the T's before
you get to Hebrews.
All the T's and then Titus and Hebrews
and after Philemon.
So it says in Titus two eleven.
Here's what grace is meant to produce in
your life and mine, brother.
Amazing grace.
How sweet the sound.
Once you see it, here's what happens.
Verse eleven.
For the grace of God that brings salvation
has appeared to all men, teaching us.
Here's what grace teaches us.
That denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly and righteously and godly in this
present world.
Not the sweet by and by, but the
nasty now and now.
Verse fourteen.
Look at this.
Jesus gave himself for us in order that,
here's his motivation, that he might redeem us
from all iniquity and purify unto himself a
peculiar people, zealous of good works.
These things speak and exhort and rebuke with
all authority.
Don't let anybody despise you.
You see, people don't want to hear that.
They want the amazing grace.
How sweet the sound.
But they don't want the part that amazing
grace teaches us that the bottom line is
a holy life.
And if the holy life is not there,
God is not there.
You see, because wherever God starts to work,
he always works holiness.
Whenever he creates, he always creates holiness.
The first thing he ever does is convict
us of unholiness.
In John, he says, The first thing he
does is come and shows me where my
life is not in order with God.
And I have a choice at that point.
Confession or covering.
Holiness or hypocrisy.
I have a choice.
And what you do and what I do
with what God said to us in that
last hour will determine the direction of whether
we are hypocrites or saints of God in
his sight.
So God's grace teaches us.
Well, if you could just tell me God's
will for my life, I would I would
feel better.
I would be able to be more practical.
I'm I'm more practical.
Well, you want to know God's will for
your life.
Turn back.
Second, second, first Thessalonians, and that's just back
a few books.
First Thessalonians, chapter four.
It says so clearly what is God's will
for your life?
First Thessalonians, chapter four.
It says in verse three, for this is
the will of God, even your sanctification.
And the word there is the same as
holiness.
And then over in verse seven, God's calling,
you see.
I know it's God's will for me to
be sanctified, but what's his calling specifically for
me?
Verse seven, for God has not called us
to uncleanness, but unto holiness.
And remember the scripture we just read when
it says to rebuke and exhort with all
authority about holiness.
Don't let anybody despise you.
Look what it says here.
Verse eight.
He, therefore, that despises meaning despising the message
of the holy.
He that despises that message despises not man,
meaning the preacher that says it, but God
who has given to us his holy spirit.
You see, in God's mind, it's perfectly reasonable
to say be holy for I am holy
because he has given us everything that pertains
to life and holiness in Christ.
And every man in this room is just
as holy as he wants to be.
The way is open.
We can leave here gloriously, gloriously worship the
Lord in the beauty of holiness.
If there is no holiness in before God's
eye, maybe not man's, but before God's eye
in a life, then God is not working
in that life.
If you find a person that doesn't yearn
for holiness and doesn't want holiness, then that
person has no biblical ground.
To claim that they are truly biblically saved.
Who was it?
The old preacher that said, boast not of
Christ's work for you if you can't be
aware of his spirit's work in you, in
you today.
You see, the Bible says in Hebrews 12,
14, it says without holiness, no man will
see God.
It doesn't mean that we're going to be
utterly and totally changed in our total demure
and personality just when you die.
That it's been enough to glibly hold on
to a powerless set of beliefs, a sentimental
kind of nostalgic faith, and then you die
and go to heaven.
It means without holiness, without a life being
separated from sin and being separated to God,
you'll never see his face.
Never.
You may go to church for years, but
without holiness, no man will see God.
In fact, holiness is the normal Christian life.
The word saint means holy one, as Ian
pointed out.
The word church, ekklesia in the Greek, means
called out.
His name shall be called Jesus because he
will save his people out of their sins.
That's what it means, his name Jesus.
I'm separated out of, I'm brought out of
Egypt, I'm brought out of bondage, I'm brought
out of my old man.
And placed over into the Lord Jesus Christ
in that light of God, which no flesh
can glory in and into which no man
can boast.
In light is no darkness at all.
If we walk in the light, then as
men we have fellowship with one another and
the blood cleanses what the light reveals.
Now, you see, the whole point of Jesus
coming is to make us holy, not just
to save us, not just to take us
off of earth and put us into heaven,
but also to take heaven out of heaven
and put it into us on earth.
To be sent as he was sent.
In fact, that's what Ephesians speaks of when
it says in verse 26 and 27.
It says this is why he came.
This is why he died.
In order that he, and it says, listen,
Ephesians 5, 26, 25.
It says husbands love your wives as Christ
loved the church.
He gave himself for the church.
Then it says in order that he might
sanctify it.
That's why he died to sanctify the church
and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word that he might present it
to himself.
A glorious church not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish.
That's what he is about to do in
our day.
He's saying to the church, put on your
beautiful robes, cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in reverence for
God.
So I believe that we need to see
this this morning.
Second Corinthians chapter five tells us again why
he died.
Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 15.
It says Second Corinthians 5, 15.
He died for all in order that they
which live should not from now on live
unto themselves, but unto him which died for
them and rose again.
That's why he died.
So we wouldn't live our own plans and
desires, but unto him separated from the old
and to the new.
Now, brothers, as we heard last hour, I
believe that it's Satan's goal to destroy the
holy life of every believer.
If you can't keep them from Christ, it's
to keep them in a place where they
don't know who they are, to live in
ignorance or fear or bondage and to cause
that fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ to
be held in question by our hearts to
where we're always cast down in our soul.
And I believe it's Satan's goal in every
single brother, every single man in this room
to have some kind of hold somewhere in
every life, an area that he can throw
his dark grappling hook and mount the citadel
of our soul and paralyze us and render
us powerless in the spiritual realm.
Maybe not in church, but in the spirit
rendered neutralized.
Maybe you would say something like, oh, well,
it's just so small.
