A Threefold Cord: Secret Prayer, Doing Good, and Self-Denial - Tim Conway

well you can open up your Bibles to Ecclesiastes I don't intend to stay there only make a point from there only draw forth the principle from there actually Cleese II a steez Chapter four father I pray that you would feed us from your word totally dependent upon you to make it convicting to make it powerful to reach our hearts and reach our consciences Lord please reach our hearts our souls with this message I pray in Christ's name Amen I was really thinking about 2018 that if that if I could preach a message today that would somehow flavor this year for us that's that's what went into my thinking Ecclesiastes four verse nine is really a proverb cleese e ass T's four nine two are better than one you know that's preacher Solomon two are better than one and he's gonna tell us why because they have a good reward for their toil and even even like the Geneva Translation actually brings out that the good reward is probably that they have a better reward than they would have if they stayed separate it's kind of the idea there verse 10 for if they fall one will lift up his fellow now you can see that the the reality of that if if these two guys are separate and one falls and can't get back up obviously when you're together with somebody else and they can come help you and pick you up what's been accomplished the greater good is far beyond what the two could have achieved separate because if we're separate they fall and they can't get back up they've they've lost everything they've lost the whole day if they fall one will lift up his fellow but woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up he'll I could be spiritually undoubtedly that's why I give the Lord has put us all together in the church to lift up one another again if to lie together they keep warm but how can one keep warm alone and though a man might prevail against one who is alone here you have activist Aires one guy against another guy and you might be prevailed against by one guy but if there's two of you two will withstand him and then he throws in the proverbial saying a three-fold cord is not quickly broken he actually takes it from one to two and then three a three-fold cord the title of my sermon a three-fold cord Solomon's point is clear two are better than one not to separate but when they're brought together to get the advantage the two you must be working together their bodies must be close together to retain the heat they must withstand a foe together and even more if you take three strands like if you braided hair or you took three threads and you wound them all together to create one cord the reality is it's even better than two and the thing is it's not quickly broken there's a strength now I totally intend to spiritualize this true today totally the three-fold cord is your life one strand in that cord secret prayer Craig came very close to that one today it's right there with secret fasting that's one strand because one of the things I want to emphasize today look this prayer and fasting isn't just for a week of prayer and fasting this is your life this is our life one strand secret prayer but wrapped brought close together the second strand doing good third strand wound in their self-denial when they're woven together listen prayer without doing good and without self-denial has no feet it's no good to pray that God make the gospel advantageous to souls in our community if we're not willing to take that message to those ears of those people but you know what happens if you have works without self-denial it's just cheap all it will result in is cheap little demonstrations of religion if brethren if you try to do works without prayer I'll just be powerless and just be a it'll be a demonstration of the flesh this prayer is our dependence on the Lord but you wrap all three of these together you wrap them all together you see you see that the principle here is they need to lie together to really produce the warmth they need to be close you know but the thing here is if an adversary comes or if you're working and one of you Falls the other one lifts up the other these lift each other up these brings strength to one another they prevail together that's the issue they fail otherwise but God helping us what I want us to do is look I'm going to show you from Scripture this threefold cord is absolutely something that God wants us with a hand of faith to reach up and grab hold of brethren I just think how fruitful we might be what a church we might be if you really take this three-fold cord into the grips of your own faith lay hold on this it seek to live this out the first strand in this threefold chord secret prayer let's look at it Matthew 6:6 let's go to Matthew 6 a second time this morning now this afternoon Matthew 6:6 but when you pray go into your room King James enter into thy closet if you ever wonder where that idea of the prayer closet it's right there enter into thy closet now see again just like with Craig in the first place but this is something that Jesus assumes is going to be a reality in your life the closet this secret place and notice shut the door why do you shut the door well not just so that you're not the hypocrite so that the people in the other room can't see you it's because this is about shutting out the disturbances shutting out the distractions and just your soul alone with the Living God go into your room enter into thy closet shut the door and pray don't get on your phone don't get on your computer and if you don't have a place that you can go to get away from those they you need to have one many of you know that Susanna Wesley her secret place was under her apron she put it over her head and the children knew don't don't go there pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you and I'll just add openly brethren we're talking about shutting ourselves away to God to where God and your soul are alone where we we depart from here we go we go into the presence where our own soul flies away to where he