Participants: Jay Gallimore
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000971
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01:00 I want to ask a question, couple of
01:03 questions to start off with. First of all, 01:05 who controls the Will? The selfish man 01:13 or the spiritual man? The selfish carnal man 01:18 or the unselfish spiritual man? 01:21 Now, internally they were gonna go to 01:23 Romans, if you have your Bibles you know 01:25 turn to Romans chapter 8 you can follow 01:28 along there, at some of the texts that 01:31 we're gonna look at to start off. 01:33 Now, I'm going to start right off with, 01:35 with Romans chapter 8 and I'm looking at, 01:39 at the word, I'm sorry I don't have that verse, 01:44 it's right there, it's starting with verse 3, 01:47 starting verse 3, "For what the law 01:50 could not do, and that it was weak through 01:53 the flesh, God did by sending His own Son 01:57 in the likeness of sinful flesh." 01:59 And there is the good news, the bad news 02:01 and the good news. The bad news is that 02:03 the law, there are some things that law 02:05 could not do, but then it says, but God did. 02:09 So, what the law could not do God did it, 02:11 isn't that good news? Amen. And let's, 02:15 let's just watch this going down to, 02:18 to the next, to the, no, the same verse. 02:22 Lets stay right there on the same verse. 02:24 "God did by sending His own Son in the likeness 02:27 of sinful flesh, on account of sin; 02:29 He condemned sin in the flesh." Now, let's 02:32 understand the data of what we just read. 02:34 First of all, the law is weak because when it 02:37 commanded sinful man to do something, 02:42 sinful man cannot respond, because of our 02:46 sinfulness. So, the law says do not or do 02:49 and it doesn't get our response out of us. 02:53 The law had no power to change the sinful nature 02:59 of men. And all of us in this room are in the 03:01 same boat, we all have a sinful nature 03:03 and the law has no power to change it. 03:06 Therefore, it's power was limited to informing 03:11 and condemning sin in us, but it couldn't 03:15 change us, but the good news again is what 03:18 the law could not do God did. 03:22 And let me just go right now real, real quickly 03:24 because it's not the main thing, 03:25 I want to get to how the mind things 03:27 and how the carnal mind has to be conquered 03:30 and so forth. God gave His own son 03:33 to the human race. Number two, 03:36 by His living, Christ living he ruined 03:40 the rule of sin in our lives. The reason 03:42 we can't respond to God's laws 03:44 because sin is ruling in our lives 03:46 and Jesus came and he ruined the rule of sin 03:50 in human flesh. I think that's real good news 03:53 as well. Then he paid the penalty with his, 03:56 of sin with his life as our substitute 04:00 he played our game of life and he won where 04:03 we lost. Now, what is a substitute, 04:06 we use the word substitute quite a bit, 04:08 although we practice it quite a bit 04:11 in our culture, although we don't use the word 04:13 so much, but let me give a good example. 04:15 When I drive west sometimes on 04:18 Sabbath morning, which would be 04:20 Saturday morning and you are, 04:22 and I'm driving west towards out of Lansing 04:24 toward Grand Rapids, Michigan. 04:26 All of a sudden I'm met in the other line 04:29 streaming toward Lansing or streaming toward 04:33 Ann Arbor, I met with streams of cars 04:37 flying flags. Some of the flags are green 04:42 and some of them are blue. Now, if you're a 04:46 Michigander you know what I'm talking about? 04:49 Now, the people that are flying those flags 04:51 they're into this thing. Now, you may know 04:54 some of them at work. They'll say something 04:57 like this to you, they'll look at you 05:00 and they will say, you maybe for the green 05:03 and maybe therefore they're for the blue 05:04 or vice versa, they will say you know, 05:08 Saturday morning we're going to beat, 05:10 we're going to beat you good. 05:13 We're going to do it, we're, we're going to 05:16 win this, we're going to do this. 05:18 They will going to come back, no you're not, 05:20 you're weak, you just wait and you know 05:22 how this conversation goes. 05:25 Then on Monday morning, they show up to work 05:28 and they say, I told you, we're going to 05:30 beat you and we. We, we, we never touch the ball, 05:44 never. What, what was going on here? 05:51 This is called substitution. Whatever 05:55 their team did whether it was green or blue 05:58 whatever their team did, it was as though 06:01 it happened to them. When the team 06:06 made a touch down, they made a touch down. 06:09 We call that substitution. Now, let's 06:14 just play, but what I'm talking about 06:17 is very real. Amen. Not even in the same league. 06:24 The father of our race Adam lost, 06:29 and when he lost every one of us lost. 06:33 Real, we're born because of Adam's defeat, 06:37 we're born into his defeat. We wake up 06:41 from our momma's womb already messed up. 06:47 God send His only begotten son into 06:51 human flesh, He played the game all over 06:55 and won, amen, amen. That means, 07:01 that His victory can now become my victory, 07:05 that sin does not have to rule in my life, 07:11 that the rule of sin can be kick out 07:15 of by living, and I want to say praise God. Amen. 07:21 You, you've to understand that the 07:23 rule of sin is an awful thing, we talk 07:26 more about that as we go along here 07:28 just a little bit. Now, the other thing is that 07:31 by faith we can accept His life in place 07:34 of our life. Just as they accept the team 07:37 in place of them and the teams play, 07:39 we accept the life of Christ in place 07:42 of our life. In response when we put our faith 07:45 in Him to do that, He sets us free from sins 07:49 rule and sins penalty. Now, look at, 07:52 continuing looking verse 4, if you would. 