WEBVTT 00:00:00.059 --> 00:00:09.683 which is the term used to describe what a fully mature believer would look like in his Christian living. 00:00:09.683 --> 00:00:18.225 To help us understand the normal process of drinking milk like human babies than advancing to solid food and eventually to strong meat. 00:00:18.225 --> 00:00:21.571 And to avoid becoming spiritual milk babies. 00:00:21.571 --> 00:00:29.181 I talked about a milk baby and how that it led to stunted growth throughout their entire lives. 00:00:29.181 --> 00:00:37.762 To avoid becoming spiritual milk babies with stunted growth by lack of a proper spiritual diet. 00:00:37.762 --> 00:01:02.572 So the purpose of this sermon is to understand that, if you think your ongoing struggle with sin means that you evidently are not truly born again like you thought, on the contrary, this is evidence that you are born again and have been all along. 00:01:02.572 --> 00:01:25.662 So in relation to Christian growth, one of the things that I have sensed sometimes is that there are those and it can be any of us where the on that sense of struggle, the ongoing struggle with sin in our lives, makes us think that evidently there's something wrong with us. 00:01:25.662 --> 00:01:46.325 And the point I hope to make is that the ongoing struggle with sin in our lives, the Holy Spirit warring against our sinful nature, is in fact, evidence that you are born again and that there is not something wrong with you. 00:01:46.325 --> 00:01:47.868 There is something right with you. 00:01:47.868 --> 00:02:04.287 So this should be the idea is to be an encouragement to understand that your life is a battleground between the Holy Spirit dwelling within you and your sin within. 00:02:04.287 --> 00:02:16.186 To avoid becoming discouraged by your struggle against sin in your human nature, within you, as God develops His divine nature within you. 00:02:16.186 --> 00:02:24.521 Okay, now let's come to this question what is your most important purpose in life after you become a Christian? 00:02:24.521 --> 00:03:16.364 Spending time with the Father To share with others what Christ has done for you To be a royal priesthood, to be willing to follow, make Him your master and be willing to follow Him, being conformed to the image of Jesus, to make disciples, to glorify God, the Shema, serve Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbors as yourself. 00:03:16.364 --> 00:03:29.049 Okay, all these are correct, and now I'm going to tell you what I want to focus on today, and it's becoming like Jesus. 00:03:29.049 --> 00:03:36.682 So Jesus said follow me Now. 00:03:37.144 --> 00:03:38.508 So I looked at. 00:03:38.508 --> 00:03:47.329 Actually, I thought to myself let me see now, where is that verse that says we should become like Jesus? 00:03:47.329 --> 00:04:12.918 And so eventually I Googled it and what I came up with is that there are a hundred Bible verses about being like Christ, but there is not like this one proof text that says be like Christ, but there are quite a number of them that talk about, for example, 1 John, 2, 6,. 00:04:12.918 --> 00:04:20.312 Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he, that is, jesus, walked. 00:04:20.312 --> 00:04:25.471 So the point is that we should become like Jesus. 00:04:25.471 --> 00:04:26.704 Now here's the point I want to make. 00:04:26.704 --> 00:04:27.641 Why did I? 00:04:27.641 --> 00:04:30.250 I'm proposing that this is the most important thing. 00:04:30.250 --> 00:04:54.466 However, you know there's this is just my proposal to you, but here's the line of thought Is that most of the things that we talked about this morning and suggested glorifying God, making disciples spending time with him, that all kind of is dependent upon us becoming like Jesus. 00:04:55.660 --> 00:05:17.028 That overarching everything is for is God's great work is to take mortal men who have been like born of the flesh, and plant his spirit within us so that we become like him, so that all of these other things will take place. 00:05:17.028 --> 00:05:27.346 And if we short change on becoming like Jesus, all of the other things that we aspire to will never reach their full potential. 00:05:27.346 --> 00:05:33.211 So what is the most important purpose in life after you become a Christian? 00:05:33.211 --> 00:05:39.069 At least, the premise for today is it's to become like Jesus. 00:05:39.069 --> 00:06:00.435 This was implicit in the call for his disciples, in which the idea is that when Jesus called his disciples, that they would follow their rabbi and they would become like him by teaching and by example, and so this is the call that we still hear today. 00:06:00.435 --> 00:06:10.036 So there's a sense in which Jesus never like laid out a systematic theology on how to become like me, like. 00:06:10.036 --> 00:06:51.134 His program was essentially follow me, go where I go, watch what I do, listen to what I say as I interact with the circumstances that that come before me, and so that I would propose that the most, the most systematic explanation that Jesus gave about Following him are in the verses just prior to the most well-known text of all, in John 3, 16, where Jesus is interacting with Nicodemus and he says he explains it this way said that so the you know, a man that is, and a woman that are born of the flesh, are born of the flesh. 