is where there's a connection this is what I was talking about before when when I was talking about fasting brethren I find there are seasons when something happens there is a connection with the Lord yes there are times when it's difficult when it's I feel cold there are times when connecting with God just seems it seems like he's far away it seems like my thoughts are wandering I start to pray and then I wander off here I'm out walking somewhere and I see something and my mind's gone over there I started thinking about some situation that I need to deal with and and it's and it's difficult but there are other seasons there is a connection with the Lord that's that's the issue your father he sees in secret he's there in secret brethren secret prayer is not to be some mere duty of the Christian like taking out the garbage or getting the oil changed on your car where it's this checklist you know all the things I've got to do today well I need to make sure that I do that so you run over and you pray lord I want this this this is why I did my prayer thing today brethren that isn't it we must consider secret prayer to be one of the great works of our life when you think about your life do you even think that way does that enter into your mind that when you think about the things that you want to do well in life and you know this you know if you're ever going to do anything well in life if somebody's a chess champion did they did that just happen or they play the violin extremely well somebody can play a sport can you cook well so well weld well can you problem solve issues on your computer well that's well and great but the question is can you pray is this do you even regard this as the great work of your life I mean listen when you have the great apostle himself coming along to those Gentile churches and saying first thessalonians pray without ceasing Craig's been dealing with the calash and letter to the Colossians he says continued steadfastly in prayer to the Romans be constant in prayer listen to what God is telling you this man is under inspiration God is telling you be constant in this you know the words of Jesus Christ himself there in Luke chapter 18 he says yeah you can grab that thank you but what is he saying he says that we need to be steadfast in prayer we need to men ought always to pray and not faint these these are the calls of our Savior this apostle he did not spare it's like - every one of the Gentile churches he needed to say this to them you need to pray and not just a little you need to pray constantly you need to persevere and it you need to be about it you need to not faint in it this is something that we need to give ourselves to how often do think this way this is the great work of the Christians life that we pray we pray we pray secret prayer the desire of secret communion with God brethren it's one of the it's one of the great evidences that you've become a Christian listen I prayed some when I was a nominal Catholic but when God saved me I wanted to commune with him I spent hours communing with him why something happened something in the desires happen if you don't have a desire to be communing with the father in secret you need to go back and start over again because something's wrong and something's broken but see I know with a lot of you there's a desire there but you know what the longer we go on in the history of mankind and the more gadgets we develop and devise and that way technology is and the distractions of this world we are in the communication age and the problem with it is all this communication floods us and I know there's a desire in some of your hearts but listen if you're gonna be men or women of Prayer you've got to be disciplined and you've got to learn to say no to things you are going to have to make time in your day I'll tell you this when something is important to somebody you can typically see the level of importance that it holds in a person's life but the sacrifices that they are willing to make for it to happen and if you're not willing to make those sacrifices that says enormous amount about how important you think this is strive brethren strive to make this one of the great works of your life this is your life prayer constant always secret place do any of you not even have that place whether it's under the apron ladies whether you actually find a closet somewhere or whether it's out under the stars at night is there that place in your life where you go and shut the door if that's like foreign to you listen then stop forsake your way because if that's foreign to you the way that you are on needs to be forsaken because it's a bad way it's a wrong way it's a backward way it's a powerless way it may be very likely an unchristian way the secret place men ought always to pray this needs to be our life's work no matter what else God has called you to you say God has called me to do this and this and this and the other that's okay but God has called you to this so no matter what else he's called you to he has called you to make this a life's work because brethren this is where your life derives power when you watch people in the Christian life and you marvel wow what patience what holiness what power they have in their lives what power they have demonstrated in some way rather than the power of God is channeled into the Christian life through prayer pray lessness does not does not produce power because prayerlessness is basically avoiding God it's not going to God in the secret place and you're not going to experience the reward brethren you know that you know very well this reality Moses face shined only when he was in the presence of God and I can use that you say well that's an Old Testament thing we don't actually go into his presence in the Shekinah glory like he did brethren if that's what you think you think wrong because Paul used that very example and brought it out in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 for us for you and I because there's a reality in that truth that when we behold the glory of the Lord