07:54 And so, he condemned sinful, he condemns, 07:58 I'm usually the new international 07:59 at this point. So, we condemn sin 08:01 and sinful man, and order that the righteous 08:04 requirements of the law might be fully met 08:07 in us, who do not live according to the 08:09 sinful nature, but according to spirit. 08:11 So, he's simply saying that because of Christ 08:13 we can live a different life. 08:15 And it's going to, it's gonna deal into our 08:17 thinking here, we're going to see how that 08:19 works in thinking. The requirements of the law, 08:22 here are the results. The requirements 08:24 of the law can be fully met in our lives. 08:27 Now, that's amazing, because we've much 08:29 of the Christian world that says, you know, 08:32 it's over with, don't worry about 08:33 the God's law, etc, etc. The requirements 08:36 of the law however, according to this text 08:38 can be fully met on the following conditions. 08:41 One if we no longer trust our rule, 08:45 the rule of our life to our carnal nature. 08:47 Now, let me tell you this is where the rubber 08:49 really starts to meet the road. 08:52 We struggle with putting Christ in control 09:01 of our life and giving up control of our life. 09:07 Let me explain, so it's really serious. 09:12 Wouldn't you give your life to Christ, 09:14 your, that's a, that's a cliche, so easily, 09:17 what you're really saying is, 09:19 I'm, I'm actually putting you in control 09:23 of my living. So, if Jesus wants me to die 09:31 or wants you to die tomorrow, it's okay. 09:39 Because he is in control, if He want you 09:45 to live tomorrow, He wants me to live 09:47 tomorrow, it's okay because 09:51 he is in control. You following me? 09:58 In other words, am I willing to trust Christ 10:02 with all of my life? I'm giving some 10:12 Bible studies to very talented young man 10:15 and I'm enjoying that and his, his life, 10:19 he's making changes in his life and, 10:23 and he said to me just yesterday. 10:26 We were talking, he says you know, I, 10:28 I don't drink anymore. He says, when I, 10:30 when I go to this kind of event 10:32 and that kind of event, I just tell people no, 10:33 I, I don't drink and he says, 10:35 I really am enjoying that and he says, I'm 10:37 in full control of myself and he was 10:39 telling me the joys of that, but he says 10:43 I got an event coming up, but I'm going back 10:45 to my old fraternity, my college fraternity. 10:47 And he looked at me and he says it's going to be 10:49 awfully hard not to drink. 10:56 And I said, I talked to him about the moment, 11:00 about the issue of Christ being in control 11:04 of his life. And I said, you've come to that 11:07 moment where Christ is asking you to pick up 11:11 the Cross. I said, I don't know 11:15 what will happen in that, people may 11:16 make fun of you and they may laugh at you, 11:18 but I said somebody is going to be impressed 11:20 with you, you're sent there to be 11:22 Christ's ambassador. Amen. You sit there 11:27 to be his man, but sometimes in 11:30 Christianity we give our life to Christ, 11:32 but we don't really give Him our life. 11:34 We've got to make Christ back in charge 11:36 of our life in our living. And so, 11:41 we've got to trust our life to the rule 11:42 of Christ. Now, we got to understand 11:44 the struggle of sins, so if you're looking down 11:46 and there and we, I want to look again at, 11:48 at verse 5, understanding 11:54 the struggle with sin. Verse 5, 11:56 "For those who live according to the flesh 11:59 set their." According to the sinful nature, 12:03 I'm using the New International. 12:04 "Those who live according to the 12:05 sinful nature have their minds set on what that 12:10 nature desires; but those who live according 12:13 to the Spirit have their mind set on what the 12:16 Spirit desires." Notice the mind here is either 12:20 set on what the Spirit desires or what the 12:22 carnal nature desires. What, what does it mean 12:26 to have your mind set on something? 12:29 A question, what did Hitler have his mind set 12:34 on? Now, I, I got some German in me, 12:37 but I'm mostly Scot-Irish but, 12:38 and English, but we're all the hinds variety. 12:41 So, I got, I got enough German, 12:42 I can talk I think. What did Hitler 12:49 have his mind set on? What was he thinking? 12:56 What did he want? And why did, 13:00 why did enough not our German people, 13:02 but why did enough German people? 13:04 Why did they go along with that? 13:10 What Hitler wanted is he wanted, 13:13 he wanted them to become, and he wanted 13:17 to be remembered always as the great leader, 13:19 who made them the world dominant superior power. 13:26 It was all about self. And that's why 13:31 he was popular, became popular. 13:35 We kept the uno number one O for the world. 13:37 And we know that when you have the mind 13:40 set on the carnal, when, what happened to 13:44 Germany? We know the terrible reason, 13:47 there was euphoria, it's gonna be great, 13:49 it's gonna be wonderful, we will do whatever 13:51 it take to bring this great vision about, 13:53 but when it was all done and said, 13:56 Germany was in ruins. If you set your mind 14:02 on the carnal self, the carnal self will 14:08 eventually ruin you, no matter how nice 14:11 and good it sounds now. That's why we 14:18 have to have; we must have our mind set on 14:22 what the Spirit desires. What does the 14:23 Spirit desire? Well, let me illustrate 14:29 this again, what, what is it that you want 14:33 your children to have when they grow up. 14:35 Now, most Americans will say I want my children 14:38 to be healthy, I want them to be wealthy, 14:43 I want them to be famous, 14:44 I want them to be happy, I want them to be 14:46 whatever. We usually think in carnal terms 14:51 or earthly terms, I'll put it that way. 14:54 There's nothing wrong with being happening, 14:55 we want them to be happy, but what is, 14:59 what is the spirit of God want for your 15:00 children? Let me tell you what he wants. 