00:06:51.398 --> 00:06:52.548 They are flesh and blood. 00:06:52.548 --> 00:07:00.466 And Then those that are born of the spirit are born of the spirit, and Nicodemus asked this question. 00:07:00.466 --> 00:07:04.459 That today, yet makes us think or Understand why. 00:07:04.459 --> 00:07:07.634 Jesus said you're a master in Israel and don't understand this. 00:07:07.634 --> 00:07:09.540 But he said what you mean? 00:07:09.540 --> 00:07:14.863 You mean you can like Go back into your mother's womb and be born again. 00:07:14.863 --> 00:07:19.543 And Jesus said Jesus explained it this way said no, it's. 00:07:19.543 --> 00:07:21.088 It's like you. 00:07:21.088 --> 00:07:31.867 You cannot see the wind, but you can see where the wind is blowing because you can see the effects of it. 00:07:31.867 --> 00:07:40.249 That's the way it works, that my spirit comes within you and you can't see, that it's invisible. 00:07:40.249 --> 00:07:46.367 It's a spiritual birth, but you can see the effects of it. 00:07:46.367 --> 00:07:53.240 That's the idea of becoming becoming like Jesus. 00:07:55.875 --> 00:08:13.845 So Jesus did say something, as he and John recorded it, as he was Preparing his disciples for his departure and they were beginning to contemplate Wait, wait, jesus is going to leave. 00:08:13.845 --> 00:08:15.980 What does that mean for us? 00:08:15.980 --> 00:08:20.795 And here's what Jesus said, and in here is a great spiritual truth. 00:08:20.795 --> 00:08:40.025 And there's a sense in which the rest of this sermon this morning is just like diving down into what did Jesus mean when he said, as they were thinking that he's going to leave, he said I am in the father and you are in me and I am in you. 00:08:40.025 --> 00:08:52.465 There's something profound in that equation I'm in the father, you're in me and I'm in you. 00:08:52.465 --> 00:09:04.062 And that kind of explained for Jesus what's going to happen with his disciples and by, by definition, all the rest of us. 00:09:04.062 --> 00:09:05.886 When Jesus leaves. 00:09:05.886 --> 00:09:13.465 I'm in the father and you are in me and I'm in you. 00:09:13.465 --> 00:09:16.254 So how does this actually work? 00:09:16.254 --> 00:09:24.554 One point I'll make here is that it's all dependent upon the spirit. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:38.070 Remember how Jesus said then to the disciples, as recorded in John 14 and 15 he said he said that the I will, I'll go to the father and I will send you a Comforter, or I will send you a companion. 00:09:38.070 --> 00:09:46.168 I will send the spirit that will be with you and you're going to do greater things with him than you did with me. 00:09:46.168 --> 00:10:03.754 And Then Also, in as he was ascending, like his, recorded in Acts 1, 4 and 5, he said don't leave Jerusalem until you receive that power from on high. 00:10:03.754 --> 00:10:09.510 It'd be foolhardy for you to venture out as as mortal men of flesh and blood. 00:10:09.510 --> 00:10:12.960 It would be foolhardy for you to venture out as Immortal men of flesh and blood. 00:10:12.960 --> 00:10:25.658 It would be foolhardy for you to venture out and undertake Ministry in my name without the power within you I thought of, that is. 00:10:25.658 --> 00:10:27.725 I heard that the power is going to be off. 00:10:27.725 --> 00:10:37.380 I'm assuming that will be the, the, the literal power, and it won't be the, the power that the disciples were waiting for With Jesus. 00:10:37.701 --> 00:11:14.653 So the Apostle Paul took these words so seriously that he should, that we should become like Jesus, that he said these words, that that to the modern Christians seem, you know, audacious when he said in 1 Corinthians 11 1 Follow or imitate me like I, christ, become like me, like I'm becoming like Christ. 00:11:14.653 --> 00:11:37.735 I think we should like and this makes all, I think, it makes all of us like kind of like shrink back, but I think we should have this mindset to become like Christ, because Christ is God, is portraying through us, as we become like him, what he is like to the world. 00:11:37.735 --> 00:11:45.735 God, through his spirit, then inspired Paul to explain in greater detail what it means to follow Jesus and become like him. 00:11:45.735 --> 00:12:02.754 In fact, if you think about this, throughout the New Testament letters that Paul wrote, there's this, this recurring theme that that talks about how that Jesus is, where he explains how that Jesus is in us. 00:12:02.754 --> 00:12:08.631 Remember the words that Jesus, I'm the father, you and me, I and you. 00:12:08.652 --> 00:12:16.695 Paul kind of explained in more detail, he kind of did it, and what we'll turn here to the path of the text for today comes from Galatians. 00:12:16.695 --> 00:13:09.649 I put it this way the Galatians drill down, where Paul kind of drills down into how this actually works, how it is or that or how it it works when God's purpose of the Holy Spirit in dwelling our lives is to replace our human nature with God's divine nature, how the Holy Spirit's presence within the human heart to make us free from sin, triggers an infernal internal I restrained myself from saying eternal battle with our human nature that wants to keep on sinning. 