Participants: Jay Gallimore
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000556
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01:00 We're gonna talk about living free and men in
01:03 particular I think need to focus on living free in 01:08 Christ. And we're gonna do that this afternoon and why 01:11 don't you bow your heads with me so we start. 01:14 Father in Heaven, how good you are to us we pray that 01:17 you will be our helper and our teacher here. And that 01:20 really the Holy Spirit will be the one who 01:22 empowers our mind to understand the message that 01:25 you have for us, in Jesus wonderful name, amen. 01:30 Well you have your Bibles. In my other classes, 01:32 I've been having people just read it, but because of 01:35 our setup here I'm not going to do that, but you 01:36 have your Bibles, and if you turn to Romans 01:39 chapter 4 with me I'm going to start reading at 01:42 verse 21. It's talking about Abraham here, and we 01:47 listen to the apostle Paul comment on Abraham. 01:50 He says in being fully convinced that what he had 01:54 promised, he was able to perform in other words 01:57 whoever God has promised, he is able to perform, 02:00 he is able to carry it out so it's where you put your 02:02 trust. You will put your trust in something or 02:05 someone. I like to suggest to you that every 02:07 behavior of your life is based on your trust. 02:12 The fact that you are sitting on these chairs 02:14 tells me that you trust the chairs in fact that you are 02:16 in this building and you are not running. Now if the 02:18 ground begin to shake, I'll be right behind you 02:21 because your faith was suddenly change and when 02:24 your trust change then your behavior all the sudden 02:27 changes as well. So, Abraham went down this road 02:31 and then he comes to verse 22 and it was accounted to 02:34 him for righteousness and that word accounted also is 02:38 often used as reckon. Now everybody in this room 02:41 because I believe that most all of you are Christians, 02:44 everybody in this room knows that Jesus paid 02:48 the debt on Calvary's Cross, am I right. If you put 02:53 a line here as your bank account using a bank account 02:57 as an illustration using that word account 03:00 then because all of us are sinners, we are all indebted 03:04 or we are all indebt. So, Christ comes along and he 03:09 sees our helpless condition and he pays the debt that is 03:15 clear for us. He pays for our transgressions, 03:17 we will hear that in just a little bit, but that only 03:20 brings you up to what? Zero, that's exactly right. 03:25 Can you live on zero, no. Is anybody ever lived on zero 03:29 as men we understand that you got to have something 03:31 more than zero to live on. And you got to have a lot 03:35 more than that. Our righteousness is as filthy 03:38 rags, so our righteousness certainly is not going to 03:40 help us, we have to have life and you got to have 03:43 powers. So, Jesus does more than that and you will 03:45 hear that coming through in the text in just a moment 03:47 He not only pays our debt through Calvary's Cross, 03:51 but he also adds to our bank account an infinite amount 03:56 of his own righteousness. Is that good news? 04:01 As wonderful news, that means you got something 04:03 to go on here that's very, very powerful. Let's look at 04:05 this text just a little bit more here. Let me stop, 04:10 before I go there and let me ask another question too, 04:14 have you ever notice these people they go to these 04:17 gambling places, you know, they why do people go to 04:20 gambling places? One person sitting in the last said 04:25 I want to win it big. Why do people want to win it 04:28 big? They equate winning it big, they equate that 04:37 with freedom am I right? In other words, I don't 04:42 have to work that's right, that's what you are saying. 04:45 In other words, I've got so much money here I can do 04:47 whatever I wanted to do, whenever I wanted to do 04:50 and so that is just freedom of course that still gonna 04:54 die, am I right. Nobody has ever escaped that 04:59 but except two people that I know of and that was 05:03 Elijah and Enoch. So, here we are, these folk 05:07 want to make it big because they want freedom that comes 05:10 back my point here, if we're gonna live a righteous life, 05:14 we got to have money in the bank and that money 05:17 in the bank is Christ very own righteousness 05:20 that he puts there. And so we got lot to go on here. 05:24 Now let me just look at it just little bit more, 05:27 now it is verse 23 says, it was not written for 05:30 his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, 05:32 in another words for all of us. It was written for us, 05:35 but also for us verse 24, it shall be imputed to us who 05:40 believe in him, we put our trust in him, who raised up 05:44 Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up, 05:47 this is a crucial text, who was delivered up because 05:50 of our offences that is the debt delivered up to what? 05:55 Calvary's cross and was raised for our justification 06:01 or our living if you please; justification is not only 06:06 for covering us and paying our debt. It is also to give 06:10 us life and to give it what? More abundantly, I know 06:15 you want the abundant life. Won't you love the Lord, 06:17 he is the one who give us lives that we have to go 06:19 through you know drag and everything, he wants 06:21 to have us really happy and in peace and free from 06:26 fear, free to live his life. Now, let's look at this a 06:32 little bit more, goes right down in chapter 5 here 06:34 looking at the first few verses, so it's therefore 06:38 having been justified by faith we know what that 06:41 means