It's such a small thing.
Well, the Bible says who has despised the
day of small things, you see, maybe small
to you, but if the Holy Spirit says
this is an issue, it's a big thing
to God.
It's a big thing to God.
Or maybe you've become blinded to it.
So long ago, he spoke to you that
now your conscience is seared and maybe you
fought and lost and fought and lost so
long that now maybe you say there's no
hope and you've settled down like Reuben Gad
and Manasseh to live in the wilderness forever.
You can't go into the promised land.
You're not able in your mind and heart
to live there.
Well, so many people like David prayed have
secret areas of their life.
I mean, I'm talking about people, any one
of us, and we know nobody else knows
how we weep over certain things.
We struggle that God might point out to
us.
And we go home from a conference like
this condemned in that area.
And even rightly so, because the Lord has
spoken to us about it over and over.
Lord, cleanse me from secret faults, the Lord
says.
And in Psalm 90, verse eight, it says,
you have taken our secret sins and put
them before your face.
You see, secret to man is only secret
to man.
It's right beneath the eye of God.
Consider what it really costs to live a
hypocritical life covering our sins in Psalm 66,
verse 18.
It says it says, if I regard iniquity
in my heart, Psalm 66, 18.
If I look at, if I cherish iniquity
in my heart, the Lord will not hear
me.
If I hold on to what God says,
let go of.
If I do not come from and move
to what he says to move to and
leave what he says, leave.
Then the Lord will not hear me.
I want to ask you something.
Do you really want to be holy?
Now, it's deeper than it sounds on the
surface.
A lot of people want to be spiritual.
Lord, I want to be spiritual.
But to them, that doesn't mean necessarily holy
or Lord, I want to be healed in
my body.
But they don't want to be holy.
Lord, I want to have victory.
Lord, I want to be blessed.
Lord, I want to have joy.
But do you really want to be free?
Do you want more than just relief?
Do you want a cure?
Do you really want to be better or
just feel better?
You see, if you had your choice, would
you rather feel good or be right?
Because, you see, to be right with God
means we have to labor through that not
feeling good part of our life.
As we're transformed, as we're renewed, as we're
weaned from this world's dainties, as the psalmist
put it, taken away.
So, it's usually a little thing that the
devil first finds to land his grappling hook
on.
We're warned about it.
Give no place to the devil.
Brothers, in Ephesians 4, 27, give no place
of occupation to the devil.
It begins small.
I heard a story about some engineers that
were trying to build a suspension bridge across
a large canyon, maybe a thousand feet deep.
And it was a wide canyon.
They had a problem.
They couldn't start the bridge.
How are they going to get the initial
span covered?
And they sat there with all their skills,
and they couldn't figure how to start the
bridge.
And a little boy came along and said,
I'll help you.
And he had a kite, you see.
And he was flying a kite.
And he flew the kite way in the
sky.
And as it went way, way, way up
in the air and went across the canyon,
he dropped it.
And it fell across.
And a string was stretched across this canyon,
which no man could cross.
And so they tied a little larger string
to that string and pulled it across.
And then a rope, and then a cable,
and then a string of cables.
And soon they had a bridge built across
what seemed impassable.
And it all began with a string.
And that's what the devil does, you see.
He comes to us in our life in
an area where there's a great gulf fixed.
We know it's so wrong.
And he flies one of his kites across,
and he drops it.
And a silken gossamer thread of iniquity begins,
but it holds.
And then he uses that and brings something
a little stronger.
And then a little stronger.
And soon he has a bridge that he's
taking tanks across and dishonoring the Lord Jesus
in your life.
Well, how do I deal with besetting sin?
How do I deal with the things that
hinder, those hindrances to holiness?
And I was sitting over there so excited
because I knew that God had laid this
word on my heart that, you see, the
Lord exposes things.
And then we've got to deal with them.
Just because you see things does not mean
that you're any better off.
You're worse off, actually, because we cry over
sin and feel bad about it doesn't mean
that we've paid our dues.
It means that we're accountable more than ever.
And if we don't deal with it at
a practical, real level, it becomes mockery to
God.
It becomes the high handed sin, the presumptuous
sin, the hidden things that that when we
know the Lord is there, we hide like
Adam.
The first thing sin does in man is
makes him want to hide, makes Adam want
to hide.
I heard your voice and I feared your
presence.
And so I hid myself and I say,
let my preacher speak to me and not
God.
You see, that personal intimacy with God, we
draw back from and we don't want it.
Well, sinful habits begin innocently at first.
But if we don't master them, they will
master us.
They certainly will take the heartbeat from us.
So how do we deal with the things
that God has pinpointed, especially in the last
session?
You've dealt with it before.
Let me give you some things, some practical
things.
Number one.
These all sound so simple to you, but
I pray that they'll come together in your
life and that you'll act on these things.
If you know these things, happy are you
if you do them.
First thing and the obvious thing is, number
one, submit yourselves unto God.
You see, a lot of people have been
trying to resist the devil.
But the first thing is to settle the
fact of your submission to God.
In fact, that's what it says in James
chapter four, verse seven.
It says, submit yourselves unto God.
Then it says, resist the devil and he
will flee from you.
Let me tell you, you can't say no
to the devil until you say yes to
God.
You're going to have to settle the issue
of Lordship in your life before you escape
the clutches of evil.
In fact, that's why he came and died.
Again, it says in Romans 14, nine.
Just listen to this.
This is the whole reason that Jesus Christ
came and revealed himself.
And it says in Romans chapter 14, verse
nine.
Just listen to this.
It says to this end, Christ died and
rose and revived that he might be Lord.
That's why he came to be your Lord,
to be your love boss, to control your
life by indwelling holiness and his presence.
So we've got to confess our sins to
God.
It says humble yourselves under the mighty hand
of God because he gives grace, that overcoming
grace to the humble.