15:06 He wants them to have a noble Christ like 15:11 character because in that nobility of Christ 15:17 likeness and God likeness there is 15:21 eternal life. So, we, we need to have our minds 15:29 set on what the spirit desires. 15:31 Now, the mind is used a lot here on this text, 15:35 still in Romans 8 verses 5 to 8. 15:38 "The mind of sinful man is death, 15:40 but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life 15:42 and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God, 15:48 the sinful it, the sinful mind does not 15:50 submit to God's law." Now, if a sinful mind 15:53 does not submit to God's law, 15:56 what does the spiritual mind do? 15:59 Let me do that again. If the carnal mind, 16:04 the selfish mind does not submit to God's law. 16:09 What does the spiritual mind do? 16:14 Just the opposite, so it submits, 16:17 the spiritual mind submits to God's law. 16:22 Alright, let's, let's go on here. 16:24 Those controlled by the sinful nature 16:27 cannot please God, so two questions. 16:29 How is the sinful mind taken out of control 16:34 of our lives? And how do we bring our mind 16:38 under the control of Christ? 16:42 Well, first of all we've got to cooperate 16:45 with divine agencies. Now, you probably heard 16:47 this illustration before, but I'm going 16:49 to use it. There was once a farmer who had a 16:51 beautiful farm and somebody showed up 16:54 one day and, and he looked at the cornfield 16:57 and, and the beans and he says, 16:59 I've never seen such beautiful beans 17:01 and such, God has sure blessed you 17:03 with those beans and corn. 17:04 Then he looked at the cattle and he said, I've 17:05 never seen such slick cattle in my life, 17:07 God has so blessed you with such 17:09 beautiful cattle, I've just never seen 17:11 anything like it. And he looked at his garden, 17:13 he looked at this and everything he turned 17:14 around, he said, God has just been so good, 17:16 look what God has given you, 17:17 he's given you that beautiful barn, 17:18 you got a lovely home and God has been so, 17:21 and kept doing and then finally the man 17:22 looked at him. And I'm not saying this to be 17:25 fun because I think it's actually blasphemies. 17:28 The man looked at him, the farmer looked at him 17:30 and he said, well you should have seen what 17:32 it looked like when God had it by himself. 17:37 Now, lets just analyze that just a minute. 17:41 You could, the farmer would say, yeah, 17:45 he says I actually produced this, 17:46 I mean, I'm the guy that put the seed 17:49 in the ground, yes, that's true where did 17:51 you get the seed? Well, yeah, 17:55 God gave us the seed, I put it in the earth, 17:58 yeah, that's true, but where did the dirt 18:01 come from? Oh, yeah that's true. 18:05 Well, I hoed it, that's true, 18:07 but where did the wood for the hoe handle 18:09 come from, where did the metal for the hoe 18:11 come from? Listen, when you get down 18:13 at the end of it, he says, well I, 18:16 I put the energy into it. Yes, 18:19 but where did you get the energy? 18:23 Well, I have the mind to. Yeah, 18:24 who gave you the mind to do it? 18:27 Well, you get ride on to it, all you can say 18:29 is the farmer cooperated with God, 18:33 that's all he did. Let me tell you, 18:36 to develop a noble Christian character, 18:38 you give your life to Christ, 18:39 Christ has provided everything for us 18:42 including His own power to help us develop it, 18:46 but we must cooperate with Him 18:50 in the development of that character. 18:52 It's just like your child, he says daddy, 18:55 I want to build a nice model plane you know 18:58 one of those which you, you fly by radio 18:59 control, I want to do that daddy. 19:01 Fine son, you go out and you buy all the stuff, 19:04 you brought the radio control, 19:05 you brought the PC, you brought the wood, 19:06 you brought everything, get down, 19:07 so okay here's the plan son. And I'll help you, 19:10 I'll guide you and he looks at you, 19:12 and he says daddy you do it, 19:13 I don't want to do. Well, I thought son 19:15 you wanted to build this, I thought you 19:17 grew up, no I wanted. Now, listen, 19:18 if it's gonna be his plane, as a father, 19:21 you're going to insist that he cooperate 19:24 with you, you're not gonna sit there 19:25 and do it for him. It's the same way 19:28 with your character, you've got to cooperate 19:30 with the Savior, and He will help you 19:34 and power you to build a noble Christian 19:38 character. What does it mean when God says; 19:41 I will put a new spirit, a heart and this is an 19:43 Ellen White comment from Mind, 19:44 Character, Personality, page 95. 19:49 It means a new mind I will give you. 19:51 This change of heart is always attended, 19:55 attended by a clear conception of 20:01 Christian duty and an understanding of truth. 20:05 I've never seen a man converted that said 20:10 to me you know, I just given my heart 20:12 to Christ, I'm so happy I've given my heart 20:14 to Christ. Now, I'm, I, I've got a, 20:15 I got a go out here, when I'm here, 20:17 I got to do a little cruising tonight 20:18 till about midnight or 1 O'clock in the morning 20:20 at the local bar. I've never had that happen. 20:24 Because people when their life is changed, 20:27 people know basically, they may not know 20:30 everything, but they know that 20:31 there's got to be a change and that all of 20:34 that was not right, they know it. 20:38 God gives us a certain understanding. 