all of this Christ righteous imputed to us, 06:44 having been justified by faith we have peace 06:47 with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Don't raise 06:50 your hands you know Christian who say I'm a 06:52 Christian, but they have no peace, there is no peace 06:59 You think the Jesus want you to have peace 07:00 when you get up and peace when you go to bed. 07:04 If you have trusted him with your debt, can't you also 07:08 trust him with your life? I mean say that again, 07:14 if you trust him to cancel the debt, can't we trust him 07:21 in governing our life. A lot of people can't make 07:26 that step they are afraid to let Jesus take charge of the 07:30 life because they are afraid of something will not 07:32 go the way they wanted it to go. You really need 07:35 to do by like that. Let's look at this, but if you put 07:40 your trust in him we have peace look at verse 2 07:44 through whom we also have access by faith into 07:47 this grace in which we stand aren't you glad that 07:52 this grace is something that we actually stand in. 07:55 It's like a great big umbrella if you pleased, 07:58 it's not just on and off so to speak. Grace is something 08:03 that you stand in, it is something that you become 08:05 part of. We don't talk enough about God's grace. 08:09 How big is God's grace, how powerful is God's grace. 08:13 Is God's grace continually pursue us. Let me 08:18 ask a question it will probably be controversial, 08:21 if you have a different answer than I do you still 08:25 love me is that okay. I still love you, here is the 08:29 question ready for it. When David sinned when he 08:36 made that premeditated, precalculated choice 08:40 and you know what I'm talking about without having 08:42 to go into detail, when he did that, if David had died 08:47 at that moment would he had been saved or lost? 08:56 Now, you gonna to wrestle with that. It was 09:00 interesting in last class they bound set around 09:03 pretty good and I don't know are the microphones 09:06 out there somebody want to tell me what you think, 09:09 anybody brave enough to tell me what you think 09:11 Was he saved or lost at that point. I am not giving you 09:19 two choices, the last time I checked that's the only two 09:22 choices we have. I think he was lost. You think 09:26 he was lost. At that time. At that moment, 09:28 alright. If I think he was saved, still saved. 09:33 Somebody still thinking about, okay. 09:35 I think he was saved because Mrs. White says that 09:38 God goes by the pattern of our lives not by the 09:42 individual likes. Oh okay, but I'm talking about now 09:45 not coming around the corner and slipping on the banana 09:48 peeling a temptation. I'm not talking about all 09:52 suddenly you know just and you lose your temper 09:55 or something unexpectedly and you should overcome 09:58 that too of course. I'm talking about premeditated, 10:02 precalculated choice. He knew what he was doing, 10:09 so is he saved or lost at that moment. If he dies 10:14 at that moment. David is a king, yes he is a high man 10:17 in the kingdom, but from what I understand from the 10:19 Bible is that sin is sin and that for God excuse 10:23 something like that to be that wouldn't be right. 10:26 I think he is lost. We wouldn't, we wouldn't, 10:28 David was a man after his own heart. Let me ask you 10:30 a question have all of you all the time been men after 10:32 God's own heart. Was David a man after God's own heart 10:36 when he was doing this precalcualted, premeditated, 10:38 prechoice? Okay, I got another brother right up 10:43 here on the front, right on the left right here. Okay 10:47 got one over here okay go right over here, 10:49 I'll take over here and then we'll go right over here. 10:50 Well, what do you think about if God was patient 10:53 with David and saw that this was happening and he 10:56 wouldn't let him die? Well let's come to that 10:59 in just a moment. I think of God would not have, 11:03 he couldn't have been saved at that moment, but I think 11:07 God was waiting and hoping and praying that he would 11:09 ask for forgiveness. Okay you are getting on 11:10 something really good here and I'll just go there 11:13 right now. I think at that moment, I don't think 11:17 you could be in a safe condition if you 11:18 premeditated and precalculated disobeying 11:21 the Ten Commandments. I don't think you can do that. 11:23 I think if he had died that moment he would be lost, 11:26 but behold the grace of God, behold the grace of God. 11:32 Let me ask you a question, do you think that 11:36 the devil showed up at the judgment bar of God 11:38 and said look God David look you see it, you see it, 11:41 now giving to me his mind tell your angels that guard 11:45 him to get out of my way. You think that happen, 11:48 I'm not a betting man, but I'm just about sure 11:50 that kind of things some form happen. In other words, 11:53 the devil shows up and says his mind, he is on my 11:55 territory, you have no right to keep me back, 11:58 tell your angels to get out of the way, 11:59 and if they had gotten out of the way 12:01 what would Satan have done to him? 12:03 He would have killed him for sure because he wanted 12:06 to seal what he had at that moment, the behold the 12:08 grace of God, who looks at Lucifer and says, no. 12:13 You know God can say thanks in a real short way, 12:16 no the angels stay in place and so God prevented Lucifer 12:21 from taking the life of David behold the grace 12:24 of God. Behold the grace of God, what else did God do, 12:29 he does just simply passively sit there 12:31 and wait. He now sins forces to Nathan, who is a 12:35 very close friend of David. He says forces to Nathan 12:38 and Nathan comes up and he tells Nathan what to say 12:42 and he comes to David you know the story he points to 12:44 David and he says you are the man. 12:47 Behold the grace of God that raised up Nathan 12:49 the prophet. Behold the grace of God; at the moment 12:53 those words were spoken to David, you are the man 12:57 behold the grace of God. The Holy Spirit hits David 13:01 with all the power of heaven and David's heart melts. 