and when we're standing in this presence there is where the change takes place people that spend much time in the presence of God end up like a nun like people that don't spend that time this is where we derive that power this is this brethren you know what happens when you go into the secret place look if you go and your mind your heart your spirit lifts up to God I mean something happens I'll tell you one thing that happens there's an awareness that you're speaking to God and oftentimes what that does is it produces an awareness of yourself because it's a place where you come and you put your conscience under the very eyes of omniscience one who knows it all do you find that happens you go to a man it's like here you're you're you're trying to talk to him about something but suddenly your conscience is there beneath his gaze and it's saying something's not right you see when we're regular in the secret places of Prayer you know what it does you know what it does with your life as far as purity and holiness it's constantly bringing sin the secret place is the place where we come and we confess it's the place where we come and we lay down our pride our lack gentleness our lack of faith our irritability our lack of patience at that place where you cry out for help Lord take that away make me have you ever been there where it's like Lord you have promised in your word to conform us to the image of Christ your your Lord that's your promise it's right there I read it in the pages of Romans 8 you have promised that I'm predestinated to be conformed to the image of this firstborn son you have a prod you have promised in your word to make us blameless and make us holy you have promised that by degrees that we are going to be conformed to the image of of this Lord whose glory that we see you've promised that it's the place where you go there and you ask for power it's a place their brethren where you your heart is lifted up and you adore him for not dealing with you according to your sins you ever go there and you just struck by all the blessings that you have and by the fact that he has not dealt with you according to the things that you've done in your life and you're lifted up to the cross and you you reckon nor did it thank you thank you it's it's that place of adoration listen brethren it's a place of weeping weeping over your failures but weeping over just gratitude it's a place where you connect with the Living God that's brethren secret prayer is where we meet God don't let the the busyness of this world rob you of your God brethren don't you recognize that the greatest thing we have in salvation is our God it's like what are you gonna do live on the broken cisterns when you have this this fullness that is there that brethren the rewards that come when God says you're going to that secret place I'm gonna reward you oh you you better believe it he created us he knows what the greatest rewards are he knows what most satisfies he knows what most brings joy he knows what's for our greatest good rewards the reward of the father don't let the cares of this world encroach because I tell you this you know what happens have you ever read in scripture about those who get encroached upon by the cares of the world both places I read about it in Scripture it's not a good thing one is the cares of this world they encroach and there's no fruitfulness the other one is a steward who goes about getting drunk and beating his fellow servants and the cares of this world come upon him and then the Lord Jesus returns and he's not ready you know what the cares of the world do they make you fruitless what do you think Jesus is saying you think that guy we meet is Lord you think it's like he's just gonna get a pat on the back well done good and faithful servant although there were these minor things like you were getting drunk all the time you were beating and and the thing that this all of this is couched in the midst of is just the cares of the world we may think all the cares of this world to be distracted sometimes away from secret prayer minor thing you're not ready to meet the Lord you're not ready don't let the cares of the world rob you of God or of his reward listen to this just listen you know these words but listen everyone who asks receives the one who seeks finds the one who knocks it will be opened do you know what the reality is those who pray most receive most you know if you look at your life and you wonder why don't I have what they have look I'm not saying this works all the time there are times we ask for things and the Lord doesn't give them to us but I can tell you this when you have promises like this that if you ask you will receive everyone who asks receives if you notice that in the spiritual Kingdom there are some people that have a lot more there is a good likelihood that they pray more you take Brainard he was a missionary to the American Indians you look at his life you say wow he reached Heights but look how he prayed look how he fasted and Edwards could say maybe not a single time that he wasn't rewarded even sometimes the same day brethren you know what's happening if you're not in that secret place praying every single day you're robbing yourself you're robbing yourself of how those times with the Lord would transform you into a greater likeness of Christ you're robbing yourself of beholding more of the glory of God you're robbing yourself of the rewards you're robbing yourself of answered prayer those who pray the most stand in the presence of God the most I just like it was with Moses they're gonna have the most glory of God shining from their faces those who pray most walk where other men don't walk they experience what other men don't experience listen Jesus says if you love me he says my father will love you and I will love you and he says I will manifest myself to you but you're not showing much love for him if you don't care to spend time with him but he says if you love me it's going to be rewarded with manifestations of Christ that's valuable brethren the great