20:42 Now, men are going to understand 20:44 this here at men's conference. 20:47 The mind and I don't want to be too rigid 20:49 with this, but just kind of give us an overview. 20:51 Think of the mind like a calculator, 20:54 think about it like the logic, the computer 20:57 if you please, it's where the reason 21:00 and the judgment and the calculations 21:01 take place. And then there's your heart, 21:05 your heart is where your affections are, 21:07 it's what you like. And then of course 21:10 there is the conscious, what is the conscious, 21:12 the conscious is, is that what measures 21:15 right and wrong and if it's awake it will 21:18 tell you that's not right you know, 21:20 that's not right, this is right, this is good, 21:23 this isn't right. And then there are 21:26 the motions, the feelings that come 21:30 and then there's the will power. 21:32 The will is the, the administrator, 21:36 the will is the executor, the will 21:38 carries out what the mind wants it to 21:41 carry out, but it makes it happen. 21:46 When God changes us, he takes the mind, 21:49 he takes the logic and the reasoning 21:51 and he enlightens it, because sin 21:54 has darken our intelligence. 21:57 And he changes our affections; 21:59 the things we used to love we now no longer 22:01 love, our things are, our mind is focused on 22:04 spiritual things. The conscious that's been 22:06 asleep, that just let you do all kinds of 22:08 bad things and you don't feel anything 22:10 about the conscious, now wakes up 22:13 and it's start to say, this is right, 22:15 this is wrong. The emotions that have been 22:19 directed toward carnal pursuits are now 22:21 directed towards care and love and sympathy 22:25 and goodness. And the will, that will power, 22:29 that will now serves not the old carnal self, 22:33 but it serves the new master, Christ Jesus. 22:41 Now, I'm going to share with you a quote from 22:44 Steps to Christ, again by Ellen White, 22:46 a powerful quote, you may hear yourself in it. 22:50 I certainly have heard myself in it. 22:54 "Many are inquiring how am I to make a surrender 22:57 of myself to God." Now, as a minister 22:59 I've called a lot of people to surrender, 23:01 surrender your life to Christ, 23:02 but what do we mean by that? 23:05 You desire to give yourself to Him, 23:08 but you're weak and moral power, 23:10 don't raise your hand. Ever felt that way? 23:16 In slavery today control, there is that 23:19 word again controlled by habits, 23:23 by the habits of your life of sin. 23:28 Doug Batchelor told a story this morning 23:31 but how he used to smoke and, and he felt 23:34 the power of that control to cry out 23:36 for God given victory over that. 23:41 Your promises and resolutions are like 23:46 ropes of sand. You cannot control 23:52 your thoughts, I'm gonna talk more about that, 23:54 you cannot control your thoughts 23:55 or your impulses or your affections. 24:02 Do you know why sometimes I, I'll tell 24:08 you an illustrates a story I had one time, 24:10 as a pastor I had, I had a couple coming to me 24:13 and they, and they said, look I, 24:16 we would like to get married. So, 24:17 that's nice, we would like for you to do 24:19 the wedding. Oh, I said, I'm honored. 24:20 Well, tell me a little bit about yourself. 24:22 I said, how did you meet? Oh, 24:24 we fell in love with each other 24:25 at her wedding. I, the red lights went on I, 24:33 you know, I, I think I better get to know 24:35 more about this. And I so began to probe 24:40 a little bit, that's what tell 24:41 you what's happens. As well you know, 24:43 she was bride; I was one of the groom. 24:45 We locked into each others eyes 24:47 and we just fell in love at our wedding. 24:49 And we believe because it was a religious 24:52 service that God ordained it that way. 24:55 And so, well I'm gonna have to help you out 24:57 a little bit. You, you could probably guess 25:01 the rest of that story. Could not control 25:07 neither of them, could control 25:11 their affections. They could not control 25:18 their impulses. The knowledge of your 25:26 broken promise is in, and don't raise 25:28 your hand. Maybe that's melancholy like I do, 25:30 I've got a little bit, let me at least you, 25:32 you ever feel down or melancholy 25:34 or discouraged, the devil likes to do that 25:36 to all of us. The knowledge of your 25:38 broken promises, forfeited pledges 25:40 weakens your confidence in your own sincerity 25:44 and causes you to feel that God cannot 25:47 accept you, but then I love these next 25:50 few words, but you need not despair. Amen. Amen, 25:55 that's right. What you need to understand 25:58 is a true force of the will, 26:00 the power of choice God has given to men 26:03 and it is there's to exercise. 26:07 Now, men will understand this next statement 26:08 a little better maybe then, then our, 26:11 our ladies, you cannot change your heart, 26:15 you cannot of yourself give God its affections, 26:19 that's very important to understand, 26:20 I cannot just as the law cannot change me, 26:24 I cannot change me. The only person 26:26 that can change me is the Lord Jesus Christ. 26:28 Amen. Yeah, we've to under, that's what 26:30 we call Jesus calling being born again. 26:33 You cannot change your heart, 26:35 you cannot change your affections, 26:36 you cannot change what you love, 26:38 but you, you can choose to serve Him. 26:46 Now, as men we're not always as emotionally 26:49 triggered. Now Jesus, a man of great emotions 26:54 he wept in prayer. There are times that 26:56 he wept, but, but sometimes we just 27:01 don't feel, so we, we may say, 27:04 well I'd like to surrender my life to 27:06 Christ, but I don't feel anything. 