13:07 And he kneels, as it were before God and confesses his 13:10 sin behold of grace of God, who accepts through 13:13 repentance of David and behold the grace of God 13:15 and restores him to himself. Aren't you glad for the 13:18 grace of God? Amen. How big is the grace of God? 13:22 How wonderful is the grace of God. In this grace 13:27 in which we stand, I'm so glad that God doesn't like 13:30 go of it easily. And then he goes on to say, 13:35 we stand rejoice in the hope of the glory of God in that 13:38 verse 3 is an interesting one. Because it says 13:44 and not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, 13:49 I want to ask you a question, how many of you 13:51 get excited about trouble, how many of you get excited 13:56 about tribulation? I want to tell you I don't like trouble. 14:00 I don't like tribulation. I don't like difficulty. 14:02 I don't like sorrow and heartache. I hate to see 14:06 people suffer. I don't like to suffer myself. 14:11 So, I mean you can't be pollyanna here, 14:14 pollyanna here, you can't just stick your head in the 14:16 sand and say I rejoice in tribulation, I glory in 14:19 tribulation. I mean trouble is trouble. Tears are tears, 14:26 difficulty is still difficult. So, how could the 14:31 Apostle Paul say after he says all of these wonderful 14:34 things that Jesus has done for us and says we have 14:38 this great hope and then say we glory in tribulation? 14:45 Is anybody here ever been afraid of trouble, 14:48 I have. I won't trouble. You know it's not a matter 14:55 of if trouble is going to come your way it's only a 14:57 matter of when trouble will come our way, am I right. 15:01 Jesus said he did this as a matter of fact, 15:04 he says those there are Christians those who follow 15:08 him. He talked to his disciples you will have 15:12 tribulations. You will have them it's not the matter of 15:17 if. In the Old Testament and I think in Psalm 33 15:22 that says many are the afflictions of the 15:25 righteous, I praise God that God didn't put a period 15:28 there. He says, but the Lord delivers him out of 15:33 them all. And going back to the words of Jesus you 15:37 will have tribulation, he doesn't put a period there 15:40 either. He comes in and he puts this, but he says be a 15:43 good cheer. I have what you may remember the rest of it, 15:47 overcome the world. So, what does it mean? 15:52 Does it mean that we really are happy that trouble comes 15:54 I don't think we can say that. I don't think that's 15:57 word right. I'm not happy for trouble. So, how do we 16:01 glory in tribulation because tribulation does two things, 16:09 we live in a world of sin you know when we get to 16:11 the kingdom of heaven is not gonna to be anymore 16:13 trouble I think all of us will say halleluiah to that. 16:15 I'm all for that. But right now in this world 16:19 when trouble comes and it comes to us as Christians, 16:23 we can rejoice in two things one that it gives us 16:27 an opportunity to bring glory to God, am I right. 16:32 As people watch you go through difficulty whether 16:35 it maybe your wife or your children or your spouse 16:39 or someone are people close to you our neighbors 16:42 when people watch you go through difficulty and they 16:45 watch you not be destroyed, they watch God sustain 16:50 you and they watch your cheerfulness in the midst 16:54 of that. What does that do for them? It gives them 16:59 strength doesn't it, because they're gonna get trouble 17:01 too somewhere trouble is gonna come to them? 17:03 If it hasn't already and so we can it's an opportunity 17:08 to bring glory to God, the second thing is that 17:12 it builds Christian character. And I want you to 17:15 watch this if you would for me, looking at, 17:19 at Romans chapter 5 again looking at verse 3, 17:24 knowing that with also glory and tribulations, 17:27 knowing that tribulation produces perseverance our 17:31 Godly patients and character and character hope 17:36 let me just take those three for just a moment. 17:39 If you have gone through difficulties and you have 17:42 patiently put your trust in the Lord and he has brought 17:46 you through that and then you are looking ahead at 17:49 life and all of the sudden you are faced again with 17:52 trouble, you faced again with hearing of difficulty, 17:56 coming your way. Does that experience of going through 18:00 that successfully how does that prepare you to take 18:03 the new wave of difficulty. I tell you how it prepares 18:10 you to take that new wave of difficulty because you 18:14 already have experienced God's power to take you 18:18 through it and so as you count how God took you 18:22 through it you look at the new and you say Lord I 18:25 know you can take us through his too, because you 18:30 didn't find and complain and grovel and fall apart and 18:35 because you put your trust in God and the other. 18:40 You now have built confidence because you are 18:42 persevered trusting in God even when it didn't feel 18:45 good, even when it hurt, even when they are sorrow 18:48 and there is tears and is difficulties, 18:50 even when you continue to persevere in that. 18:52 Now that you face again with more trouble you face that 18:55 with a new confidence. Not because you won't trouble, 18:59 but because God is allowing it in order to help you 19:03 perfect your character. And that gives you hope. 19:06 Hope to go through the difficulty, 19:08 hope listen to this, hope the scripture says 19:11 that will not disappoint. Isn't that good news? Now 19:16 put too that all things work together for good to those 19:20 that love the Lord and call according to his purpose. 