commandment that Jesus gives to us follow me you say all right I thought it was love yeah it's hard to separate those two follow me follow me he said if you would be to my disciple you must follow me you notice when he came around to everybody James and John follow me Peter and Andrew follow me Matthew follow me rich young ruler follow me that was how he said follow me if I do you see him out there those of you that have read your Gospels it's why it's so important to be in the gospel all the time because you see Christ the one we're supposed to follow let's follow him do you see him follow him he went up on the mountains Matthew 14 23 by himself to pray when evening came he was there alone I think think with me he was there alone where on the mountain that was his closet alone see that's that's what shutting the door is alone you're not alone today even if you shut the door and you got this buzzin in your pocket we need to we need to you know how the King James says quit yourself like men be a man don't be some little slave of a cellphone be a man you're gonna have to be one if you're gonna be familiar and make it the great object of your life to pray like some of the men and women of old whose lives we we cherish we're moved on when we read them but how do you think they live lives like that oh if you look at their prayer lives you'd have some idea mark 1:35 rising very early in the morning while it was still dark Jesus departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed hear him a mountain by himself a desolate place all alone hear his words do you see him out there you know what he's saying to you follow me follow me Luke 5:16 he would withdraw to desolate places and pray Luke 6:12 in these days he went out to the mountain to pray and all night he continued in prayer to God you find him in these places before the Sun rises in the morning you find him there in the afternoon all the way till night you find him there all through the night desolate places listen if you want to excel at this you need to arrange your life around this not gonna happen by magic be resolute about this make the sacrifices that are necessary to maintain one or two or three times of secret prayer every single day you say well two or three times I don't even do it once a day then repent that's not praying constantly that's not showing up in the secret place that's not imitating Christ follow me follow me follow me good brethren I mean I thought about this if I could take every moment that I've ever wasted in my life and could have given it to secret prayer how different my life would be I mean just think of the greater sanctification that you and I might have in our lives if we took some of the needless unnecessary waste of time out of our life and replaced it with secret communion with God just how our lives would be different more answers to prayer don't let your friends don't let your family don't let the cares of this world don't let your business don't let your pleasure rob you of God this is the greatest gift of all I'll tell you this those who have experienced God come close they know it they know it there's nothing in this world that compares there's nothing better if you say I don't know that listen if you love him and you give yourself to seeking him he says he'll manifest himself and if you're not knowing these manifestations it's not because he hasn't promised to give them look spend the time to find God spend time the time necessary to find God in ways that thrill your soul that cause you to drop on your face because he's come and the sense of his holiness is enough to put you on the floor because brethren I'll tell you you have experiences like like Isaiah had yeah I know he went to the temple and he saw the Lord he actually had a vision but when you have experiences where God comes close it's life-changing you ask how to pray listen I'll tell you from my own experience have the Word of God involved with it oftentimes going out I like to pray outside walking and begin to recite scripture that I'm memorizing all that so Prime's the pump for prayer Mack Tomlinson and and I'm starting to do this now he he has told me about praying through the Psalms I'm beginning to do that tremendous help think about the promises of God when you pray think about reasons as to why God should give you what you're asking for brethren instead of starting your secret prayers just running headlong into God's presence with all the things that you want you say I don't know what to pray for just go and get in the presence of God and begin to admit your faults confess your sins have a fresh look at the cross because I tell you when you go out you begin to confess and you're being transparent before the Lord you start to look to the cross of fresh Christ's sufferings and his death for me I mean you're you're like right where the Spirit will help you pray so that's one strand but hear me don't get impatient here second strand doing good [Music] brethren Galatians 6:9 you know don't turn to these texts but just listen because I'm gonna go I'm gonna move through some of these quickly but scripture says the Apostle says let us not grow weary of doing good or well doing we are to be well doers for in due season you will reap or we will reap if we do not give up do you remember what was said by our Lord he went about doing good again he says follow me see if we watch him we find him up on the mountain we find him out in desolate places but keep watching him oh that's good in itself that's doing good but watch him in between watch what he's up there getting fresh grace to do communing with his father because then he comes down from the mountain he comes away from the desolate place and what does he do a life just full of good that's it that's what it is to be his disciple are you his follower that's what a Christian is a follower of Christ do we follow him do we follow him to the secret place and then follow him among the people to do good doing good do you know what sort of Jesus you do not find in your Bibles we do not