00:13:09.649 --> 00:13:32.591 So, turning your Bibles to Galatians 5, galatians 5, and I'm going to read here the first, let's say from verse 16 through 25. 00:13:32.591 --> 00:13:34.754 Galatians 5, verses 16 through 25. 00:13:34.754 --> 00:13:49.754 And if, by the way, if you are an underliner in your Bible, there's a phrase here that keeps recurring there are seven times when the Spirit, some aspect of the Spirit, recurs in these ten verses. 00:13:49.754 --> 00:13:58.735 So if you don't underline, at least like, set your mind to be triggered by every time Paul mentions here the Spirit. 00:14:00.298 --> 00:14:20.754 But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh, for the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for they are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 00:14:20.754 --> 00:14:25.715 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 00:14:25.715 --> 00:14:42.087 Now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these. 00:14:42.087 --> 00:14:49.402 I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 00:14:49.402 --> 00:14:55.754 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. 00:14:55.754 --> 00:15:04.754 Against such things there is no law, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 00:15:04.754 --> 00:15:10.283 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 00:15:10.283 --> 00:15:16.221 Let us not become conceited provoking one another and being one another. 00:15:18.255 --> 00:15:41.309 So the, the, the book of Galatians, of course, describes kind of like the overarching theme is liberty in Christ, and there's a corresponding theme in that the Spirit's ministry within the believer is to prevent the Galatians. 00:15:41.309 --> 00:15:45.779 So the there's overarching liberty in Christ. 00:15:45.779 --> 00:17:05.255 And then there's a theme that Paul develops through this, this book, and it kind of comes to a head in these passages right here, this passage right here, where he is teaching the Galatians that the Spirit's ministry within the believer is to prevent them from degenerating, on the one hand, into legalism and, on the other hand, into license Legalism, meaning that if we do not understand so, there's this very real possibility that, as we think about how do we overcome our sinful nature, this law of sin within us, how do we overcome that, there's a very real possibility that we are deceived into thinking that it's a system of dos and don'ts, and if you don't do this and do this, but not this and this and this, and you just like restrain your flesh from doing that, that, then you have actually been victorious in your Christian life and God's divine nature is being planted within you. 00:17:05.255 --> 00:17:11.907 We are tempted to believe that successful Christian living is completing a list of dos and don'ts. 00:17:11.907 --> 00:17:32.366 On the other hand, if we do not understand how the Spirit works within Christians, based on what Paul had taught the Galatians about Christian liberty, we are tempted to believe that our liberty allows us to cater to our flesh and to do whatever we good and well please. 00:17:33.384 --> 00:17:50.978 So, on this narrow ridge between these two deep gullies is what James refers to as the perfect law of liberty, and the idea is here the inward strength to do what I ought. 00:17:50.978 --> 00:18:09.307 There's this passage, and if you think about this passage, you think about Romans 7 as well, those of you that are Bible readers, where Paul talks about how that I have this inward compulsion to do what I don't want to do and the things I want to do I don't get done. 00:18:09.307 --> 00:18:17.497 So there's this tension constantly going on within us. 00:18:17.497 --> 00:18:44.692 And what on this, in between legalism and in between license, is this middle ridge, that is, inward strength to do what I ought instead of those things that I don't want to do but by human nature insists that I do. 00:18:44.692 --> 00:18:51.236 Okay, so what I wanted to explain, I'm going to spend the rest of the time kind of explaining. 00:18:51.236 --> 00:19:11.969 I'd like to just like talk with you, and this is, by the way, this is the kind of sermon that I could tell I could very easily drift into a finger shaking, pulpit pounding to where people kind of like cower and walk out and say who? 00:19:11.969 --> 00:19:14.455 I hope we don't get beat like that again soon. 00:19:14.455 --> 00:19:16.551 Okay, that's not the point here. 00:19:16.551 --> 00:19:28.517 What I really want to do is for us to think deeply about this great truth of Christ in us and we in Him in relation to how we live our everyday lives. 00:19:28.517 --> 00:19:32.491 And so there's this. 00:19:34.497 --> 00:19:35.619 We use the term. 00:19:35.619 --> 00:19:37.263 I don't know if you've heard some of these. 00:19:37.263 --> 00:19:48.410 I've tried to use some phrases again repetitively here sin within and what I mean, or human nature and divine nature. 