Seven Habits of Sanctified Believers (CLW-27)

fine they're in the power of Christ I stand and that's what we're supposed to be doing this morning in fact let's open our Bibles to Galatians chapter 2 today in every day of our lives the cross of Christ is the power of God for us to live in this world of sin - as we just saying to stand to not be defeated - not to not be under the Dominion of the sin that surrounds us and that power of the cross of Christ is what I want you to see as we head toward the church at laodicea living a life that glorifies God is called sanctified living now sanctification and sanctified living is not a hot topic especially go to the bookstore Christian bookstore or family bookstore any of the Christian bookstores it's not one of the topics that just fills the shelves yet sanctified living is the only way to glorify God you know we talked last week about a life that that brings God glory the only way to glorify God is through sanctification sanctification is living my life under God's control it's walking in the spirit living in the spirit it is allowing the word of Christ to dwell in me sanctified living is a life that glorifies God sanctification means God is leading me and God is controlling me and that's all that glorifies God God wants to leave me God wants to control me that's the theme do you remember we covered the Lord's Prayer our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come that means control me every day were to be praying seeking longing for his control less of me running my life more of his control of my life that's sanctification as we return to Christ last word to this church this morning we're going through for those of you that just joined us this morning we're going through revelations seven churches and we're the last one but as we return to Christ last words to his church we find that Christ church at Laodicea was not living in the shadow of the cross the cross is the sanctifying power of Christ in our lives and they weren't living in the shadow of the Cross for two generations all of the local churches all the churches that surrounded Laodicea remember lay to see is a literal geographic place it's in modern-day Turkey in fact the Wiese that were here at our missions conference last week when they came I said what where do you live and they said we live in Galatia I thought can you imagine all of us are supposed to be living in Galatia we're supposed to be living in Galatians 2:20 and that's where I want you to turn this morning because for two generations the local churches around Laodicea had savored the truth of the cross of Christ and today we are a part of Christ Church and we gather to hear for our generation Christ warning he warned the Laodiceans you are not living in the shadow of the cross what does it mean to live in the shadow of the Cross it means that it's always reflected in my life it's like the we never gets far enough from the cross that we're not always in the area where we see and savor the effects of what Christ did on the cross we live in the shadow we live near perhaps the two best descriptions of what we have in Christ are in this little epistle or letter to the churches of the province of Galatia Galatia was here Asia was here in modern-day Turkey Galatia in the center and to the west was Asia the province the Roman province of Asia where Laodicea was in the middle and all of the churches in this province got this epistle to the Galatians or a letter but look with me at the best-known verse Galatians 2:20 and that's where Paul shares his personal testimony of salvation so I want you this morning before we jump in to Laodicea I want you to in your mind process what they had for two generations to them they were now the the third generation that was living in this local church that had been taught that had understood they had memorized probably like most people that you know if you're in any memory program you've memorized Galatians 2:20 this also was Paul's testimony listen to what he said I have been it's a past event with present effect I have been crucified with Christ and then he elaborates it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me so that's the glorious truth of salvation that that my sins were on Christ nailed to the cross in the past in it's an event that has eternal ramifications but look he keeps going and the life right in the middle of the verse the life which I now live in the flesh you see salvation does not eradicate the flesh the flesh is the the sin desire that resides as long as we're humans there is this this appetite longing effect I call the flesh a traitor where this new creation in Christ we're all excited and our body isn't going along with it how about he says oh it's too cold to go to church oh it's too far to go that Bible study oh it's too boring to read the Bible our flesh is constantly and a traitor to the new us and so Paul says the life which I now live in the flesh in this traitorous old fallenness that I'm a new creation having to live in this old building that is always trying to take me the wrong place I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and then he describes the cross as when Christ gave himself for me so there's Paul's testimony Christ gave himself for me so I can live in this traitorous flesh not me but Christ living so that's a beautiful truth in fact Galatians 2:20 we could say is our purpose statement for living our purpose statement for living is it's no longer I its Christ living in me as I lived through life in this flesh its Christ not me that's our purpose statement beautiful what he's saying is salvation begins and ends at the cross Jesus Christ on the cross is both the author the originator the initiator and the finisher the completer of our salvation that's the summation it's our purpose statement life for a believer is always to be lived in the shadow of Christ's cross what he did for us to the degree that we understand that is to the degree that our lives are pleasing to the