That means submit yourselves unto God, like James
four, seven says, and then resist the devil.
You see, confess your sin to God by
name.
Call it what he calls it.
And then after submitting to God, then resist
the devil.
You see, it's not principles.
They will overcome.
It's not going to seminars and getting lists
on how to have financial blessing.
It's not self effort that will overcome trying
harder.
It's Christ within Christ within.
I'll never forget once when I was in
seminary, I was having a problem in my
mind that resulted in certain actions.
And it was a devastating thing to me.
It was a grievous thing because I knew
that God did not want this as a
single man.
And I wept before God and I said,
oh, God.
And I remember crying at night and and
and I would make vows and promises and
and I thought about mutilation and everything else.
I mean, I was serious about being free.
And I remember promising God and with more
tears, maybe many more tears, make my promise
to me more.
And I'll never forget after I'd scribbled and
scribbled.
Is that a word stroke?
Anyway, I had tried against sin so much
and failed and failed.
And the more I tried, the sooner I
died.
I tell you, it was terrible.
And one day I was in my apartment
and I sensed that temptation coming into my
mind and heart.
And I said, oh, God, here it comes
again, that temptation.
And the Lord spoke to me and said,
Al, are you tired of trying to overcome
sin?
I said, I sure am.
I'm worn out.
He said, good, because you'll never do it.
You can't overcome sin.
Only I can overcome sin.
Why don't you just let me overcome you?
If you let me overcome you, I'll overcome
sin.
When trouble knocks at your door, you've got
to send me to answer and you'll find
nobody's there.
If you answer the door for yourself, they'll
jerk you outside and whoop you real good.
Are you tired of trying to overcome sin?
Brother, the Bible never says overcome sin.
It says die to sin.
Even in the trying to overcome it, you're
getting defeated.
Jesus overcomes.
He's the overcomer.
If I let him overcome me, submit to
God, then he will overcome as I resist
the devil.
You're to overcome the world.
But we've got to die to the world.
See, we get it just backwards.
Get at Jesus' feet.
First thing, keep short accounts with God.
Deal with him on a real level.
Listen, if the Lord Jesus controls the inside,
nobody can control the outside.
Nobody.
And that's what it says in Psalm 16.
It says again, rehearsing to us about this
inner control of God.
Just jot down Psalm 16 when it says
in verse eight and nine.
Listen to what it says.
Psalm 16, verse eight.
I have set the Lord always before me
because he is at my right hand.
I will not be moved.
Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory.
My tongue, it means rejoices.
My flesh shall rest in hope.
My flesh, my body will have hope and
assurance of being who he's called me to
be.
So the first thing is, submit yourselves to
God.
Let me tell you, brother, that right there
is the first step.
Humble yourself and confess that you're not nearly
as holy as you want to appear to
be.
Humble yourself.
Submit to God and get dead honest.
Second thing is, and this is for when
you go home and for your life.
Second thing is, search the scriptures.
This is so easy.
I mean, it's so I almost feel apologetic
giving it.
Search the scriptures and let them search you.
You see, refuse to make your Bible study
just disciplined and intellectual.
I mean, don't just go to the Bible
on a scheduled series of readings.
Don't just go to the Bible on an
intellectual pursuit of a lesson.
Go to the Bible to search the scriptures
and let them search you to love God
and let him love you back.
By that, I give reference to Psalm 17,
verse four.
Listen to this.
Psalm 17, verse four.
By the word of thy lips, I have
kept me from the path of the destroyer.
By the word, O Lord, of your lips,
I have kept me from the path of
the destroyer.
You've got to use your Bible as a
roadmap to keep off the devil's detours.
He wants to detour you.
You see, this means I must come to
the Bible and memorize the Bible.
You want to have victory?
Then come to the Bible and memorize the
Bible and meditate in the Bible and learn
to carry it with you.
90% of Americans have a Bible, but
only 15% have ever read it.
That's a new statistic I heard the other
day.
God's truth is the only answer for the
devil's lies.
Not man's thoughts, but what God has said.
And God has given us everything we need
in the word of God.
2 Peter, chapter one.
Listen, 2 Peter, chapter one, verse three.
It says, according as his divine power has
past tense, given unto us all things that
pertain to living and godliness.
Through the knowledge of him, clearing up of
ignorance, knowing him that has called us to
glory and to virtue.
God has given to us everything through the
knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Verse four, whereby are given to us exceeding
and great precious promises in the Bible.
Great and precious promises that by these promises,
you might be fellowshippers, partakers of the divine
nature, the very nature of Jesus Christ.
Through the word of God, you can allow
to take over your life and having escaped
the corruption that's in the world through lust.
As you get into the word of God
with diligence and search the scriptures and let
them search you.
The word of God will become the received
word, the engrafted word, the living word, the
eternal word, and it will bring power into
your life.
I love Psalm 119.
Some of you during your free time ought
to get out and just read Psalm 119.
Go up on the hill and get under
a tree and lay down on your face
and put the Bible down there and say,
Lord, speak to me about the Bible.
It says Psalm 119.
Just listen to some of these verses that
it talks about.
Verse one, blessed are the undefiled in the
way who walk in the law of the
Lord.
Blessed are they who keep his testimonies that
seek him with their entire heart.
Then it says, talking about the word, verse
nine, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his
way when he's going to Auburn, when he's
going to any college or any job.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way.
Here it is, you want it?
By taking heed according to your word.
With my whole heart I have sought thee.
No part held back.
Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments.
Thy word have I hidden in my heart.
That's memorization, brother.
Thy word have I hidden in my heart.
Why?
That I'll be blessed.
Yes, that'll happen.
But it says here that I might not
sin against thee.
When you memorize scripture, it gives the vocabulary
greater power of the Holy Spirit in your
life.
He'll bring the word to you.
He'll bring it to you in a moment.
Look at verse 80 and Psalm 119.