00:19:48.410 --> 00:19:53.817 So we are just like Jesus said to Nicodemus we are born of the flesh. 00:19:53.817 --> 00:19:55.750 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. 00:19:55.750 --> 00:19:57.612 So we are born of flesh and blood. 00:19:58.025 --> 00:20:04.959 By the way, when the term flesh is used, we could actually choose to use two different words here. 00:20:04.959 --> 00:20:09.619 You can say flesh, you know, don't yield to the flesh. 00:20:09.619 --> 00:20:12.230 Or we could say don't yield to your human nature. 00:20:12.230 --> 00:20:24.094 Flesh does not mean the tissue and the blood and so on, but it means that within us is this nature, so the human nature, as compared to a divine nature. 00:20:24.094 --> 00:20:29.174 So we sometimes say, well, I just naturally want to do that. 00:20:29.174 --> 00:20:34.996 We actually say I naturally want to do that because it comes from my nature. 00:20:36.045 --> 00:20:39.615 So what is our nature, our human nature? 00:20:39.615 --> 00:20:56.057 I don't know that I necessarily have a like a concise, perfect answer there, but I'm just going to say it's kind of like our personality, who we are, kind of set in opposition to God. 00:20:56.057 --> 00:21:07.355 That's our human nature, and so the divine nature is how God wants to reshape us to be like Jesus. 00:21:07.355 --> 00:21:24.857 So what I want for us to think about is how this push and pull goes on within our lives and how we can progress and grow in our spiritual lives. 00:21:24.857 --> 00:21:37.374 So if you think about that, prior to you being born again, yes, your conscience would prick you, based on what you had been taught about what's right and wrong. 00:21:37.374 --> 00:21:45.256 But you really didn't have that turmoil going on within you until you became a Christian. 00:21:47.305 --> 00:21:53.356 So there's a song I want to draw your attention to, a well-known song, rock of Ages. 00:21:53.356 --> 00:22:12.372 So, and it always strikes me that this song captures what I'm trying to communicate here, you know, like Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee, let the water and the blood from thy riven side which flowed here's the point be of sin, the double cure. 00:22:12.372 --> 00:22:15.528 What does he mean by that? 00:22:15.528 --> 00:22:29.407 By the way, the man's name was Top Lady, who wrote this, and Augustus Top Lady, who was a contemporary with John Wesley and later in life. 00:22:29.407 --> 00:22:30.733 You might find it interesting. 00:22:30.733 --> 00:22:45.272 Later in life, initially Top Lady was really drawn to Wesley's Methodism and then later in life kind of became an Anglican cleric and wrote against it. 00:22:45.272 --> 00:22:56.653 But I think this song was written earlier where he said be of sin, the double cure, cleanse me from its guilt and power. 00:22:57.944 --> 00:23:10.068 So there's also, I think there's a different version that says be of sin, the double, cure Something and make me pure. 00:23:10.068 --> 00:23:12.288 Who knows what those words are? 00:23:12.288 --> 00:23:15.872 Save from wrath and make me pure, thank you. 00:23:15.872 --> 00:23:26.794 But the idea is there that when we become a Christian, when you become a believer, then the burden of guilt is dealt with. 00:23:26.794 --> 00:23:30.768 Save from wrath, ah. 00:23:30.768 --> 00:23:38.446 But then you see that not only were there sins in my life, but there's this nature of sin within me. 00:23:39.067 --> 00:23:46.910 And now there's this ongoing struggle that ensues immediately and it goes on all the time. 00:23:46.910 --> 00:24:01.634 And if you ever wake up one morning and the struggle with sin is no longer there, then you've died and gone to heaven, because every other morning when you wake up, that struggle is going to be there. 00:24:01.634 --> 00:24:10.869 And that struggle one of the points of this sermon is that struggle is not evidence that there's something wrong. 00:24:10.869 --> 00:24:14.472 It's evidence that God is at work within you. 00:24:14.472 --> 00:24:23.448 And so, as a Christian, as you're growing in Christ, don't become discouraged by that warfare within you. 00:24:23.448 --> 00:24:25.128 Be encouraged by it. 00:24:25.128 --> 00:24:32.195 Now there are rules of engagement, if you will, but be encouraged by it. 00:24:32.195 --> 00:25:00.791 So infernal in this regard that—, by the way, the word infernal does mean it has to do with hell, with hellfire, evil befitting of hell and here's the point I want to communicate with this word is just to remind us that this is not a friendly competition. 00:25:02.871 --> 00:25:15.778 Sometimes, when you see a sporting event and two teams are playing, one of them wins, the other one loses, and after the game they shake hands with each other and it's kind of like this was a friendly competition. 00:25:15.778 --> 00:25:19.218 We should not be shaking hands with the flesh. 00:25:19.218 --> 00:25:22.016 It is not a friendly competition. 