19:26 So, Christ our righteousness in the practical 19:30 application is not only rejoicing the fact that 19:34 he has forgiven me my sins that he has got, he is also 19:38 taking charge of my life. And that my life now 19:44 is totally and completely in his hands. I'm gonna say 19:49 more about that as I go on to that because it is 19:55 powerful. Let me look at verse 5 with you if you got 19:57 your Bibles, now hope does not disappoint because 20:02 the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by 20:05 the Holy Spirit who gave us. Now, the thing 20:07 I love about God is that he comes in and he produces 20:10 unselfish love in us. Are you able to produce 20:12 unselfish love in your heart? You are not able 20:14 to do that, but when you go through difficulties 20:17 and you know that God sustains you and you know 20:19 that he loves you then that also produces love 20:22 in your heart the Holy Spirit comes in and make 20:24 you a fountain of God's love. Don't you want to be 20:26 a fountain of God's love? I say it's not much of that 20:29 around nowadays not much of that around. Now, 20:33 I want to move on just a little bit further and 20:37 I would like to go to if you please go to chapter 6 20:42 and I want to talk a little bit more about freedom 20:44 and what I've done is try to set the basis for freedom 20:46 and to set the basis here as Christ our righteousness 20:50 being applied to our lives, because I think we want to 20:53 be free there are so many things that's in slaving 20:55 people today. The devil doesn't want any of us 20:58 to be happy, he wants us to be enslave to a tempter, 21:02 he wants us to be enslave to a critical attitude. 21:05 If you wanna one wonderful reference go read, 21:10 go read Thoughts From the Mount of Blessings 21:12 that is one of my favorite little books. 21:14 Thoughts From the Mount of Blessings and read what 21:16 it talks about a judgmental attitude. It's a powerful 21:22 thing, it doesn't mean that you don't make value 21:24 judgments, it don't mean it's doesn't mean, 21:25 you know, might things choices what's right 21:27 and wrong, it doesn't mean that sin is not only 21:30 proved when it needs to be reprove, but it means that 21:33 you just don't have a spirit that's constantly seizing 21:36 somebody up and being so critical. I mean you can be 21:41 that way with your wife, am I right. I mean you live 21:46 with her and you can look at her and you know 21:48 let your mind go that way. Are she could be that way 21:52 with you. Look at if you please if you look at 21:55 verse 23 chapter 6 verse 23 for the wages 21:59 of no, no I'm sorry, verse 22, but now having 22:02 been set free from sin having becomes slaves 22:07 of God you have fruit to holiness and the in 22:11 eternal life. In other words you have two choices 22:14 if you were hear at last camp meeting, 22:16 I noted that I'll do a quick review here you have 22:18 two choices, you can either choose to be the Devil Slave 22:23 or you can choose to be God's slave, am I right. 22:25 You don't have three choices, you don't 22:27 have the choice of being in charge of you. 22:31 Most people want to be in charge of you that's how 22:33 we have such a hard time surrendering our life 22:35 to God. I had somebody tell me one time that he has 22:38 some friends that was struggling with Christianity 22:40 and they basically walked away from the Lord. 22:42 And he says why he walk away from the Lord 22:43 they say well won't you trust the Lord they said 22:45 when we trusted the Lord with our lives he made a 22:47 mess out of it. I like to help them, I like to help 22:55 them to know when they were born in this world 22:56 there life was already a mess. I mean our 23:02 our environment, our genes everything about us, 23:06 our life is just full who was that said that was it 23:10 Jacob the man's life is few and few days and full of 23:15 trouble. But I tell you what a real problem was. 23:24 The real problem is that they had to decide what 23:27 their own their own life ought to be. And they 23:32 decided since they had made up with their life 23:34 ought to be that I've put my trust in Jesus, he supposed 23:37 to deliver what I want my life to be. If you, 23:45 if you trust the Lord, Jesus with your life, 23:50 then you got to give over the future to him. 23:54 You got to be willing to let whatever he chooses 23:57 to come your way, you got to be willing to submit to 24:01 it now that's hard. Because most of us don't want to 24:04 give up, we don't want to go over there. We don't want to 24:06 give that up, we don't want to say Lord I want to 24:10 surrender my future, no you've got to surrender 24:13 that if you are gonna trust Jesus with your debt 24:15 you've also got to trust him with your life. 24:19 And I want to tell you that at the end Jesus never 24:22 makes a mess out of anybodies life. In the end 24:25 all things always work together for good 24:28 to those that love the Lord and are called according to 24:31 his purposes. And the big picture it all turns out 24:34 wonderful because God has a way of doing it, 24:37 there is a wonderful statement in the spirit 24:39 process that you can look back on says that when we 24:42 get to the kingdom of heaven that someday we'll be 24:44 look back in our life, now what that be something. 