Let my heart be solid or sound in
your statutes so that I won't be ashamed.
Lord, let your word be strong in me,
saying, so I won't be ashamed.
Verse 97.
Look at this.
Oh, how I love your law.
It's my mind's dwelling place all the day.
You, through thy commandments, have made me wiser
than mine enemies, for they are ever with
me.
Your commandments.
They're in me.
I've memorized them.
They're always there talking to me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for your testimonies are my meditation.
I'm thinking on your word all the day.
Even while I'm doing accounting, your word is
ruminating.
Going around in me and bringing back thoughts
of the Lord God Almighty.
And you're keeping me in perfect peace because
my mind has stayed upon thee.
105.
Thy word is a light, a lamp to
my feet and a light unto my path.
Oh, what a blessed word he has.
Verse 128.
Therefore, I esteem all of your precepts concerning
all things to be right.
And I hate every false way.
This is holiness in the beginning, in the
life of faith.
Psalm 100, Psalm 119, verse 133.
Order my steps in your word.
That's a walk of faith.
Let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
148.
It says mine eyes prevent the night watches
that I may meditate in your word.
Lord, I'm staying up all night to read
your word.
How good it is.
162.
I rejoice at your word as someone who
finds great spoil, buried treasure.
It's like living on top of a gold
mine in a shack.
Most people who have a Bible.
We need to open the word and to
let the word open us and let the
Lord open the word to us.
Did you know that Jesus prayed in John
chapter 17?
These words, listen to his words.
John 17, verse 17 in the garden when
he was alone before his father.
He prayed maybe not in the garden, but
it was that last priestly prayer before he
was offered as a sacrifice.
John 17, 17.
He's praying and he says to the father,
sanctify them.
And it means you and me.
Through your truth, your word is the truth.
And then he says, verse 19, for their
sakes, I sanctify myself.
You see, Jesus was holy in character, in
being, in every way.
But his life direction was set toward the
word of God and everything and the truth.
And therefore, he was always being sanctified, being
set forth for the will of his father.
For this, for their sake, I sanctify myself
that they might be sanctified also through the
truth.
He wants you and me to be sanctified
toward the truth.
As we heard last hour, study examples, get
in the word and study examples in Scripture.
Weren't you just trembling as you heard of
how flesh is in that last hour in
the wilderness?
I'm like that.
I heard about idolatry and I heard about
lust and I heard about murmuring and I
was condemned justly, sitting right there.
And I said, oh, God, oh, I need
you.
I need you.
Only with you can I walk in the
steps of your way.
I am the way, not a way.
I am the truth, not a truth.
I am the life, not just a blessing.
I mean, he is it.
And only in him can I have victory.
You ask Noah how important it is to
know the scriptures about drinking.
He can tell you he blew it.
You ask Saul about pride.
He'll tell you.
You ask David about lust or idle, wrong
use of time up on the rooftop when
he should have been out at the war,
looking at what his eyes should never have
looked at and thinking about what his mind
should never have been thinking and daring with
a presumption to say God loves me and
he understands and taking what he should never
have taken.
Ask Esau about the craving of a moment.
He gave his birthright for a silly bowl
of stew, venison.
Search the scriptures, let them search you.
Memorize scriptures, find scriptures that directly correspond, brother,
to the area that you're being tested in
and pack them into your heart so you
can have them ever with you.
And when you're in that place and the
devil comes to you and he says something,
you pull out the word of God.
That's what Jesus did in the wilderness.
He was there and the devil said, turn
these stones into bread.
Nothing wrong with bread.
Nothing wrong with turning stones into bread when
God tells you to.
But see, he was not doing what he
wanted to do, even with right desires.
He was doing what his father wanted him
to do.
And so what did he do?
He pulled out the sword.
Who did he use it on?
Himself.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God.
He was hungry, but he took the word
out and he went, I'm dead.
Not what I want, but what God wants.
You see, you have to use the sword
on yourself before you work on the devil.
Let me tell you something, friend.
There's no point in waging war with sin,
with the devil.
Like so many people are getting so excited
about spiritual warfare.
I'm going to tell you something.
Unless you're prepared to wage war on sin
as well, you better not wage war on
the devil.
Because you'll find you have on no armor.
And you run away naked and bleeding like
those in the book of Acts.
Jesus, I know.
Paul, I know.
But who are you?
The armor of light.
You must have it on.
The word of God applied.
The buckler of truth.
Search the scriptures.
Well, thirdly, thirdly, realize that you are in
the arena.
You are in the arena of God.
And I don't just mean that men are
watching you.
Because if that's all you live for, then
in secret, you'll be a different person.
But you got to realize what Job never
realized until the end of his life.
You see, Job, he lost it all and
he was tested.
Remember, the devil came before God and the
Lord initiated it.
It wasn't the devil's doing.
The Lord said, Satan, have you considered my
servant Job?
There's no one like him.
He's a perfect man.
He's entire.
He lacks nothing.
And he fears God.
He hates evil.
And his answer, the devil's, showed he had
considered Job.
Ha!
Job serves you for what he can get
out of you.
He's in that crowd that thinks that all
you have to do is just pray a
little prayer and you'll get blessed.
And if you take the feed bag off
and quit blessing him, he'll curse you to
your face.
And right then, a contest was set up
between the devil and holy God.
And the Lord consented to make Job the
showcase of the universe.
He didn't even know it.
And all the angels were watching.
And Job even said, oh, that my words
were written down.
That they were in a book.
Oh, boy, if he'd only known.
Oh, if my words were written down.
God says to you, every idle word is
the same for you, brother.
They are being recorded.
They are written down.
You are in a showcase.
And Job said, oh, the Lord give us
and the Lord take us away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He didn't sin with his lips.
He didn't speak foolishly.
But the point I'm making about Job is
that all of heaven was watching him.
And in that moment, he stood for the
glory of God.