27:08 The religious thing in America today 27:09 it's all feeling. People say, well I felt 27:12 something that's, I felt this, I felt, 27:14 listen your choice for Christ, well certainly 27:18 there can be emotions involved, 27:20 but it doesn't have to have emotions. 27:22 Your chores for Christ ought to be because 27:25 you choose to surrender and to serve the 27:28 Lord Jesus Christ. Amen, amen. 27:30 And as men we can do that by His grace. 27:33 We don't have to have emotions, 27:34 but we can choose to serve Christ. 27:36 And we can say to Him Lord Jesus, 27:39 by your grace, I want to serve you. 27:42 You can give him your will, now you say, 27:44 is that hard? Let me tell you how hard it is, 27:48 if you work for one of the automotive, 27:50 Ford, or Chrysler, or GM. And you go to work 27:54 for them; I want to ask you who during that 27:58 eight hour period that you're working for them, 28:00 who owns your will, there as far as work is 28:04 concerned. Who owns it? Do you walk 28:07 and say, oh hello Ford motor company, 28:10 I'm so glad you've got me now, 28:11 you've, you've been wise enough to hire me. 28:13 Now, let me tell you what I like to do today, 28:15 is that the way it works? 28:21 Then work that. We, we practice giving our will 28:27 a lot in, in different circumstances, 28:30 if we can give our will to our employer for work 28:34 purposes, can we not give our will to Christ, 28:39 we can do this by His grace. 28:41 What it means is, Lord, I'm putting you 28:42 in charge, I'm gonna do even I may not 28:44 feel like it, I'm gonna do it anyway because 28:46 you told me to do it. You may not feel like 28:51 you know, putting that screw and that motor 28:54 a hundred times or wherever it does 28:56 or wherever it is, that do in car, 28:58 'cause I don't know they have robots, 29:00 all kinds of sophisticated marvelous 29:01 things, at least here in Michigan they do. 29:05 I, I don't know what all they do, 29:06 but you could get tired of doing 29:09 what all they ask you to do, you could, 29:10 am I right? You could feel like you'd like 29:13 not do that anymore, but you keep doing it 29:15 because you chosen to let them be in charge 29:18 of that that project, of the work. 29:23 Can you not do that with Christ Jesus? 29:27 Can we not give him my will? 29:30 He will then work in you to will and to do 29:32 His good according to his good pleasure. 29:35 The problem of sin is that we also have 29:39 satanic forces that we're up against. 29:40 And there are many, there are many 29:44 who are really troubled because of low 29:46 debasing thoughts that come into their mind 29:49 that are not easily banished, don't raise 29:51 your hand, if you have low debased evil 29:54 thoughts that come into your mind, 29:56 even as the Christian and that 29:58 they're not easily blandish, 29:59 if you never have any of that, 30:01 I want to talk to you later because 30:03 I'm not sure you're part of 30:04 the sinful human race. 30:12 There's the devil, by the way this quote 30:17 goes onto say that the devil studies us, 30:20 and studies our weaknesses and then 30:21 he makes evil, he makes evil suggestions, 30:25 he makes suggestions where our weakest areas 30:29 are, I don't know how he does that, 30:33 I know how he can you know, he can make 30:35 suggestions that that, that we hear or see 30:39 or whatever, but somehow he's able to do that. 30:47 How do we, how do we as a Christian, 30:50 how do we rid of that kind of thing? 30:52 It's how we think and I want to talk about 30:55 that let, let me say this, that Satan 30:59 not only knows your mommy and your daddy 31:01 and your grandma, and your grandpa, 31:02 he knows your ancestors all the way back 31:04 to Adam. And he studies you, 31:07 it's not like he goes in the park for a lark 31:09 and he says, oh there is X and there is Y, 31:11 let's see if we can get him today. 31:13 It's not that all. These guys are cold 31:15 and calculating. They know all of the 31:18 ancestors that they've already destroyed 31:20 of yours and mine because they've already 31:22 got secured for eternal destruction. 31:24 And they also know who Jesus has already 31:27 rescued out of their hand. They pretty, 31:29 they've got a pretty good knowledge 31:30 I think of that, that's my personal opinion. 31:33 I think they understand where Jesus has won 31:36 and where they've lost. And they're, 31:39 they're calculating to destroy you, 31:42 and to destroy me. And they say, oh yeah 31:45 this work on ancestor 25 and it's just, 31:50 he's just like that one, lets see 31:51 if it'll work on this one. That's what's 31:54 going on. Aren't you glad you have a savior? 31:58 Amen. And we have a mighty savior 32:02 who's counteracting all of that by His grace, 32:04 but we've got to cooperate with him. 32:06 Now, here's from Mind, Character, 32:08 and Personality Volume 2, Page 656. 32:10 Right thoughts pure and holy purposes, 32:14 do not come to us naturally, 32:17 we have to strive for them. What it means? 32:21 When you strive for something? 32:23 Have you ever had a car struck? 32:25 I got my lawn mower stuck in my swamp 32:28 this spring. And I, I could even pull it, 32:32 I got another old lawn mower that we inherited, 32:34 and I couldn't even pull it out with that, 32:36 I had to go get my wise jeep and pull it out. 32:40 I tell you, I was striving, I was pushing, 32:43 I was trying everything, when you strive for 32:45 something you're putting energy and thinking 32:47 and mind into it. And even the jeep was having 32:50 problem until I went and got some cat litter 32:53 and put it on the wheels to gets some traction. 32:55 Strive, now it goes onto say, the thoughts 33:06 must be trained. How do you train 33:09 your thoughts? The thoughts must be 33:11 controlled. How do you control your thoughts? 