24:46 I don't know what kind of record God has it is better 24:49 than DVDs, it's better than the video whatever it is 24:53 it shows everything about our lives. Since that we 24:56 will not be unhappy these are my words my paraphrase, 25:00 we will not regret or be unhappy at the way 25:03 that God has let us. We will be knowing that God 25:07 let us just the way we would have wanted to be led, 25:09 now that you can look back on, in that something, 25:12 but that's for those, that's for those that trust 25:16 their life with God completely. Now let's go 25:22 I have this, I have this little quote here, 25:27 well I'm not quite ready for that. I'm gonna hang on 25:30 to that for just a moment. Let's move into chapter 7 25:36 and I'm going to read these words looking at verse 22, 25:43 verse 22, still with me okay here we go 25:49 chapter 7 verse 22, for I delight in the law of God 25:53 according to the inward man, but I see another law 25:58 in my members warring against the law of my mind. 26:01 Question and answer, is that the great controversy? 26:06 He just I delight in the law of God in the inner man 26:09 I delight and is wonderful, but he says on the other 26:11 hand in my flesh I see another law and he is 26:14 warring that words war says there is a controversy 26:17 that is a great controversy thing fall over every 26:19 human being, every one of us. In this other law is 26:24 warring against us. Do you know, do you know 26:28 Christians have you seen Christians, who they say 26:31 well you know I've given my life to Christ, but 26:35 you now one day they do one thing kind of in the 26:39 Devil's court, the next day they try to do something 26:41 in the Lord's court and they are just pulled back 26:44 and forth it's like that you know they just put on 26:46 an offence and they shove this way one day 26:48 and they shove that way one day and they just feel 26:51 miserable. They just feel like that they that life 26:56 is just a struggle, a constant struggle between 27:00 God and Satan. You don't have to raise your 27:03 hands; some of you may feel that way. 27:06 I want to ask you a question, is Jesus want you 27:09 to feel that way. Is that the experience Jesus 27:12 has and the fact that he has added all of this 27:15 power to your life does he want you to have 27:17 that or does he want to give you freedom from 27:21 being the servant of sin. I think you know the answer 27:25 of that. That's why the Apostle Paul you see 27:28 in the next two verses there he says oh 27:30 wretched man that I'm is it fun to be wretched, 27:33 I don't like being wretched and being pull 27:36 about back and forth is wretched. Oh, 27:37 wretched man that I'm, who will deliver me from 27:41 this body of death and then he says I thank 27:44 God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the 27:47 mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh 27:50 the law of sin. Question and answer, this hand is 27:54 this hand control this hand or to something else 27:58 control this hand? Does my mind control that hand, 28:03 so if my mind in my mind I serve the law of God 28:07 who will it do to this flesh that wants to do 28:09 something different. It will bring it in under 28:12 control am I right. If I'm serving the spirit of 28:15 God with my mind, where the mind then bring 28:20 the flesh under control. See there are some 28:26 Christians that say oh well, you know they get so 28:31 tired of the wretched pull back and forth, 28:33 they get so tired of that. They say, look Lord 28:37 they kind of a philosophical solution, philosophical 28:40 solution is Lord it doesn't matter, the Lord is so big 28:45 I'm saved by faith. And so Lord he'll just have 28:48 to put up with some mistakes. He'll just have 28:52 put up with my imperfections and they 28:54 just kind of abandon themselves to doing certain 28:57 things I know it's not good, but they say you know 28:59 I can't give it up its too tough. That, to say that 29:03 is to say that our Lord didn't put enough money 29:05 in the bank, but he put enough money in the bank 29:10 for us to live free by his grace. I'm not saying 29:13 whenever it come to temptation, thank God the 29:16 Apostle John says, you should not sin if you are 29:19 Christians, but then he says but if you do you 29:21 have a what an advocate, thank God for that. 29:24 But let me go to this quote here, this is Testimonies 29:30 volume 4 page 656, strength of character 29:33 consist of two things, strength of character, 29:39 as man we all have strength of character, 29:41 I think God calls men to have strong character 29:45 wouldn't it have been wonderful if Adam had 29:48 stood up when Eve brought in the fruit and 29:50 said Eve no. I'm not going there. Wouldn't have 29:54 been wonderful, if he had trusted God with 29:56 Eve's awful decision, wouldn't it have been 30:01 wonderful, if he had done at that point. 30:08 Strength of character consist of two things, 30:12 the power of the will that's the power of choice, 30:18 when thoughts come rushing in your mind that 30:20 are not to be there you can make a choice Lord 30:22 I'm not going there, I'm not going there. 30:25 Lord give me power I'm not gonna think those 30:26 things, you can say that 10,000 times. 30:29 The power of choice and the power of self-control. 30:35 Now, do you need, there is no need for self-control 30:40 if self is already in control. Let me explain 30:43 what I mean by that. Itself is going along and 30:45 everything is nice, there is not any need for self 30:48 control, but when self wants to go a wrong way 30:50 that's when you have to have self control am I 30:52 right, is that the steering wheel on the car. 30:56 You have to turn that wheel to keep it in the 30:59 road. If you just add on the soft flats of Nevada you 31:04 can just let go steering wheel sort of speed. 