And he passed the test.
He passed the test.
And this is exactly what Paul says about
us as well.
First Corinthians, chapter four, verse nine.
Look what it says about the apostles.
But same for us.
It's a pattern for us.
First Corinthians, chapter four, verse nine.
It says, I think that God has set
forth us.
The sent ones, the apostles, last, as it
were, appointed to death.
God has made us a spectacle of the
cross, he's saying.
For we are made a spectacle.
And the word spectacle is the word the
Greeks used for the Roman Colosseum.
Looking down the games.
We are a spectacle.
Look at the realms to the world, to
angels and to men.
It's not just men that are watching us.
It's the world spirits and it's angels of
God.
They are watching us.
In fact, over in first Peter, chapter one,
verse twelve.
It says that the angels desire to look
into the things of God.
The parable of the prodigal son in Luke
15.
Remember when that prodigal out in the far
country came to himself in the hog trough.
Angels were watching him.
And it says there is joy in the
presence of the throne of God over a
sinner that repents.
And they're watching me.
That's exactly what it says in Ephesians, chapter
three.
This changed my life.
I can't even tell you.
And in Ephesians 310, it speaks about to
God's intention.
Ephesians 310, that now at this moment to
principalities and powers in heavenly places, it might
be made known by the church.
That's his body.
The manifold wisdom of God.
Wisdom is truth behaved.
How to make truth knowledge experience.
That's wisdom.
So that now to the invisible intelligences, demons
and angels, they're watching.
They might say, look at those people make
truth real in their life.
You see, here's what I'm talking about.
You're in your room and you go to
that drawer that nobody knows what's in it
but you.
And you go over there.
And in that moment, there is a contest
going on in the visible for control of
you.
And there are the demons saying, go read
that book.
No one knows it's there but you.
And after all, you've had a hard day.
And your wife is angry at you.
And that girl at work, she's always flirting
with you.
You'd never touch, but go read your book.
And you begin to be reasoned with.
And you go over to that drawer.
And in that moment, the Holy Spirit says,
touch not the unclean thing.
Be ye separated, saith the Lord.
And there's a contest right there.
And in the invisible, let me tell you,
angels are watching you.
Demons are watching you.
The saints who've gone before, I believe, can
see as well.
We are compassed about with so great a
crowd of witnesses.
It probably means they can see us as
well.
I don't know for sure, but I think
it does.
And they're looking and they see me in
that moment.
And can you imagine the man that takes
out that book and opens it up and
begins to peruse those pages?
And the Lord says, I am of purer
eyes than to look on sin.
I cannot look at iniquity.
And the devil goes, you call him your
child?
And he accuses God of his face.
That revelation changed my life in private.
Because I realized that it didn't matter what
man thought.
It only mattered what the truth really is.
And as you're in private, you can be
who he tells you to be.
You can be.
You must be.
The strength of a public life is the
private life anyway.
It's who you are when no one sees,
like those flowers.
But God, did you know that the plate
that the priest wore on his forehead, the
high priest?
God said, you wear a plate of gold
on your forehead.
Don't ever come before me without this plate.
And on that plate is a deep etching.
It's on the forehead because it stands in
Scripture for disposition and direction and purpose of
life.
It shows the purpose of a priest.
And it says in deep inscribed etchings like
writing it on your mind.
Holiness unto the Lord on gold plate.
And God says, you've got to always have
that there on your forehead.
When you're in the secret place of the
Most High, when nobody else sees, I see
it.
Make it your intention.
And so, the possibility, you see, for failure
is real, brother.
It's real.
God wants you to be victorious.
But the enemy wants to paralyze you.
I am the bone of his bone, it
says in Ephesians 5.30. I am flesh
of his flesh, as Ian pointed out.
In 1 Corinthians 12.12, it says, we
are members of his body, in particular, expressly.
It means exactly what it says.
God doesn't have a body to live in
anymore.
He's spirit.
He's looking for a body in which he
can live.
And so, therefore, I want you just to
think for a moment about this private thing
I'm talking about.
When nobody sees, when you're in a town
on a business trip, and nobody you know
is around.
You're in another country, you're there, and you
know that you can do things that no
one at home will ever know or understand.
And you see, it just shows that God
is remote to you, if you could live
like that.
Listen to 1 Corinthians 6, right after the
verse that Ian read this morning.
And right after it says, verse 15, that
your bodies are the members of Christ.
It goes on to say, 1 Corinthians 6
.15, shall I then take the very members,
bodily parts, of Jesus Christ and make them
the members of a harlot?
He's talking about adultery here.
But shall I take Jesus' body and make
him be involved in adultery?
God forbid.
What?
Don't you know that he that is joined
to a harlot is one body?
So what you're doing is, you see, get
this.
What you do with your hands, you make
Jesus do.
You literally make the Lord Jesus do.
This is why the Bible says, grieve not
the Holy Spirit.
This is why the Bible says, quench not
the fire, the passions of the Holy Spirit.
Hinder not the Holy Spirit.
Resist not the Holy Spirit.
We can do all of those things.
And let me tell you, you'll never be
more committed to Jesus in public than you
are in private.
Never.
When nobody sees but God, just him.
What a privilege it is to go to
your bathroom and look in the mirror and
say, Lord, I thank you that you've cleansed
my heart.
And although there are many things that you're
doing in my life, my heart is toward
you.
And you can look with a clean conscience
in the mirror and glory in God.
What I do, I make him do.
Well, the next thing we've got to do
is make no provision for the flesh.
Make no provision for the flesh.
You want victory when you go home?
Then take the truth of Romans 13, verse
14.
It says, Romans 13, 14.
Excuse me.
Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and
make no provision for the flesh to fulfill
the lusts thereof.
Am I the only one that's ever done
this?
I have known a weakness in my own
life.
And I've known that if I go to
that place over there, I'll probably be tempted.