00:25:22.016 --> 00:25:30.440 This is a competition to the death and there are eternal consequences to the manner in which we war. 00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:52.723 We engage in this civil war within our souls, and if you think that the flesh and the spirit battling within us are merely going back and forth in a friendly competition, your Christian life will bear the evidence of that lackaday's gladitude. 00:25:52.723 --> 00:25:55.457 Okay, so it's internal. 00:25:55.457 --> 00:25:58.751 Okay, you know what a civil war is Like? 00:25:58.751 --> 00:26:00.438 The US civil war took place within. 00:26:00.438 --> 00:26:02.415 It's like fighting within. 00:26:02.415 --> 00:26:06.715 So there's aeven. 00:26:07.356 --> 00:26:22.980 In our ceremonies we use this phrase about, like when you were baptized, you promised to withstand the world, the flesh and the devil, like the three great enemies of the human soul the world, the flesh and the devil. 00:26:22.980 --> 00:26:30.660 Okay, so the world is outside, the devil is outside, but the flesh is inside. 00:26:30.660 --> 00:26:44.895 This is what I mean by internal and, by the way, there's a great truth wound up here this is not the point of the sermon, but a great truth wound up here in that the Father is set against the world. 00:26:44.895 --> 00:27:18.219 The Father has His own kingdom and he is developing a world of His own, and Satan took over this world and so, in opposition to the world outside that wants to land in your heart, the Father is set against that, and the devil, who is also on the outside, has an enemy that's directly in opposition to Him it's the Son, and the flesh that's within has its own direct enemy. 00:27:18.219 --> 00:27:21.064 That helps us in our opposition. 00:27:21.064 --> 00:27:45.842 It's the Holy Spirit, the triune God is arrayed against the world, the flesh and the devil, and the victory has been, is predetermined, but the flesh is within. 00:27:46.049 --> 00:28:01.196 So a good number of you are probably too young to remember the Falklands Island, the Falkland Islands conflict, and maybe the rest of us can barely remember when that happened, but it was while Ronald Reagan was president. 00:28:01.196 --> 00:28:25.424 These are like little islands off the coast of Argentina that were claimed by Great Britain and there was this little dust up about OK, no, argentina claimed them, and so what Britain did is they sent bombers and bombed the runways of the airport in Port Stanley. 00:28:25.424 --> 00:28:27.234 So why did they do that? 00:28:27.234 --> 00:28:32.240 That way, argentina could not land troops to take over territory. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:29:00.520 And so, and here's the point, the flesh within us, our human nature, is a built-in runway, and if we don't quote, bomb that runway, there's landing strip there for those that are without to come within, and it'll aggravate the, it'll reinforce the enemy, if you will. 00:29:00.520 --> 00:29:04.230 So you get the point of that illustration, ok. 00:29:04.250 --> 00:29:18.836 So the contrariness, then, is just has to do with the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, the desires of the spirit against the flesh, for they're opposed to each other. 00:29:18.836 --> 00:29:55.518 So this passage actually here's something I want to mention in passing, but this passage lays an ax to the root of what I think is a very prevalent theory that our society claims as justification for all kinds of wrongdoing. 00:29:55.518 --> 00:30:13.982 So in the world, there is this growing understanding that we are the help, we humans are the helpless victims of our temperaments and our environments, and so so we really are not responsible for the manner in which we live. 00:30:13.982 --> 00:30:18.800 We are just products of how we were, we grew up, and products of our environment. 00:30:18.800 --> 00:30:27.234 And unfortunately, this kind of thinking has worked its way into the church as well and into Christian thinking. 00:30:27.234 --> 00:30:43.260 And so there's this idea often and if you listen for this, you will hear this that something along the lines of I'm just the helpless victim of my circumstances. 00:30:43.260 --> 00:30:47.396 This passage says no, no, you're not. 00:30:47.396 --> 00:30:49.856 You can't get away with that excuse. 00:30:49.856 --> 00:30:58.921 You can't explain away sinful behavior because you're just the helpless victim of your human nature and your temperament and your environment. 00:30:58.921 --> 00:31:14.674 We cannot explain away or charge to bad roots bad fruits, because that's just the way God made us, it's just the times in which we live. 00:31:14.674 --> 00:31:17.513 We've never been in a digital age before. 00:31:21.130 --> 00:31:34.176 So, by the way, I want to bring this to a close in just a few minutes, and then I'd like I meant to say this at that point so, bombing the runways. 00:31:34.176 --> 00:31:36.814 How do you let's talk about? 00:31:36.814 --> 00:31:51.196 How do we bomb the runways of our lives, our nature of sin within us that wants to constantly sin, and we have to come against it by the Spirit. 