31:09 Many, many make mistake, many youth mistake 31:13 strong uncontrolled passion for strength of character. 31:18 You know what Hollywood says? If you are strong 31:21 uncontrolled passionate person you are strong. 31:26 She says they make a mistake if they have the 31:27 strength of character, but the truth is that he who 31:30 is mastered by his passions is a weak man. 31:36 So, if your passions overcoming you, you are 31:39 not living in freedom. You are not drawing on the 31:43 bank of Christ righteousness. The real 31:49 greatness and nobility of the man is measured are 31:53 you ready for this? The real nobility of the man is 31:59 measured by the passions that he subdues. 32:06 Think about that one, so ask yourself Lord did I 32:10 subdue my temper. Have I brought this thing under 32:20 control yes I may feel like telling my kid off. 32:27 But I bring it under self-control when you had 32:32 angers well up and you bring it under self control 32:35 and do not let it express itself that is self-control. 32:43 No matter what part psychology says. The real 32:51 greatness and nobility of a man is measured by the 32:53 power of the feelings that he subdues. Not by the 32:58 power of feelings that subdue him. How many of 33:02 you ever been overcome by your feelings? 33:04 How many just launched into it. I've had the Lord 33:08 save me a lot of times. It is probably better not 33:13 to make the phone call. You know what I mean, 33:18 until the feelings are under control. It is probably 33:24 better not to say anything to an angry spouse until 33:30 the feelings are brought under control. 33:33 Can you say can we discuss this later when I'm not 33:35 feeling like I'll be right now. I think we've a 33:38 better discussion, it's probably better not to 33:41 correct your children until those feelings are 33:44 brought in control. And when infatuation come 33:51 coming by and you are attracted or whether it's 33:53 pictures or whatever it is. And the feelings want to 33:58 go there, we just bring those feelings under 34:01 control they are naturally go that way because the 34:03 old man naturally takes you that way. So all of you 34:07 all of us some of are phlegmatics and you so 34:09 laid back you probably never, never would get 34:13 angry, but a lot of other people are not that way. 34:17 Where are your feelings and bring them under 34:21 control. The strongest man is he; I love this 34:26 statement because it's got so much balance to it; 34:29 if you ever had somebody mistreat you? 34:33 Yes, probably and everybody say yes to you. 34:35 Somebody is gonna mistreat you somewhere. 34:37 So if I'm gonna to do something it's gonna hurt. 34:41 The strongest man is he, who while sensitive to 34:46 abuse will yet restrain passion and forgive his 34:52 enemies, isn't that beautiful. You're sensitive to the 34:58 hurt, yes it hurt, you are not trying to be pollyanna 35:01 sort of speak, yes it hurt, but I don't choose the 35:04 retaliation, I don't choose the anger, I don't 35:07 choose vengeance, what I choose is to forgive 35:11 even if I don't feel like it. I want to forgive him 35:14 anyway, she said that is the strongest evidence that 35:22 you are a hero. And I think every man wanted to 35:27 be a hero in that context by the grace of God. 35:33 Our challenge is, is learning how to be debt to 35:44 ourselves you know we don't like this dying 35:46 business. And this is really practical, I still 35:56 struggle with this, I've shared this a few places, 35:58 but I want to share right now, if we die to 36:01 ourselves tomorrow doesn't matter does it. 36:08 If we die to ourselves my ambitions for the future 36:12 don't matter do they. That is mean I want to die, 36:17 it means I love to live don't you love to live. 36:21 But if I come to the place that self is dead, 36:25 I understand this world is temporary and anytime 36:27 the Lord says Jay I'm done you are done then I've 36:31 got to be willing to cheerful. Ellen White says 36:38 that there is a, there is a picture before all of us. 36:42 There is a plow and an altar. You know you do 36:47 what with the plow, in those days you got behind 36:51 the plow and that's the work, you are living, 36:54 you are working, but the work it's not party. 36:58 Christians have been called to a party. I tell you 37:02 that once you go to this ramp, there is a sweetest 37:05 most peaceful joy that only Jesus can bring. 37:10 On the other side is an altar, you know, what they 37:12 did with altars. People die on altars. I don't know 37:20 which one the Lord will choose today perhaps he 37:23 has chosen the plow, perhaps tomorrow, maybe 37:25 for some years to come I don't know. Maybe 37:29 until Jesus comes he chooses the plow, but he 37:32 may not at some point he may choose the altar. 37:38 And I've got to be willing to lay down on that 37:40 altar and trust the Lord Jesus with my life. 37:46 That's dying to self. When you die to self at an 37:51 18, I'll use this illustration cut your off 37:53 and drop to 50 miles on the inner state, what kind 37:59 of reactions do you have? If, if I'm dead to self, 38:10 I look at that individuals, so you know it doesn't 38:11 matter. I'm relaxed, if Jesus wants me to slow 38:14 down 50 miles an hour, I will slow down 50 38:15 miles an hour. Because Jesus is now in charge of 38:20 my life, I'm not in charge of my life. And instead 38:24 of being angry at that guy and getting all upset 38:27 about that guy then what I say you know God 38:30 thank you for blessing him he is your child. 