And I found myself in a battle of
whether I'll do it and said, oh, I'll
trust God there.
And when I've got there, I've failed to
obey the Lord.
You see, I've got to identify pitfalls.
You've got to be sensitive to the Lord
to know what's a pitfall.
When you go to college, when you go
to a business meeting, you've got to beware
of the snare and not be ignorant of
the devil's devices.
See, brother, you've got to evaluate honestly how
you have fallen, where you have fallen.
You've got to look at it and be
honest and see the patterns of temptation.
The devil is the best psychologist in the
universe outside God.
And he's had six thousand years tempting men.
And he knows your particular weakness.
And he will come perhaps for some man.
It might be a time when there's leisure.
That's when he's tempted.
Another man may not be bothered by leisure,
but it's when he's under stress that he
can be tempted and his flesh can take
over.
Another man, it might be after he's been
blessed.
I've been with some meetings after a great
time of preaching where godly people let down
their guard after God has blessed and around
the table.
God is great.
Temptation takes root because after blessing, we get
distracted.
Be sober, be vigilant for your enemy.
The devil goes about seeking who he may
devour.
Avoid those areas.
Know where you're vulnerable.
Flee youthful lusts, single men.
Don't go parking if you have a problem
with lusts.
I'm saying you say, well, I'm going to
go out and I'm going to I'm going
to stop at this point.
That's nonsense.
Let me tell you something.
Once you disobey God, you're out of control.
Nobody can control how far they'll sin.
It's either all in God, in the light
or you're on your own.
Joseph lost his coat, but he kept his
testimony.
He lost his coat, but he kept his
character.
You see, we're given a hundred chances to
say no, aren't we?
Before we ever come to that last one
where we're like doing some business deal and
the Holy Spirit begins to say, no, my
child.
And scripture begins to come.
And we have a chance at the very
beginning to say, no, I won't in Jesus
name.
But then we go through that little roadblock
and get down and we're farther along.
The Holy Spirit says again, no, no.
And a little louder.
And we run that roadblock a hundred times
to say no.
Until you get to the last one that
says like, you know, it says danger, detour,
detour, road, close, road, close, road, close.
It's this last big one with all these
signs.
That's the end, brother.
Off you go out into the abyss where
there's no bridge.
You're crashing.
And that's what happens to us.
A hundred times to say no.
You see, we don't only need willpower, brother.
We need willpower.
Willpower.
I won't.
In Jesus name.
I will not look at this.
Going to the airports in Europe.
They have pornography just out on the shelf.
And all the battle I've had when I've
been away from home for weeks.
When I walk down there, like in Germany,
I look over and I see these magazines
and I know all I have to do
is just tarry for a moment.
My eyes.
Just to stay.
I wouldn't stop.
Oh no.
Somebody I know might see me.
But as I walk by, my eye goes
over and it's like the battle is there
for the honor of God.
Job 31.
One.
I've made a covenant with my eyes.
Lord, why then should I think upon a
maid?
You see, I must have willpower in Jesus
name.
It may not even come out of my
life.
I could look at that and you'd never
know it.
My wife would never know it, but I'd
say what my inner man would know it.
And he wouldn't forget it.
It would burn itself into the impressions of
my mind.
I could walk through there and look at
that book and walk by and say, how
disgusting.
I'm just trying to keep up with what
the Lord says he hates.
I'm serious.
That's what people do.
Well, brother, I'm just going to go see
this movie because the world is watching it
like crazy.
And I got to know so I can
preach against it.
We laugh.
But this is the plague of my soul.
And I remember being tortured, walking, saying in
the name of Jesus Christ, I'd be better
off blind than looking at that.
Lord, I will not in Jesus name.
And boy, when you walk by, the devil
is just ashamed.
He's just ashamed.
He says, oh, I couldn't do it.
He must love God.
You say, hallelujah.
I love God.
I've proven to the Lord I love him.
Now I know that you're my servant.
You see, on little issues like that, little
things when you're tempted.
Well, you want to make no provision for
the flesh.
The human heart is like a draw bed
of straw just waiting for a spark to
happen.
God says, keep the fire away.
Keep the spark of temptation.
I remember once praying with an alcoholic who
was saved and he was having such a
bondage time.
He was walking in victory.
But every day on the way home from
work, he'd always stop for a six pack
and drank it on the way home.
And he came to me about a month
later and said, Alan, having such a hard
time, it's as if I drive by and
the car almost turns in like this.
What can I do?
Oh, how can I have victory?
I looked him right in the eye and
said, because it was the same place he
always stopped every day.
Same old 7-Eleven, whatever it was.
He'd always stop in there.
Same routine.
I looked him right in the eye and
said, brother, drive home a different way.
Take a new route.
Go a couple of miles out of your
way.
Make no provision for your flesh.
If you want victory, you can have it.
Oh, I don't.
I'm going to go home the same way.
I've no time.
You know, we make loopholes for sin.
Don't hang around opportunities for sin.
That means places or people.
You know, some of your old bass buddies
and some of your old country club buddies,
some of your old ex-barroom buddies.
They'll make you sin.
The principle of Scripture is they will corrupt
you.
You won't correct them.
Evil communications corrupt good manners.
Romance can ruin you if it's not in
the center of God's will.
I've met many a disciple who's become a
noodle, walking around like this because he was
in love out of God's will.
Romance.
Silly, fleshly gratification.
You see, one of the devil's favorite lines
is, you can handle it.
And one of the most naive things we
ever say is, I'll wait till tomorrow.
I'll wait till tomorrow to deal with this.
You've got to identify grounds and give it
back to Jesus.
Take back the ground you've given to the
enemy.
Well, the fifth thing you've got to do
is earnestly pray.
Earnestly pray.
Jesus said, watch and pray that you enter
not into temptation.
See, a lot of people are trying to
live dynamite lives on firecracker prayer.