find the sword of Jesus who didn't smoke didn't drink didn't watch r-rated movies didn't send his children to public school didn't come late to church we don't find that Christ say what listen my emphasis is this you don't find this this Christ of negative emphasis in the pages of your Bible acts 10:38 doesn't say that Jesus went about not doing evil that's not the Jesus of the Bible say what what you're saying he did evil no I'm just saying that's not the issue so often you find religious people professing Christians well what's wrong with that well I don't do that you know the tip typical fundamentalist at I don't drink I don't smoke I don't dance so you say oh what the pastor saying you can I'm saying this we're called to be followers of Christ when you do spiritual inventory sure it's good if you haven't viewed pornography this week great if you haven't beaten your wife this week brethren those things are a given if that's the level at which you're trying to live your Christian life my friend you are missing the whole point of why Jesus Christ saved two people have you ever read he saved a people for his own possession and what would chiefly characterize them the fact that they don't do bad brethren that they be zealous of good works that's it get away from this negative oriented kind of Christianity you know your aunt you asked some some people about their Christianity and it's it's like it's all the negative it's all about what they don't do listen Jesus didn't save us just to stop doing the bad things of course he did that of course of course by the spirit to put to death the deeds of the body of course then but doing good doing good this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people in the same way doesn't scripture say let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven right there in Ephesians we came across that we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works brethren this is the heart and soul again when we talk about making it a primary endeavor of your life to pray one of the primary endeavors of our lives is doing good I mean with so many people is well you know I didn't miss church on Sunday listen church-going well that's good not forsaking the assembling together of yourselves is good but why do we come together to stir up one another to love and good works you see that's the issue you being here that's only to equip you for the real work to go out these doors and among one another and among the world out here in the midst of all this brothers sisters do good let that be the banner that flies over your life do good don't just live your life not getting drunk then selfishly seeking to to live for your own profit your own good look for every occasion to do good look for opportunities in your secret prayer ask God please open doors it's amazing how many times my wife has said I asked the Lord for an opportunity to evangelize any broad it almost instantaneously like that day right away I find that to be true to you ask the Lord for opportunities to do good the door will swing open just ask him ask him I use brethren we are one of the richest countries that have ever lived you say wow there's oil countries over in the middle it doesn't matter we in in light of all of it all of human history we are one of the richest countries that have ever existed the average person in this country is so incredibly wealthy compared to the poverty you find in other places you know why you've been given that riches to do good with it the rich are told to do good look for every opportunity brethren look around you there are needs everywhere you know the gospel what a mess of good you might do knowing the gospel look we have that message that men need to hear how are they gonna believe in the Christ that they've never heard and this is the message that empowered by God is salvation unto men Jesus Christ think about the good he did he went to the cross he laid down his life and he's actually made it that with all that good that was done yet people will not believe unless we do the good of taking the message of that cross to their ears otherwise they die in their sin and they perish thinking about all the good we can do you have the gospel you walk through this world walk through this world and you come back here one week come back when we come back and if you're not taking that fragrance of the gospel out there look at all the missed opportunities of enlightening the world we brethren do good to met in souls don't walk by them we I know James was saying we need to order some more business cards but we got tracks and let's use them up no matter what the financial situation is use up tracts and we'll buy more let's keep keep those things flowing do good brethren do good at work at play at home at school relieve people's poverty brethren if you see suffering try to try to meet it use the spiritual gifts that God has given to you to help one another to serve one another take what God has given to you look for opportunities look for the widow look for the orphan look for missions look brethren look get your eyes open we need to open up our eyes look this is not about you being comfortable God did not give you the riches that he gave you in this world so that you can just keep increasing your standard of living and standard of living and it goes up and you can wear nicer clothes and live in nicer houses and drive nicer cars it's not about that the rich need to be liberal liberal give and give more go to the jails go to the college campuses go to the nursing homes get involved with this crisis pregnancy brethren pray for the woman's grace house be involved in that as you are able to but have compassion on people try to disseminate some sort of love to everyone you meet if you're just thinking that how how can I just show kindness brethren sometimes it's just it's it may just be greeting somebody I mean I'm not saying you have to do it a full three you know three points sermon to the guy that you meet at at HEB but it might just be greeting him and being nice to