38:33 I had somebody not long ago in my office not a 38:36 worker. Someone in my office they were so 38:40 angry, so I mean they were just oh they were just 38:43 fortalice and finally they call this individual a 38:46 really ugly name and I just stopped him. 38:48 I say guy I ask you a question. I said what if 38:55 when you get to the kingdom you saw that 38:59 person there. I said how would you feel? 39:04 Would you say, oh no how in the world God did 39:08 you let you. They didn't disagree with me. 39:19 Then I said, then I said, but you know if you feel 39:26 that way now, are you going to be there. 39:36 Remember Steven polling the coats all in the 39:40 coats, one of the last scene Steven sees before he 39:43 falls asleep in martyrdom. It's the Apostle Paul 39:48 what do you think Steven's reaction is going to be 39:52 when he gets the kingdom and he wakes up on 39:56 that morning and he sees Paul saw come walking 40:00 into the kingdom. What do you think he is gonna 40:03 say, is he gonna to say oh that rascal God how 40:05 did you let him in here. No, I don't tell you 40:07 because Steven was a converted man. 40:10 When Steven died he died with a love of God in 40:12 his heart, now with vengeance in his heart. 40:15 He died with not anger towards Paul, but love he 40:18 wanted him say, but when he sees Paul walk 40:20 through there he is gonna I think he will be the 40:22 first to speak and he is running, grab the apostle 40:24 Paul and say praise God you are here I'm so 40:28 grateful that you here. That's what going to 40:29 happen. We got to have that kind of love now 40:35 and the on the way you can have that kind of love 40:37 is to die to yourself. I use this illustration 40:42 maybe some of you seen me use it me before. 40:45 Like any illustration you got to be, you got to be 40:47 careful with it you understand that because 40:49 illustrations are only made to do one point they 40:53 are not made to you know go many, 40:56 many different ways. So, I want to erase this 40:58 here for just a moment and I want to draw for a 41:01 moment a human heart. In every human heart, 41:07 there is a throne what do you do from thrones, 41:12 you give orders am I right. So what do you 41:14 think about king says go do this, go do that, etc, 41:17 etc. All of us are born into this world with an 41:21 unselfish old man sitting on that throne. And he 41:25 selfish and so the older people live their lives 41:28 with him giving the orders he says you know go 41:30 do this, go do this, this is in your self interest, 41:33 this is what you are to do, all in the context of 41:36 selfishness. The Devil has a problem and here is 41:42 the problem the Devil has. At some point even 41:47 though people think it's wonderful he is gonna 41:49 call some people a lot of misery am I right. 41:53 One way or the other, and so at some point you 41:56 get to the place when you say, you say I can't, 42:01 I can't stand this anymore and you come to the 42:03 conclusion that this old man is gonna kill you. 42:09 And so in desperation what you do. 42:13 In desperation you cry out to Jesus and Jesus 42:18 comes in and he grabs the old man from off the 42:20 throne. And he takes the old man and he puts him 42:28 in jail. The scripture says in Romans chapter 6 it 42:33 says, consider verse 11, consider him debt or 42:37 reckon the old man debt. Does that mean that he 42:41 is debt dead? No, it's like disinheriting someone 42:47 you say no you no longer my relative or 42:50 whatever. You no longer consider him even 42:53 though he still love. The old man still retains 42:57 some power even till the day that Jesus comes of 43:01 the day we die so to speak. But Jesus puts him 43:06 in jail. Now let you suppose for a moment, 43:12 I don't know if this is a good illustration, 43:14 but I'll use it. Let's say before you are a Christian 43:17 you drink beer and you became a Christian gave 43:19 that up. And so you are watching television and 43:24 there came one of those beer commercials by the 43:26 way who writes the beer commercials. I think the 43:28 Devil and his evil angels right the beer 43:30 commercials. So there comes a beer commercials 43:33 all the sudden you know all those you hear this 43:35 voice from the cage. You hear that voice and he 43:38 says, hey don't you remember all the good times 43:40 we used to have. Don't you remember when it 43:42 was high, don't you remember you know all that 43:44 comes fluting back and says oh yeah, yeah I do I 43:46 do remember, it would be good if you could just 43:48 have a nice cold and you say oh yeah, yeah and 43:51 then he says what you know you could. 43:53 How, well let me ask you a question. Who has 43:57 the key to this jail? You do, I do, there is a key to 44:06 this jail, my key is not a very good one, but it's 44:10 you got the point. He has got, you got the key to 44:15 the jail, so he says you got the key, why don't 44:18 you just unlock it and let me out of here and 44:20 I'll let you have that and you say in a moment of 44:25 weakness you unlock the door and he jumps out 44:28 and when he jumps out what do you think he 44:30 does. He grabs Jesus off the throne, remember 44:35 this is illustration parable. And he puts Jesus into 44:39 the jail. Locks the door, climbs on the throne and 44:42 says I give you the order drink the beer and you 44:46 drink the beer. And then you hear another voice 44:53 from the jail and it says Jay you feel good about 45:01 that? No, I don't feel good about it, I wish I 45:05 hadn't done that, why did I do that. You are fine 45:08 if you want to kick yourself. Why did I say 45:14 that, why did I do it? And he says you know 45:21 you got the key and with repentance you can let 45:25 me out of here. You say Lord I'm so sorry, 45:29 I'm so sorry this is wonderful with that key 45:32 you unlock the door and Jesus comes out and he 