God says you've got to watch and pray.
You've got to have a secret heritage in
the closet of God.
Alone, a place where you can go.
Oh, how sweet it is.
How sweet it is.
And in that place of prayer, God will
show you roots of why you do what
you do.
Maybe the reason you're angry is not because
of circumstances.
It's because of something that happened to you
years ago.
You've never gotten over.
And God says, I want you to confront
that thing with your dad or your mom
and ask for forgiveness and be cleansed.
And the root will be axed out and
the fruit will begin to diminish.
Pray.
Learn to pray for those people that you
lust after instead of lusting for them.
You see some woman dressed like Bathsheba or
something with nothing practically on in our day.
And she's walking along and you're sitting there
and you have these thoughts.
I tell you what, if you can make
yourself say in the name of the Lord
Jesus, I won't follow that line of thought.
I'm going to pray for that woman.
And you pray for her.
You have a hard time lusting over who
you're praying for, brother.
Job's captivity was turned when he prayed for
his friends.
Pray for somebody else who's got the same
problem you have.
Pray for them and you'll find that as
you pray for them, God will be setting
you free as well.
Find them to pray for and pray for
them.
Well, the sixth thing you've got to do
to be free from besetting sin is find
someone or some men to be accountable to.
Someone to whom you can bear your soul
and someone who will love you enough to
hold you to the tip of God's sword.
I was in a meeting one time and
I was talking to a bunch of preachers,
a bunch of pastors about accountability.
And this one man stands up and says,
well, brother, what you're saying just doesn't bless
me.
It just doesn't register.
You know, he's kind of a little guy.
He said, it just doesn't bless me.
It doesn't register.
It doesn't really edify my spirit.
And I looked at him right in the
eye and I said, brother, who are you
accountable to right now?
He said, well, nobody really.
I said, that's why it doesn't bless you.
Well, I am my wife.
I says, oh, man, you know, I said,
what you need are some guys that will
hold you to the tip of God's sword.
Ephesians 521, it says, submit yourselves one to
another in fear of God, in astonished awe
for God, submit to one another.
This afternoon, we'll have men's groups and you
have the opportunity to do this.
James 516, confess your sins, your faults, your
your your lacks one to another, and then
pray for one another that you may be
healed of outer and inner things.
Say, well, I wouldn't share my private life
with anybody.
Well, then you're going to go ahead being
carnal the rest of your life, because only
as you walk in the light together do
you have real fellowship as you're willing to
be not only known by God, but known
by man.
I'll tell you, I love being with AFC.
And after six years, we know the worst
about each other.
And there's some things that we've had to
work through and being in a team.
But I'll tell you what, we love each
other.
And if things aren't right, we've gone into
rooms before and we've dealt through things.
We want to get up and walk out
and come back.
For God's sake, we know fun.
You know, if we just did it for
fun, we would just split up.
But God says submit one to another in
fear of God.
And I tell you, the rewards of fellowship
shine on and they outlast any inconvenience or
trouble or pain.
Well, the next thing we've got to do,
and I need to hurry.
Learn to reckon, learn to reckon.
You have to reckon when you balance your
checkbook.
You have to reckon when you pay your
taxes.
You have to reckon if you're from the
South.
We always say, well, I reckon strengthen your
will.
You want God to strengthen your will?
Then begin to fast in secret.
Ask God to teach you about fasting when
nobody can see.
That'll strengthen your will and God will give
you power to say no at a right
time.
If you can say no to food, you
can say no to anything.
That's right.
For by one offering, Jesus has perfected forever
those that are being sanctified.
You see, the major error that many of
us think is that we'll outgrow temptation.
Brother, you'll never outgrow temptation.
You'll never get to the point to where
you're too mature to be tempted.
And if you think you are, you're in
that group that says, take heed.
If you think you're standing lest you fall
because your armor's down, you're not safe until
you're helpless in Jesus' presence.
Trust in Him.
And so learn to reckon.
Don't dwell on memories.
Put them behind you.
You've come to this conference.
Begin a new thing when you leave here.
And fight battles when you leave at the
threshold of your mind.
The devil comes to say, think about this
or do this.
And you bring it into your mind and
say, this is why I should.
This is why I shouldn't do this.
You've already lost.
You start reasoning with the devil.
Keep it out of your mind.
I fight the battle at the door in
the name of Jesus.
The thought of foolishness is sin.
It says in Proverbs, get out of my
mind in Jesus' name.
My mind has stayed upon God.
Expect a fight, brother.
Feelings will rebel.
And you may have to suffer in your
flesh.
But it says in 1 Peter 4, let
him who knows if he suffers in the
flesh, he cease from sin.
He cease from sin.
It takes suffering.
It takes denying yourself.
You see, you've got to realize when you
go home, you may be dealing with addiction.
Oh, I'm not an addict.
I'm not talking about drugs only or alcohol.
I'm talking about emotional addiction.
You know what?
We have an addiction to be entertained.
Even in church, we have to be entertained.
Jokes, humor.
All the right stuff.
Right colors.
Right this and that.
You know, I'm so sick of that.
I mean, it's nice.
But why do we have to have it?
God may take it all away because he
wants to be the center.
We have to be entertained.
And so you have to realize it takes
time to break an addiction.
You come home and you're addicted to the
television.
You've got to have that stimulation of living
in someone else's life, that excitement.
And so when you think of what you're
going to do, you're so tired from work.
Oh, I'm so tired.
What do I do?
What do I do to be ministered to?
I'll be entertained.
You think about the word of God and
you say, well, that's just not what's going
to bless me right now.
I'll do that later when I'm more in
a spiritual mood.
Addiction.
It takes 21 days to break a habit,
it says, physically.
And I'm sure soulishly it must take longer.