Lord and fruitful to him now just for a principle just to calibrate all of our minds so we're all thinking the same way I deeply love my children I love them I tell them no matter what you do no matter what happens in life you are always my son or daughter I will always love you but did you know that though I completely love my children they don't always please me right are you a child or are you a parent have you ever displeased your parents your parents or your children ever displease you you understand I am married to at times I think an angel my wife Bonnie I mean I love her completely prayed for my whole life till I met her and then married her and loved her completely did you know that there are times that I do things that don't please her and there are times that she does things in fact I can't remember one but she's in the service but there there must have been at least once she did something didn't please me do you understand you can completely love someone and yet they can be displeasing to you but it doesn't change your love now there you just got one of the biggest points of theology lift that up God says I have loved you with an everlasting love therefore in loving kindness have i drawn you God loves us unchangeably in eternally nothing we do in all of our earthly life can increase God's love for us he said it is at the max and it's it's forever locked in to top I can't love you any more than I love you so as we go through life it is and oh we did that gotta love us a little more oh you did that he won't love you as well oh oh it's not like that God loves us supremely but we can displease him immensely in fact this church were headed to you talk about love at the top they were displeasure at the bottom jesus said you sicken me to the point of vomiting that's how sick you make me you're so displeasing to me did that mean he doesn't love him no that's why he's so displeased cuz he loves him so much did that lower his love for them no but it's very important to understand that we can displeased the Lord now what are rewards and and what's the judgment seat of Christ about it's all about how much of our life was pleasing to Christ how much of our life was glorifying to Christ how much of our life was lived in step with him he's gonna measure that he's gonna burn out all the parts of our life that were not in step with him and whatever's left is our reward all the rewards are clustered around obedience if you look there's five different ones we study them on Sunday night and all of those rewards are around obedience and those are measured by our sanctification our sanctification level is how much we glorify the Lord and glorifying the Lord is responding to the power of the Cross so where's the how to look at Galatians 2:20 did you notice a little attachment kind of like a little study guide like huh-huh how do we do this well it's later in the book flip over to chapter 6 I want to show you the how-to manual it's it it's there it's just a little detached you see Paul had to deal with in chapter 3 4 and 5 the Spirit led life the spirit filled life the spirit fruited life the spirit liberated life that we all got at salvation then in chapter 6 in verse 14 Paul tells us in Galatians 6:14 our emancipation proclaimation for life how you stay in all that Christ has done for us how in fact you hear that word Emancipation Proclamation for life doesn't it ring a bell from history remember I'm a history major I think in historic terms do you remember in American the 1860s when you had to take US history and it was boring but you remember in 1860s there was a a convulsion in our country had been building for decades and finally we went to war under the premise that no human could be owned by another human no human was lower and of a servant class that they could be owned like a tractor for someone else and work in their field or whatever and not as a person any more of it as an object and that that led to the huge civil war fight over the freedom of all those hundreds of thousands and millions of of possessed human being slaves well the Civil War solved it and and the Emancipation Proclamation was was made for the slaves did they all leave the plantations no for decades some of them they didn't know how to get out of there they they didn't know how to live they knew only slavery and so though they had been freed they continued living like like they weren't and even though the Emancipation was proclaimed they didn't know how to apply it well right here this is how to apply if this is the Emancipation Proclamation applied the cross of Christ is the Emancipation method that God use it's to help set us free from the chains of sin now all of us have been set free the Bible describes salvation as all of us are slaves chained up you know shackled owned and and totally slaves to sin and Jesus comes to the slave market that's what Redemption X garaged so the greek word means bought out of the slave market so all of us were born and lived as long as we lived till we got saved in the slave market of sin Jesus comes to that slave market and with his own blood purchases us out of the slave market and at the instant of salvation he releases the shackles the chains he opens the prison doors we are no longer enslaved that's what salvation does that's the power of sanctification that God uses to bring the cross into our moment-by-moment existence as we travel through life on earth this verse tells us how we live out what Christ did the instant of our salvation because do you know what most believers of the last week we heard there are a couple billion of them I would say the vast majority the ones we heard about last week are living in the prison they don't even know what Christ did for them they haven't walked out they haven't experienced Galatians 6:14 well let's stand together this is what we're gonna read this morning hold your Bible open follow along I'm going to show you two little phrases in this verse and then we're gonna spend the whole morning applying