people you know it's it's good if Christians are just nice but see what happens is when you begin to intertwine those secret prayers with the doing good what happens is God brings power to that doing good I mean he begins to bless it there begins to become a reward in it there there there's a you know brethren there are some things we do that don't touch men's hearts and there are some things that do and the difference is God the difference is him and it may have to do with the difference being in us but he's able to make that difference it comes back to him brethren you only get one life here and the reality is if we had two or three or five or ten lives we might waste one or two of them but you don't have that and we're to be zealous and you remember how it is on the on the end brethren what was what was Jesus looking at he was looking at the good that people did I was hungry and you fed me brethren go do that I was in jail you came brethren go do that go do that that's what he's going to be looking for because you know what that's just like the things he did he did good and he tells us follow me he was zealous of good works and he wants you to be not mediocre brethren not mediocre and good works he really wants to put you to pour yourself out that way don't live your life so cheaply where you're just going around asking all the time what's wrong with this what's wrong with that that's just so it's so cheap brethren that you know what the reality is when you go into that secret place you can pray Lord I know it I know I can be insensitive take away this hard selfish insensitive heart make my heart full of love for people now the last one the last thread just bear with me don't get impatient here via this is this is critical three-fold cord it's when they're all wrapped around listen if there's not self-denial you will not make the disciplined decisions necessary to get into that prayer closet if there's not self-denial like I said before any good works you do will be cheap because they'll lack self you know the greatest good that Jesus did was laying down his life at that cross the greatest good are the things that cost us the most usually self-denial Craig Craig brought up it's dangerous it is dangerous and he hit it right on the head motive self-denial is dangerous because on the one hand the Apostle Paul actually said people who are seduced by demonic spirits are going to preach abstinence whether that be marriage or food now you know what the interesting thing is abstinence from food is like Lent or Catholics you can't can't eat meat on Fridays or you look at that and we say well that's demonic then here's Jesus over here saying when you fast I think I think you know that's not demonic but but isn't it close abstain from food is what people teach who have been influenced by the seducing spirits abstaining from food is also taught by Jesus what's how do we how do we bridge that gap because it's their self-denial involved listen Craig alluded to the passage in Colossians chapter 2 you know what Paul warns about he warns about man-made religion don't taste don't touch you ever read that he warns against asceticism who knows what asceticism is let's self-denial itself mortification of the body and he's actually warning against it yet the same apostle comes along to the Corinthians and says right at the end of first Corinthians 9 I beat my body and I keep it under it so it's almost but you see brethren the thing is here it's all got to do with motive self-denial that's the last strand that I want to bring out this needs to be interwoven with secret prayer with doing good yes it's fraught with dangers but the reality is brethren Jesus Christ said this to us like I want to read you Paul's words before I tell you what Jesus said he said I do not run aimlessly I do not box as one beating the air but I discipline my body and keep it under control lest after preaching to others i myself should be disqualified King James has cast away the reality of that is not standing the test and you know what he's saying he's saying that I beat my body and I bring it under control and I say no to it and I don't let it master me because in the end I don't want to be cast away in the end I don't want to perish brethren you know what I love about Paul he's never the hyper-calvinist oh well I'm saved so it doesn't really matter well if I'm one of the elect I'm I mean no matter what I do you know he didn't think that way he recognized this you need to recognize what he's saying he's saying I recognize that my body has such appetites that if I give myself into those I may perish at last listen Jesus said this if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily that means die cross death instrument die daily and follow me see again isn't it amazing back to that follow me following to the secret place follow him in being zealous of good works follow him and you talk about self-denial he wasn't born into a wealthy family he could have been he was born into some degree of poverty he went to the cross his own ease he didn't he said I did not come to be served I came to serve I came to pour myself out for others that's the example that we have John said truly truly I say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone you want to be fruitful there's dying death brings fruitfulness dying to self deny self carry the cross daily brethren let's face it by Nature I'm talking about our law States we're soft we love pleasure you know what you could say well what about you know what about the guy that goes into the military and he becomes a seal this is is he just he like just saw things well no he likes the honor he likes the attention but see we're like that it makes us look good we basically oh yeah we'll make some denials if it makes us look good we'll make the denials to be this kind of athlete over there because we want that applause and but but by nature we are we are an honor seeking we are we are we are the kind of people that we seek self gratification and applause and pleasure that's just that's