33:15 This sometimes you know, this is a surprise 33:17 to people, sometime people say, oh I, 33:19 where do I, I just think about wherever comes 33:21 in my mind. Hey, listen if you're just thinking 33:27 about wherever comes in your mind, 33:28 you're in big trouble. Your mind is a gift 33:33 from God and the marvelous thing about 33:36 it is that you have a choice to control 33:39 what you think about. The battle is over, 33:45 the mind Christ wants to control the mind 33:49 with his principles till they become in essence 33:54 our very own. Well, what does it mean to train? 33:57 It means you educate your mind. 33:59 How do you educate your mind? 34:00 That's why the Bible is so important. 34:01 Now, that's why we're so grateful for gifts 34:03 of like the spirit of prophecy for instance. 34:06 It, it, it educates our mind and, 34:09 and then we have to exercise and discipline 34:11 our mind. Listen, if, if you were to do forty 34:14 pushups and you can only do twenty pushups, 34:17 what are you gonna have to do to get to forty? 34:20 It's called discipline, it's called you push out 34:23 twenty and then you just make yourself push out 34:26 21, am I right? And when you get 21 mastered 34:30 you make yourself push out 22, 34:32 and then finally you get to forty. 34:33 I got the, you got the picture that's, 34:36 that's what it means. You've got to do 34:37 your mind that way. You said, you mind, 34:39 no you're not gonna think about that, 34:40 I don't choose for you to think about that. 34:42 I'll talk a little bit more about that 34:43 in a moment, but you choose what you think 34:45 about. And so you make your mind behave 34:48 the way you want it to behave, 34:49 you control it because you direct your mind, 34:51 and you manage your mind. And you organize 34:54 your mind. So, how do we train 34:57 and how do we control our mind? 34:59 First of all, you train your mind by choosing 35:02 what it thinks about, have you ever had, 35:04 have you ever had bad thoughts 35:06 coming to your mind? And they won't go away. 35:11 How, how do you handle that? 35:14 Well, first of all I like to say, 35:16 when, let me ask you this way. 35:19 Can you think of something in the 35:22 writings of the Apostle Paul that says, 35:23 this is how you should think? 35:25 Can you think of a text? Yes, 35:29 Philippians 4, what does it say? 35:33 "Whatsoever things are pure, 35:35 whatsoever things are lovely, 35:36 whatsoever things are of good report." 35:38 It goes on, and then he ends the text by saying, 35:40 think on these things. So, first of all 35:49 you choose that you're going to think 35:50 and know, if you want to be a noble man, 35:52 you got to think noble thoughts, 35:53 am I right? If you want to be a noble person, 35:56 you got to take the high road even 35:58 if other people take the low road. 36:04 So, what happens when you're, when, 36:05 when evil thoughts comes flashing in your mind, 36:08 and they won't go away, they're not easily 36:10 banished. You say I don't want to think 36:12 about. First of all, you got to make a 36:13 conscious decision when that happens to you, 36:15 and I'm a fellow traveler along with all 36:17 the rest of you. When that, when this kind of 36:19 thing starts jumping in my mind and this is what 36:22 goes on and, first of all I say, 36:23 I recognize it, and I say, okay. 36:25 I do not choose to think about that, 36:27 thought get out of here, enemy of souls, 36:31 leave me alone, I'm not thinking about that. 36:34 If it pops back I'll say, Lord Jesus 36:35 you and I have already decide that you and I 36:38 are not thinking about that, 36:39 and I've got help from divine power, 36:41 and I keep praying that prayer until that thing 36:44 goes and leaves me alone, and I have since 36:46 the power, the presence of Lord Jesus banishing 36:48 thoughts from my mind. And He will do that 36:52 for you, but you've got to cooperate 36:56 with divine power. Amen. Another way that you, 37:00 you control your mind is that you, 37:04 you choose ahead of the time what is not going 37:09 to think about. Let, let me, let me explain 37:18 what I mean by that. You know, 37:21 there is a place that and that Ellen White 37:25 says that we should spend, it would be a 37:27 wonderful thing to spend an hour a day 37:29 contemplating the life of Christ. 37:32 Why is that idea given to us? 37:36 Don't you already know the facts? 37:40 It's not so you can get more facts. 37:44 So, why would you need to spend an hour a day 37:46 contemplating the life of Christ? 37:50 Let, let me suggest to you that when you 37:53 contemplate the life of Christ, when you say 37:55 Lord Jesus, I want to think about your life. 37:57 You're beginning to understand your own 38:01 weaknesses. How did, how do you think 38:07 Jesus thought about Mary Magdalene, 38:15 I mean she had a history, now the 38:19 carnal man would go down one road, 38:22 but how would Jesus think about her? 38:28 When, when, when Mary pours the ointment 38:31 with weeping and wipes his feat with her hair. 38:39 Jesus is in a place of power and influence. 38:43 How will he think about her? You, you see 38:49 when you spend time with Jesus thinking about 38:51 his life. You begin to discover your own self. 38:59 And then you say to Lord Jesus you know, 39:02 Lord I, I've got a, I've got a problem over here 39:05 with green. I mean, how would Jesus handle 39:10 Judas, how did he? How, what did he think about 39:13 when Judas, he knew Judas was betraying 39:16 him was he vengeful was he, he just wanted 39:19 to get him? In thinking about the life of Christ 39:26 we begin to understand where our weaknesses 39:29 are, and then we say to the Lord Jesus, 39:31 Lord Jesus, you and I know now, 39:33 painful as it is that I've got a weakness 39:37 here. I, you know I've got a weakness here. 39:39 And, and I really, you and I've got to decide 39:43 ahead of time because you know 39:44 and I know the Satan knows that I 39:45 got a weakness there. And you know, 39:47 and I know that when he gets a chance, 39:48 he's gonna try to hit me there. So, you know, 39:51 and I know that we can make a choice right now 39:53 that when that happens that we're gonna yield. 