00:31:51.196 --> 00:31:53.893 What are the things we can do? 00:31:53.893 --> 00:32:16.122 To quote bomb the runways To grow, to take on more of the divine nature, to keep the devil, to withstand the devil who wants to bring in worldly values to us. 00:32:16.122 --> 00:32:20.334 How do we do that and I'd like to just then. 00:32:20.334 --> 00:32:27.016 So, if you would get the microphone ready, and I'd like to hear a little bit, I'd like to hear from you. 00:32:28.250 --> 00:32:53.719 So I'll start by saying that, giving you that well-known story about and it's kind of a fanciful one about the drunk who was converted but he constantly, just like, fell back into drink and so, finally, finally, he gained victory. 00:32:53.719 --> 00:32:57.554 And when he was asked, well, what did you do to gain victory? 00:32:57.554 --> 00:33:09.315 And he said well, I took a different way home from work, I decided to no longer go, took the longer route and I avoided the corner bar and I was able to gain victory. 00:33:09.315 --> 00:33:16.342 So you get the point there that it has to do often with opportunity. 00:33:16.342 --> 00:33:27.721 One of the primary ways I want to suggest to us, me included, one of the primary ways to bomb the runways, is to avoid opportunity. 00:33:27.721 --> 00:33:31.818 Do not give your human nature opportunity to act upon it. 00:33:33.930 --> 00:33:50.022 The writer John Owen, like in English Puritan, wrote that he said there's within each of us there is the potential to do any of the sins that are listed here in Galatians 5. 00:33:50.022 --> 00:34:13.201 And it's often not so much our spiritual fortitude as it is that God, in His mercy, has not allowed our steps to or like to, has not given us the opportunity, he has not allowed the opportunity, to converge with the act. 00:34:13.201 --> 00:34:29.143 And so there's within that, there's this great power that comes from, and purpose that comes from purposefully avoiding the opportunity to be led into sin. 00:34:29.143 --> 00:34:34.719 Okay, so what are some other things that come to mind for you? 00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:37.735 And again, there are no like wrong answers here. 00:34:37.735 --> 00:34:52.601 I just like for there to be some response on how do you bomb the, the runways Put up your hand if you'd like to respond. 00:34:54.289 --> 00:35:33.117 I know for me, if I try to fight alone, I don't last very long, and so having brothers, having guys who know me really well, and consistently connecting and sharing with them on an ongoing basis keeps me alive, thank you, A strategy that I was inspired to start using, I think, from the preparatory service that we had. 00:35:33.559 --> 00:35:38.177 Someone in our group shared how memorizing scripture has just really improved their lives. 00:35:38.177 --> 00:35:48.913 So I think something that I'm starting, or wanting to commit to, that I've started, is memorizing a passive of scripture that I can turn to and I feel like it's. 00:35:48.913 --> 00:35:56.909 In a way, it destroys the path, the runway to sin, but it also creates a path that leads to God instead. 00:35:56.909 --> 00:35:59.436 So it replaces it with a better path. 00:36:04.789 --> 00:36:05.110 Thank you. 00:36:05.110 --> 00:36:12.518 Anyone else, well, the Dean and Sister Linda. 00:36:17.389 --> 00:36:18.934 Going with the analogy of. 00:36:18.934 --> 00:36:39.971 I like, I really like the analogy of destroying the, the airfields, and one thing I think of sometimes is just looking at where is the most common place that you, that you make your mistakes, that you fall, and then seeing from that, so like, for instance, in this digital age you brought out. 00:36:39.971 --> 00:36:49.914 You know, one thing we've tried to do in our home and I have on my phone is like a covenantized type of thing and it blocks certain things. 00:36:49.914 --> 00:36:54.856 It sends my pages to my wife and that kind of a thing. 00:36:56.949 --> 00:37:21.655 That's kind of just making it where that opportunity doesn't ever come, and so trying to do that with my family and the children has has been awesome but, it's for me too, and so I appreciate those kind of ideas of trying to prevent that opportune way when we have our, our times where the satan would come Look at it, where is he getting to you and then trying to do something about it practically, Thank you. 00:37:23.539 --> 00:37:33.813 One thing that I think of for myself personally is I can really struggle if I am going through a tough time. 00:37:33.914 --> 00:37:48.516 I can really struggle with either over eating or just turning to food or like junk food or sugary stuff, and one thing that I've been trying to do is just remove it. 00:37:48.516 --> 00:38:06.338 If I don't have it, if I don't buy it, then I'm not tempted to eat it, and I very much do believe that our bodies are the temple of God and maybe it's silly to think or look at things like overeating in sugar or just eating junk food or not. 00:38:06.338 --> 00:38:08.451 It's not. 00:38:08.451 --> 00:38:30.079 I feel like I'm not treating my body in the best way if if that's what I'm doing all the time and it might be something that's socially acceptable, but I think it's it's a challenge for me to be aware of what I'm putting in my body and how I'm treating my body as the temple of God, and I think food is a part of that. 00:38:30.079 --> 00:38:45.681 Gluttony and overeating in sugar or junk food is, yeah, like I said, something that's maybe more socially acceptable and it's okay to do that, but I'm working on not doing that and I feel better, too because of it. 00:38:48.411 --> 00:38:49.112 Okay, thank you. 00:38:49.112 --> 00:39:15.818 By the way, I will confess to wasting money and sometimes buying those kinds of foods, and after I've paid it, I know that I this is actually, but when you're tired and you're like weak is when you do these kind of things, and so I have actually just thrown it in the trash. 