45:34 grabs that old man and he throws him in the jail 45:37 and slams the door. Now question and answer, 45:44 how do you get this old man week? How do you 45:52 get him week? I'll tell you how you get him 45:55 week. You don't feed him a promise a lot of 46:00 Christians feed him and he has got lot of reserves 46:03 stacked up in there. How do you keep from 46:05 feeding him? It's what you see, it's what you 46:14 hear, it's guarding your sins. When that beer 46:19 commercial came on to you and said I know who 46:21 wrote that one and so you don't feed him in fact 46:28 I don't want to get this guy so week. I want to get 46:31 him so week in my life that he is flat on his back. 46:35 And that he can't even whisper and that he is 46:38 unconscious. Anybody with me on that, won't 46:45 you get tired hearing this guy. Then don't feed it 46:51 and if you don't feed him you'll be free from him. 46:53 If he gets unconscious and you can't hear him 46:55 you are free. The wicker he is, the freer are you 46:58 are so to speak. And Jesus stays in control and 47:03 Jesus gives, he gives the answer or he gives the 47:09 orders not the answers, he gives the answers to, 47:11 but he gives the orders. So the question is the 47:15 each of our lives is what we're gonna do to self, 47:22 if you want to be free from sin, self has got to die 47:28 and selfishness dies with self am I right. 47:33 In fact, Ellen White says that the character you 47:36 know that you are making progress in character 47:39 when your mind is constantly thinking about how 47:41 you can bless somebody else. Where are your 47:46 thoughts? Are you constantly thinking about 47:50 me, myself are you saying Lord what can I do for 47:55 that person, how can I bless that person what can 47:57 I do to be a blessing here. And you take no 48:02 offense at people's unkindness to you. 48:09 That's why we have to have prayer, by the way if 48:12 Jesus stays in this cage the apostle Paul says if 48:15 you crucify Christ to fresh, there is no more 48:17 what? You could leave Christ in the cage and 48:21 starve of Christ to debt so to speak in, and then if 48:24 you die with the old man on the throne what's 48:26 your resurrection are you're gonna come up in. 48:31 I want to make sure that my life always has Jesus 48:34 on the throne and that's why you need the power 48:38 of prayer, that's why you need to be constantly 48:39 thinking about other people. How many of you 48:41 read the by Roger Marino incredibility answers 48:45 to prayer. Many of you read that, so he has got 48:46 one story that I'm recalling real quick, 48:50 he brings out this point beautifully that he started 48:53 living a prayer life because he is constantly 48:56 praying for other people and he is constantly 48:58 thinking about other people and how God can 49:00 minister to them and he told the story. How he 49:06 pulled in a parking lot and there is a couple that 49:08 pulled up two spots away from him. Remember 49:10 the story, pull up two spots away from end, and it 49:16 is a hot day and the wife turned off the engine 49:20 before the husband rolled up the window and she 49:26 turned to him and she said how can you be so 49:29 stupid as not to roll up the window before I 49:31 turned it off. And boom, out of the man's mouth 49:39 he said just roll, just sliced her to bits with 49:43 profanity and so forth. He said, at that moment he 49:49 said I had the impression, I needed to pray for 49:51 these people and says a silent begin to pay, 49:53 they don't know him he has never met them. 49:55 He says I'm sitting there in the car and he says I 49:57 begin to pray for them asking that God would 50:00 move away the evil angels from their lives and, 50:02 and bring reconciliation and he, and he says 50:05 while he was praying that all the sudden quite ran 50:08 for about 20 seconds, it was just quite between 50:11 the two of them they just sat there. And then the 50:16 man turned to his wife and he, he says honey I 50:18 don't why I said all that things and say I'm so 50:20 upset with myself he say I don't understand why 50:22 I'm so quick tempered it looks like I could bring 50:24 more control I thought you never said this thing 50:26 to him I'm sorry, she said what you know I shall 50:28 never done, I shall never provoked to you, 50:30 she says I provoked to you by saying something 50:32 so foolish. He said he got out of the car and they 50:36 needed a coin for the parking meter and he 50:40 couldn't find and he said sugar pies, do you have 50:43 a coin in your purse for that she says she was 50:46 reach around she says yes and you smiling, 50:47 she says do you know how many years it's been 50:49 she said since you called me sugar pie. 50:56 He said she put her arm in his arm and together 50:58 happily they walked off to do their shopping. 51:01 I'm telling you we've got to learn to know what it 51:04 is to die to self, so that we constant living for 51:07 the good of other people. There is a great 51:09 controversy going on why don't we conquer self, 51:12 how we turn that over to Jesus, turn our lives 51:14 over to Jesus, so that he can use us. You don't 51:16 have to be a minister, you don't have to be a 51:18 teacher, whatever line of work you have, in your 51:20 home wherever, you can't be like influence and 51:24 a power will flow through you in order to reach 51:27 other people. Jesus is coming, there is so much 51:30 work to do. And so my appeal to you and to me 51:37 is let's live free, but dying to self. 51:46 Let's pray Father in Heaven thank you that we are 51:49 baptized into the death of Jesus that we might live 51:54 his life of unselfish love in Jesus name, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17