what we are we we brethren the reality is that when we get saved I know that the cross of Jesus Christ has dealt our selfishness a mortal blow but you and I know it's not dead yet that principle is still that that's a that's an operation within us and that's why Paul has to come along and say I beat my body I give it a black eye I I keep it under and that's why you get Jesus coming along and saying you need to die you need to deny yourself why because there is something brethren I'm telling you just like I did mention that with regards to Paul there is something in our appetites that is willing to carry us away if we give place to it this is this is what it is about this of God and putting to death the deeds of the body it is by this spirit you you are putting to death something that needs to be put to death there's something in our mortal bodies it likes softness and all you know you know one of the things today with all the wealth that we have we have so much so much softness and we don't really even think about it I'm afraid we are able to keep the temperature within very narrow bands 99% of our life and we scream likes I know it's graphic I just think a Bob Jennings talking about people screaming like stuck pigs but we we scream bloody murder like my mom used to say if we just have to walk from the door out to our cars and it's 30 degrees oh it's so cold out here we are so soft the temperature the humidity in our food we are pampered people that's just a reality my great-uncle came back from fighting in the Battle of the Bulge he was came in on like day four five after d-day and he fought behind Patton and his wife I went and talked to him he and his wife were in his 90s sharing the gospel with him over in Tennessee his wife said when he came home from the war he slept on the ground in the backyard because he had been so used to that during the war that getting in a bed was like unheard of you know we need some of that in us because brethren were soft it doesn't seem like they're making their figuring out how to make clothes softer and towels softer and if you would have heard how we cried when we went to Mexico because the water wasn't exactly the right temperature in the showers right Pete I mean we are soft and brethren if we're gonna live this Christian life and and with the kind of sacrifices that we need to be making lemon you need you need to deny the self and listen motive has everything to do with it if the motive is oh yeah I'm gonna make these sacrifices so it comes back to kind of the fasting things you see fasting fits right in with all this self-denial if you do it because you want to be seen of people and you want to put a notch in your spiritual belt and you want to make sure that everybody knows listen I have a friend I went to high school with he's now a Jesuit priest he let the whole world know right on the internet I saw it there I was kind of finding finding out what's going on with his life he tells a story publicly in front of the whole audience and I when he was a kid in elementary school he'd walk and this is back when I knew him I used to be his neighbor and he he put rocks in his shoes why well that's what Catholics do the self-mortification but the thing is yet tell everybody I'm not talking about the things that you go on broadcast Paul wasn't Paul was setting himself forth as an example but he didn't tell us exactly how he did what he did that's not the issue but brethren we need to look at our lives it look I'll tell you this it doesn't help us to make things more comfortable more soft and so so often we can get this you know we're in this day of we have so much wealth we can just we can eat exactly these right things all these diets well it's in the name of health and I'm gonna live longer I'm going to be healthy but I'll tell you this if all the pampering makes you soft spiritually it's not helping you you might live a little bit longer but that's not what we need we don't need to live longer we need to live better while we live brethren what don't go after all the self pampering in this life don't do that Hudson Taylor brethren there was a reason before he went to China he went into the inner city and he was eating the very meager estab diets and you know this you've heard it he slept on boards and he lived in poor housing in the slums why he was preparing to go to China and he recognized this he recognized that if he's going to make it over there being all lavished with the best food and the sophists clothes and the nice house which really is how he grew up he wasn't going to do well over there rather none of us are gonna you say well you know Hudson Taylor did those things I'm not a Hudson Taylor yeah but the thing that we have to recognize is how did Hudson Taylor get to be where he was a Hudson Taylor and accomplish things that he did there was a lot of self-sacrifice a lot of self-denial now I don't know where I came across this but I believe that this was John Piper that basically pointed out he was taking fasting again which is a form of self-denial any put fasting and young people struggling with pornography into the same little message and I I don't I I made it a slight little effort to find it but I just I don't know where it's at but you know what he said he said you take young people today who are so wired to just gratify everything we get sick we take the medicine get sick go to the doctor soft we're supposed to get out of bed you know the scripture says consider the ant the ants often out there these fire ants around here are often out there mate you wonder oh how all those piles get out there the reality is they were at work when a lot of us are still in bed get out of bed that's one of the self-denials just get out of bed you don't need to sleep 10 hours a day get out of bed stop with all the softness take up the cross but Piper said these young people instant gratification instant I mean I think again I would read an ad and iron Jetson if he oftentimes would board a ship and because of tides and winds they would often sit