If you're used to thinking a certain way
when somebody says something and the habitual mind
is, you dirty, if you do that every
time when somebody says it's going to take
longer than that, when that you dirty comes
up to say in the name of Jesus,
I cut that off in Jesus name.
You go to hell.
And it'll take you a while.
But as you keep on cutting, cutting back,
cutting back, God will get it down to
the roots and blessing will come.
Someone asked George Mueller once, George Mueller, how
is it that you have such a life
of faith?
How is it that you have such a
life of victory?
It's a bunch of pastors.
And Mueller stopped for a long time and
looked down at the ground and a tear
coursed down his cheeks.
He says, gentlemen, there was a day that
George Mueller died.
That's it.
There was a day in which George Mueller
died.
Brother, the remedy for my flesh is not
consecration.
It's crucifixion.
God's remedy for who I am is not
consecration of my life.
It's crucifixion so that his life can come.
They that are Christ have crucified their flesh
with the affections and lusts thereof.
Well, number eight, I'm winding down, you guys.
Lunch is in half an hour.
Eight, in an act of faith before you
leave this place, dare to receive God's victory
by faith.
Dare to face those areas of your life
and come to him and say, in the
name of Jesus Christ, I receive your victory.
Thanks be to God who giveth us the
victory.
Let me tell you, victory with God is
never partial.
It's always total.
Did you know that?
It's just as thing as a halfway victory
with God.
And victory with Jesus is always now.
It's never future.
You don't have to wait for it.
Any victory you have to wait for is
count of his.
It depends on you.
But if I come and humble myself and
come to the cross, I can receive victory
from the hand of the risen Lord.
Here is victory.
Just as I gave you salvation, the hand
of a dying Christ gave you eternal life
and salvation.
Now receive victory from the hand of a
reigning, living Christ.
Same way.
Come by faith and dare to receive and
know that, yes, in the world you will
have tribulation, but you fight from victory.
Not for it.
You stand in the name of Jesus and
fight from victory, not for it.
I'll never forget in St. Louis, there was
a man up there.
And some of you here are from St.
Louis.
And I think you know this man.
I won't be too specific.
But he had this.
He came to a conference and he was
saved.
And a year went by.
Gloriously transformed.
But he had a problem with cigarettes in
his life.
He was hopelessly addicted.
He tried everything.
He went to all these seminars and made
promises to God and snuck and did everything.
Finally, he tried to humble himself by smoking
publicly as a Christian and everything.
It didn't work.
He was a wretched man in his own
mind.
And I was up there and I went
to see him.
And if you know who Carl is, if
you're from St. Louis, you should ask him.
I got his permission for this.
I went to this man and he was
a successful businessman.
And I said, how are you doing?
He told me.
And I said, Carl, you've tried it all
and failed.
Now, why don't you just dare to believe
that God can do what you can't do?
Believe him for a victory.
Are you willing to receive total victory after
all your failings?
Receive victory as a pure grace gift from
God?
That'd be nice.
It seems too good to be true.
Well, let's just pray.
We bowed our heads and we closed our
eyes and we humbled ourselves together.
And I prayed over him and I said,
Lord, in Jesus name, Carl has shown what
he can do.
Now, will you show what you can do?
Not just control the flesh like a muzzled
dog, but change the nature and the desire.
And take away the desire for these things.
And we said in Jesus name, Amen.
You know what?
That man's never had a cigarette back in
his mouth since that day.
And he hadn't even wanted one.
He told me, he said, Al, this is
amazing.
I feel guilty.
It's so easy.
It's amazing.
You see, the truth of the matter is,
brother, this is going to hurt.
A lot of us wrestle with lust, but
if it really came down to it, really
came down to it, as long as we
keep wrestling with it, we don't mind keeping
it.
We don't really want to be free.
We think we wouldn't be a man if
we didn't lust after women.
And God says, listen, lust is not normal.
It's devilish.
Lust is not normal for a man.
Lust is of the flesh.
It's of the devil.
Brother, God says you can be pure.
Well, the last thing is realize God's grace.
Brother, realize God's grace.
And after all that I've said, I want
to take us back to grace.
He gives grace to the humble.
He gives grace to those who humble himself.
And it says in Timothy, last words to
Timothy, 2 Timothy 2.1. Thou, therefore, my
son, be strong.
Yes, yes.
In the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
That's your strength.
Not your promises, not your feelings, but his
grace.
And you've got to keep your eyes on
Jesus.
And I tell you what, you've got to
gaze at Jesus and glance at your struggles.
Don't take your eyes off him.
Don't become overly introspective like we've heard about
and become self-centered and self-worried.
Just rejoice in the Lord and know there's
room enough in his glorious grace to grow.
There's room to grow.
There's always more in Jesus.
He always saves the best wine for last.
But today can be the day of victory.
Faithful is he who calls, who will also
do it.
He's called us to holiness and he will
do it.
Meditate on his goodness.
Meditate on how much he loves you and
your family and what he wants to do.
And that leads you to a deeper repentance
than men's desires would ever go.
I am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I've committed to him against
that day.
He is able to keep me from falling,
it says in Jude 24.
He is able to present me before the
Father without blame in Colossians.
He is able to save me to the
uttermost in Hebrews 7.
He is able to give me an inheritance
among those who are sanctified.
It says he is able, God is able.
And the large part of it is no
longer being ignorant of the fact that not
only does he command me to be holy,
but that he's able.
And he's yearning.
And he will, if you'll believe it.
Lord, you're able.
We can be pure, brother.
Not because of law, but because of love.
Because of the love of God, we can
be pure.
Love demands it.
God's calling demands it that we walk worthy.
By the precious blood of Jesus Christ, I
can draw as near to God as my
desires take me.
Did you get that?
By the blood of Jesus, I can draw
as near to God as I dare.
The limitations to holiness are not on God's
side.
They're on my side.
And I'm willing to face this without holiness.
No man, no man will see God.
No man.