39:57 Is that making sense, following me. 40:01 So, you actually think ahead of time 40:04 with Christ what you're not going to do 40:09 when the temptation comes because 40:10 you're fairly certain you're going to get in 40:11 temptation with that. If you know, 40:19 the Bible says about the Apostle John that 40:21 he was naturally vengeful, you remember 40:26 when they went to, by the village of Samaria 40:28 and they wouldn't let Jesus spend 40:29 the night there. You know, the story, Lord. 40:32 They made him mad, they made him mad. 40:37 And he said Lord, and he knew Jesus 40:39 had the power, don't just, just tell us 40:42 to call down fire from heaven, 40:43 we'll just turn these people to toast 40:45 that'll teach them something. Of course, 40:47 nobody in this room has ever felt themselves 40:49 feeling like that. He had a vengeful spirit. 40:58 Now, he became just the opposite, 41:01 isn't that good news? Jesus called him 41:04 the son of thunder, but he became 41:06 known as the Apostle of love, principle love, 41:11 just, just the opposite. So, you, you have to 41:16 anticipate ahead of time that there is, 41:20 there's that there might be a problem. 41:23 And it can be in lots of areas of life. 41:26 Now, and I want to say this, and I know 41:28 this is being broadcast and probably women 41:31 will be looking at this as well as men, 41:33 but I'm talking to men, so if you're a woman 41:35 listening to this you probably won't 41:37 understand it, but you might want to run 41:38 and get your husband. Although, a lot of 41:45 women could learn a lot from about 41:47 what I'm about to say. And so, the women 41:49 can add and subtract. You know, 41:55 God made women beautiful for a reason. 41:58 And, and I praise God for that. Women are, 42:01 are, women are wonderful. A wonderful 42:04 invention of God. God, God made women 42:07 and He made us to like women. 42:09 And He also created us visual as men 42:14 to appreciate the beauty. And, 42:18 and by the way this is a side trip, 42:20 ask in evolution where beauty came from. 42:23 They, they can't figure that one out. 42:28 I mean, you can evolve beauty, can you? 42:33 Like the gladiolus on my table. So, God, 42:38 God wants us to appreciate beauty. 42:41 Now, I'm gonna leave that for a moment 42:43 and I wanna go to the temptations of Christ. 42:46 And I, and I want to say that you know, 42:48 there, there are, there is the higher powers 42:51 and the, and the lower powers 42:54 or the lower nature, lower nature is not bad. 42:56 It's just that is got to be subject 42:58 to the higher powers. When Jesus was 43:02 in the temptation of the wilderness. 43:05 Let me ask you this way. Is appetite 43:09 a legitimate need, yes or no? Absolutely, 43:14 a legitimate needs. When Jesus was in the 43:18 wilderness temptation, however He made a 43:22 decision. Listen to this carefully; 43:24 He made a decision not to fulfill 43:31 a legitimate need. What kind of need? 43:35 Legitimate, with an illegitimate solution. 43:43 What kind of solution? He said, 43:49 I would rather die then fulfill 43:55 a legitimate need with an illegitimate 44:02 sinful solution. That is surrender to the 44:16 will of God. Now, feminine duty is a, 44:28 is a wonderful thing. We're designed to 44:31 appreciate that, but what is immodest 44:38 on the side walk can be perfectly acceptable 44:48 within the marriage covenant, am I right? 44:54 I had, I had a physician and he was handing 45:00 these cards out, I don't know where he got them 45:02 from, but I think that he actually put them 45:03 together and he was talking and he gave me 45:06 one of the cards and he was talking about 45:08 even when something is presented before you, 45:11 and he was talking about immodesty 45:14 or feminine beauty in the wrong context 45:17 when it's presented to you, even if it's 45:19 presented to you, you turn away, 45:21 you don't look. Now, as men we have to 45:26 discipline our mind to do that because 45:28 our society sells everything 45:31 with feminine beauty. Am I right? 45:37 Including tooth paste. Its perversion, 45:42 God never intended for women to be used 45:45 that way. No man wants his daughter 45:48 used that way, some of you should have 45:52 said amen. That's a perversion. 45:59 So your mind, my mind is constantly being 46:02 bombarded with these things and we have 46:05 choose ahead of time what we're gonna do 46:08 when it's presented in front of us. 46:13 And if we don't choose ahead of time 46:15 we find ourselves getting sucked 46:17 into the temptation. Am I making sense? 46:23 And we also have to make up our mind 46:26 that I will not fulfill a legitimate need 46:30 with an legitimate way. I don't have to say 46:35 that pornography is legitimate because 46:39 you know that. I see some billboards they are 46:43 illegitimate, there are some news sites 46:47 that I don't go to anymore because 46:48 they have a practice of putting stuff 46:50 they ought not put on there, 46:54 regular normal news sites. 46:58 We have to make up our mind ahead of time 47:01 with Christ Jesus. So, we say to Christ Jesus, 47:03 look you made feminine beauty. 