there for three days can you imagine if you got on an airplane and you had to sit on the airplane for three days before it took off again we all be screaming like what's going on we'd get off the airplane we'd find some other way we don't have patience for that kind of thing we want our food now we want it the way it is send it back it's not cooked just like I want it it's not it's not the right temperature it's you know what when you have young people that are wired that way you have parents that give them everything oh you want those clothes here have those clothes oh you want to you you want that cell phone you will here have that cell phone and more and more you know we get away from agricultural life and this is one of the struggles I've had in the city it's like I putting the children to work it's hard and say you grow up with this pampered generation that knows very little about hard work about getting out in rough conditions and what happens the tempt you've you've so trained that those young people to say yes to their appetites that when their body says I want sexual gratification it's just like yep just right there brethren if i if i could desire something of this church that there would be not the kind of self-denial that you want to parade so that you can tell people like put stones in your shoes but brethren you don't need the softest towel you don't need the softest clothes you don't need the most comfortable shoes you don't need the most comfortable temperature in your house you don't know if you need to eat all the fancy food you don't need to live in the nights or house or drive to have the more comfortable car you know it can almost be like movin the back automobile doesn't have air-conditioning we need to fix it oh you know that isn't necessarily something that needs to be fixed for your automobile to do what automobiles are supposed to do look I'm the first one to like air-conditioning I thought that I know the heat down here BOTS kills me but brethren we are soft and the truth is that there's decisions that we can make to keep our body under like Paul did take up your cross daily adopt a course of habitual self-denial basically what Piper was getting at is this when young people when young people actually develop the habits of the fasting that kind of self-denial it makes it a whole lot easier to say no to these bodily appetites when it comes to sexual problems and I just wondered hearing that huh I wonder if the young I wonder if a poll could be taken and everybody was totally honest and we knew all the facts if the young people most likely to fall into some kind of sexual temptation are likewise the ones that are least given to fasting I wonder if that correlation is real I suspect there's reality to it you see the fat guy who says oh my stomach hurts I mean that's one thing being overweight that's that's a good indication that you're not saying no to these bodily appetites you see the thing is when you have secret prayer and doing good and self-denial o brethren that is a three-fold cord that is not easily broken in the Christian life because what it'll do is it'll free you to make sacrifices even when it's uncomfortable to do good and you surround all that with prayer bringing down the power of God brethren I'll tell you what it'll produce it'll produce the kind of life that we find in Christ may God help us to have as much as the life of Christ and the strength of his life in our lives that is mortally possible for men and women like us who've been saved make us as much like him as possible deny yourselves you know what scripture says sell your possessions and give to the poor is that a denial it is make time for prayer is that a denial rather than doing the pleasurable things it is take more time and fasting even beyond this week make this a year of prayer and fasting is that a denial that that is a denial Jesus talked about all forms of denial take the lowest seat don't seek the places of Honor do that serve the Lord in ways that nobody else will no die to yourself that way die go do good things give in ways that people don't even know you do it make sacrifices that nobody else sees but you and the Lord say no to your flesh even when by all rights you could pamper it I'm not saying eating a bowl of ice cream having a piece of mint lemon meringue pie but you know what there can be places when you sit there can be times and places when you say no we're not going to that party we're not going to that get-together you know several years back an Assemblies of God Church down in Monterey just south of Monterey asked me to come down and preach a misson missions conference I knew that was risky going in but I had a group of people there and they all wanted to jump and shout and clap and scream and I kind of killed that right off but I said to them this this was a this was a bunch of people they didn't even have their Bibles and look I had to be honest with them I said we're having a missions conference and you don't even have your Bibles I said you're not fit to go this this group at large is not fit to go I said you know the people that end up making a difference is when all the other young people are over here who in hollering having a good time it's a person that makes the sacrifice they go grab their Bibles and they go off by themselves that's the person who's gonna end up turning the world upside down self-denial sacrifice three-fold cord all brethren make an immediate beginning here it is 2018 a good mile marker if there's something that resonates in your own conscience don't procrastinate immediately immediately make the determination Monday morning different reorder Brethren this is our life three-fold cord not easily broken strong life father I pray help us give us Grace and the name Jesus Christ I pray amen

Channel: I'll Be Honest

Views: 8,610

Rating: 4.975831 out of 5

Keywords: Ecclesiastes 4:8-12, Tim Conway, secret prayer, good works, sermon

Id: LZnJnkD-iGg

Length: 71min 27sec (4287 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 08 2018