00:39:15.818 --> 00:39:20.893 Okay, sorry, lord, for wasting your money that way, but couldn't take it back. 00:39:22.619 --> 00:39:24.443 Yeah, I really appreciate this discussion. 00:39:24.443 --> 00:39:43.043 I think we do well to just talk about this, because we all like in our minds, we all have areas of our lives where we're like okay, like this is what I'm thinking about, like this is my weakness, and often it's something that we that we've seen happen. 00:39:43.043 --> 00:39:45.577 It's because something that has become a pattern in our lives. 00:39:46.871 --> 00:39:47.934 Judith, you mentioned food. 00:39:47.934 --> 00:39:56.121 For some people it's, it's lust, for some people it's wasting money or like just like binge shopping. 00:39:56.121 --> 00:40:20.541 And two things I thought of are that's sort of along the lines of what you just shared is that sort of recognizing what are the, the states of mind, or maybe even like what's going on inside of you that causes you to go to those things. 00:40:20.541 --> 00:40:27.755 Often it can be things like being really tired or discouraged or angry, or those are things that sort of trigger it. 00:40:27.755 --> 00:40:55.592 And if you can recognize that that early on and say, okay, you know what I need to, maybe just go for a run or I need to, maybe maybe I need to have a good conversation with with a brother or sort of being proactive to, to get at the root of that and secondly I think for something that's been helpful for me is thinking about ways to be proactive and go on the offense instead of just like resisting. 00:40:56.313 --> 00:41:13.813 And just resisting something like like, whether it's if you're tempted to go shopping or to maybe find a way to to give away money or give away something if it's lust, maybe it's like asking okay, am I? 00:41:13.813 --> 00:41:18.534 What is a way that I can, I can bless my wife with? 00:41:18.534 --> 00:41:28.576 What's the way I can pursue my wife with some act of love and going on the offense instead of just resisting the temptation I think can be helpful. 00:41:33.235 --> 00:41:34.257 Linda up front here. 00:41:39.371 --> 00:41:46.755 I think one thing for me is so often we take for granted that we speak in our minds. 00:41:46.755 --> 00:41:54.277 We think in our minds that against the devil, you know, just speak against the devil. 00:41:54.277 --> 00:42:01.380 I think verbally speaking and has so much power. 00:42:03.170 --> 00:42:33.481 Yeah, I think for me, I think it in my mind, but don't speak it as much and I think there's a lot of power in that and also one thing for me was years ago I used to do while I was waiting, I played games on my phone, and in the morning, while I was probably should be reading the bible, I was on my phone playing games and I got to the point I just deleted the app. 00:42:33.481 --> 00:42:36.978 So when you open the phone, it wasn't there anymore. 00:42:36.978 --> 00:42:39.938 Yeah, so you, you resisted that way. 00:42:39.938 --> 00:42:50.579 So and that for me was a, was a big help, a big spiritual step for me so thank you for everything you you shared here. 00:42:50.619 --> 00:42:53.795 Is there anyone else that would like to share something? 00:42:53.795 --> 00:43:00.699 If, if not, then then to the point, about like morning reading. 00:43:00.699 --> 00:43:13.994 So let's think just a bit about how, how, how do we, instead of just positioning ourselves to resist evil, embrace good, what we should be doing? 00:43:13.994 --> 00:43:14.737 So? 00:43:14.737 --> 00:43:24.056 So, for example, in the morning, I get up, make coffee, sit on the recliner and the first thing is Bible reading. 00:43:24.056 --> 00:43:31.713 You know, seek ye first the kingdom of God in his righteousness, and so the first, my first order of business for the day is is my Bible reading. 00:43:31.713 --> 00:43:33.737 And, but there is a I. 00:43:33.737 --> 00:43:51.152 I have to resist the urge like I'm sitting there, my phone's lying there, facebook is on my phone, okay, and and and I have to like intentionally say no, no, seek ye first the kingdom of God. 00:43:51.152 --> 00:44:19.382 So, and my point is that that be sensitive to the spirits, promptings within you, that as you go through your life, through the day, all the little events that make up your, your, the activities of your day, the spirit is within you and he is prompting you and guiding you and can take you step by step, I'm going to even say like millisecond by millisecond. 