47:06 You made me from the head of my, 47:07 from the top of my head to the sole of my feet, 47:09 everything you made about me is a wonderful 47:11 and good thing, sin has perverted everything, 47:13 I live in a perverted world, but by your grace 47:16 I'm choosing not to think about satisfying 47:21 a legitimate need in an illegitimate way. 47:24 So, you and I are saying right now Lord Jesus, 47:27 that when I'm confronted with this, 47:29 where ever it's at. I'm going to turn away 47:31 and I am going to say Lord Jesus, 47:33 I choose not to look at that, 47:35 thank you for helping me take my mind 47:37 in a noble direction. Amen. Is that a 47:41 good thing for Christians? Is Jesus 47:43 able to do that with Christian men? Amen. 47:49 I, I believe that Jesus wants to do great 47:51 and mighty things by helping us. 47:53 So, we must anticipate temptation. 47:55 Now, I've used this illustration before, 47:56 but since, I'm going to use it since 47:57 we're on the air I'm gonna use it, 47:59 in Grayling, Michigan, last fall, 48:02 as I left Grayling, Michigan, they have a 48:04 changing sign board because they give you 48:06 weather information or driving tips 48:09 or whatever and the message said something 48:12 like this, it said you know, if you are, 48:15 if a deer runs across do not swerve. 48:19 Now, they didn't say that because 48:21 they hated deer. They said that because 48:25 they loved human life. If you're at 48:30 high speed and you're driving down the highway 48:34 and a deer jumps in front of you, 48:36 you are naturally, normally going 48:38 to swerve. If you're at high speed the chances 48:42 of you losing control of your car are very high. 48:45 I learned that the hard way didn't turn the car 48:48 over, but for a split second I thought I'd 48:52 totally lost control of my car at probably 48:55 about 70 miles an hour. One man told me that 48:59 he actually did and he just flipped 49:01 over and over, over again. We have to 49:04 understand ourselves and make up ourselves 49:06 ahead of time what we're going to choose to do 49:11 or not to do by the grace of God. 49:14 Are you following me? Does this make sense? 49:16 Listen, we want to come out, 49:18 is Jesus interested in your pleasure? 49:20 Is Jesus had, does Jesus want you happy? 49:23 Is He able to make us happy? 49:25 You think Jesus was happy even 49:27 if he was willing to die but not fulfilling 49:31 a legitimate need in an illegitimate way. 49:35 Do you think the three Hebrew worthies, 49:37 who faced Nebuchadnezzar, 49:38 say we don't need a second chance, 49:39 I don't think they felt real fussy, 49:40 warm about that, I think that took a lot of 49:42 grid in them, but they trusted God 49:44 with their happiness, they believe it 49:46 be better to be thrown in the fiery furnace, 49:48 they believe He would bring them out of that 49:49 one way or another either resurrection 49:50 of that moment, which He did. 49:52 Do you think they spend the rest of their lives 49:55 thinking about that marvelous moment, 49:56 I think they did? Let me, let me keep going, 50:01 I've got to tell a little something 50:03 right here, if you want, if you want to make 50:06 a big difference in your life practice 50:08 the spirit of gratitude, three minutes. 50:11 Okay, this I want to get through, 50:13 practice the spirit of gratitude 50:17 and practice it on your wife. Amen. 50:21 I bet you all that you could tell me 50:23 really quickly the flaws in your wife 50:25 because a sinful man, the sinful carnal nature 50:28 naturally thinks that way. 50:30 But do you spend time thinking about 50:32 the blessings of your wife and do you let her 50:35 know that, let's, now let me tell you 50:38 last night my wife made a homemade 50:40 spaghetti sauce that would, 50:43 that was just plain out marvelous. 50:46 And you know, I told her, I not only told her 50:49 then, I told her this morning. 50:51 I said that was, that was marvelous stuff. 50:54 What am I doing when I do that? 50:57 It's like a boomerang guys. You throw it out 51:00 there it's gonna come back, on top of that 51:03 it has an affect on you, you're happier. 51:05 Don't dwell negatively on the faults of 51:08 your wife, just like you don't want to her 51:09 dwelling negatively on your faults, 51:12 because she didn't marry a perfect man 51:14 and you didn't marry a perfect women 51:15 and any of you that says you married a 51:16 perfect women talk to me air I got, 51:18 you got other problems. But you choose 51:23 your attitude, what is it that you want to do? 51:25 Where is it that you want to go. 51:27 Well, I think Jesus looks down at your home 51:29 and he sees the man telling his wife 51:31 how wonderful she is and how much 51:33 he appreciates that and, and how much 51:35 he is grateful for Jesus giving her, 51:36 I tell you Jesus looks at that and He says, 51:39 the heavenly Father looks at it and says 51:41 that's what my son did on Calvary's cross. 51:44 He made that kind of happiness possible 51:46 and He looks over here to another were fighting 51:47 and fussing and caring on. And he looks 51:49 at the devil and says that's what you did. 51:52 We are Christian men, let us feel the 51:55 grace of God, put these carnal natures 51:57 down where they belong. And let Christ Jesus 51:59 rule our lives by His grace and power, 52:02 and let's turn homes into something 52:03 that's wonderful and marvelous. 52:05 I want to close with this wonderful promise. 52:08 I want you have it's a, it's a promise that 52:12 you just got to have, I want to say this 52:14 and then I'm gonna give you the promise, 52:15 you are what you choose and here's the promise, 52:20 mind, character, personality, 52:21 if you fight the fight of faith with all 52:27 your will power you will conquer 52:33 by the power of Christ Jesus. Amen, amen. 52:38 Let us pray, Father in Heaven, make us strong, 52:42 noble, powerful Christian men, 52:46 who are conquerors of self and the world 52:50 around us and the devil, by 52:52 your grace, in Jesus name, Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17