00:44:19.382 --> 00:44:23.059 The spirit will guide you throughout the day. 00:44:23.059 --> 00:44:54.054 So to help you overcome the urge to just do what your human nature wants to do, that's generally around gratification, and to do what your divine nature wants to do, which is to love God, help others, focus outwardly on others instead of inwardly on what I want, and the Spirit within us will help us, step by step. 00:44:54.054 --> 00:44:56.257 This way, that way, no go here. 00:44:56.257 --> 00:44:57.628 Yeah, I've often thought about it. 00:44:57.628 --> 00:45:06.534 Like the Acts says this very interesting thing that the Apostle Paul wanted to go to Asia but the Spirit wouldn't let him. 00:45:06.534 --> 00:45:09.146 How was that? 00:45:09.146 --> 00:45:17.992 Like the river was flooded, I don't know, but the Spirit wouldn't let him. 00:45:17.992 --> 00:45:22.409 But that's the way we walk through our days. 00:45:26.105 --> 00:45:28.672 I'm going to read here in closing. 00:45:28.672 --> 00:45:32.744 Yet this comes from this is the same passage I actually know. 00:45:32.744 --> 00:45:42.927 It's the prior passage from Galatians 5, verses 16 through 18 in the message, and here's how it reads. 00:45:42.927 --> 00:45:49.599 My counsel is this live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. 00:45:49.599 --> 00:46:06.096 Then you won't feed the compulsion of selfishness, for there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. 00:46:06.096 --> 00:46:18.512 These two ways of life are contrary to each other, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way, according to how you feel on any given day. 00:46:18.512 --> 00:46:29.427 Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence? 00:46:29.427 --> 00:46:50.534 And then I'll close here with remember that the purpose for this sermon was to understand what's going on within you in this civil war between the human nature and the divine nature, so that you don't become discouraged, and why this is important. 00:46:50.534 --> 00:46:55.695 Going back to the becoming like Jesus is the overall thing. 00:46:57.704 --> 00:47:20.918 I'm going to read here from a quotation from an early church writer named Lectantius, who was it was from 250 to 325 is when he lived, and he's explaining here why it is that no one obeys the teachings of the philosophers. 00:47:20.918 --> 00:47:26.076 But he said, people obey the teachings of the Christians. 00:47:26.076 --> 00:47:35.072 As to anyone who teaches principles to live by and molds the character of others, is he not obligated himself to live by them? 00:47:35.072 --> 00:47:39.333 If he himself does not live by them, his teaching is nullified. 00:47:39.333 --> 00:47:46.447 His student will answer him like this I can't practice the things you teach me because they're impossible. 00:47:46.447 --> 00:47:48.548 You forbid me to be angry. 00:47:48.548 --> 00:47:53.291 You forbid me to fear pain and death. 00:47:53.291 --> 00:47:56.528 You forbid me to covet. 00:47:56.528 --> 00:47:58.427 You forbid me to lust. 00:47:58.427 --> 00:48:03.172 This is totally contrary to human nature. 00:48:03.172 --> 00:48:06.452 All living creatures are subject to these emotions. 00:48:06.452 --> 00:48:18.510 If you are so convinced it is possible to live contrary to natural impulses, first let me see you practice the things you teach, then I will know that they are possible. 00:48:18.510 --> 00:48:30.016 How will the teacher take away this excuse of the self-willed unless he teaches them by example, so they can see with their own eyes that the things he teaches are possible? 00:48:30.016 --> 00:48:44.068 For this very reason, no one obeys the teachings of the philosophers, for it is easy to speak but difficult to act, and that's why there's a warfare. 00:48:44.068 --> 00:48:52.788 But that's why becoming like Jesus overarches all of the other spiritual activities that God calls us to. 00:48:52.788 --> 00:49:25.610 Because in moving beyond just talking, but in actually doing and showing a world that does not know that you can actually live above the impulses of your human nature and have to deal with all the degradation that sin brings, will observe us and see that indeed, that is the Christian hope. 00:49:28.186 --> 00:49:29.208 Let us stand together to pray. 00:49:29.208 --> 00:49:35.934 Dear Lord, we thank you for this time together this morning. 00:49:35.934 --> 00:49:39.250 Thank you for the sharing that has been done here among us. 00:49:39.250 --> 00:49:48.510 As we now come to you in our time of moment of departure, we pray Lord, jesus, go with us. 00:49:48.510 --> 00:50:05.472 It's this desire of our hearts that no one in here would be discouraged by the struggle with sin within them, but rather we would be encouraged by the fact that this reality means you're dwelling there within us and you're remaking us. 00:50:05.472 --> 00:50:06.905 And so we pray. 00:50:06.905 --> 00:50:11.313 Lord Jesus, help us to bomb the battlefield, the runways. 00:50:11.313 --> 00:50:18.255 We pray that you would help us to take the evasive actions. 00:50:18.255 --> 00:50:29.507 Do what it is necessary to live in such a way that we will portray who you are through your divine nature being implanted within us. 00:50:29.507 --> 00:50:31.905 We pray in the name of Jesus, amen.