them but as we stand I want you to listen to these life transforming words I hope when you've done today you have a box around this and circle aro something so you don't lose this verse because in the public reading of Scripture we hear the very voice of God from his word speaking into our lives this eternal truth and this is what he said Paul speaking for God but God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world now I just read that from the King James New King James some of you might have by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world by whom is by Christ by which is by Christ cross those are synonymous so they say the same thing that I have been crucified to the world and the world has been crucified to me two very powerful truths Paul uses to apply crucified living let's bow before the Lord and prayer father I pray that this morning we would understand sanctification we'd understand your desire to to have our lives every part of them not just this hour not just sprinkled hours but every moment of every day coming more and more under your control more and more pleasing to you more and more glorifying to you more and more sanctified which means under your control and lord I pray that that the truth the truth of the Cross the truth of sanctification the truth of what is already done once and for all would be applied to our lives in a moment-by-moment way and only you can do that by your spirit and I pray for for you to stir the hearts of your believers gathered here to hear your truth today and not just to merely hear it but to respond to do it the name of Jesus we ask amen may be seated as you're seated look at verse 14 I want to show you the two parts okay I want you to think about this is kind of a platform I'm building a platform to get to to the church and layer to see it because what I'm showing you is what they knew and weren't doing and this morning as I talked about this I can assume that there are many people right here listening that know and aren't doing this and the Lord says this is what I want you to know this is what I want you to do two parts number one the cross saves us now listen number one from the hold of sin and number two from the hunger for sin there's two parts in this verse as we look at this verse we see that the personal sanctification God desires to take place in us that we long to promote in our lives through his power every day has two distinct parts there's an external part there's an internal part sanctification the power of the cross has two very powerful components that Paul distinguishes here number one God has saved us from the hold of sin the hold of sin sin used to hold us it used to enslave us it used to to bind us with chains it used to lock us in in fact we we were bound by sin we lived in sin we could not from birth from conception onward we all were held by sin you don't teach a child how to sin you can you can raise a child in a white room with soft classical music playing and and and just have them never see anything wicked in their whole life just be in this little room and as soon as they get to make a choice it is hmm and I mean where do they get that it was part of them from conception it's called the fall environment does not pollute us we pollute the world around us I'm talking about in sin also in other ways but we are polluted from conception by sin so God saved us from that outward hold of sin that used to enslave us secondly God has saved us from the inward hunger of sin that used to control our lives not only is there this this hold these chains that sin forges but we have inside this our flesh and we long for sin that's what what we hunger for now it comes in three flavors most of us only think of the you know lust of the flesh and those you know like the poor Penn State whatever he is and if he really did whatever all they're saying oh that's bad you know but you know what there's the lust of the eyes that's valuing things more than God sacrificing working endless hours to get a bigger thing rather than giving God even a portion of our life our time our effort valuing things so much that that that things become more important than people that's the lust of the eyes how about the pride of life God is supposed to be at the center of anything you know why it's so hard for us talking about we're at the center of everything because we're all sinners and the pride of life makes makes us look in every picture for ourselves and on every list of winners we look for our name first it's just how we're wired and the cross sets us free from the outward hold of sin and sets us free from the inward hunger for sin now note these two deep truths they can help us live out all that Christ has look at that phrase in verse 14 the world has been crucified to me okay the world has been crucified to me what is that this means the hold of sin on my life has been broken see that's the foundation for all of our Christian lives the hold of sin has been broken the cross of Christ to a believer means the chains of sin have been cut the prison door that that held me and I meet people all time they say I that's just how I am because and what they're talking about is someone abuse someone hurt someone you know whatever happened the person abandoned and their parents abandoned them their husband or wife abandoned them there whatever and they just have always been locked in the prison of the of their response to that horrible thing that happened to him you know what the prison door has been unlocked and swung open you don't have to be captured by that bitterness or by that anger or by that fear or by that that oppression the handcuffs have been taken off that means I have been set free from being powerless to get away before I was saved sin I was chained and sin could beat and and totally destroy everything just I couldn't get away that's that's how we were born we were under the mastery of sin the cross of Christ means I'm no longer under the hold of sin prison doors open chains are off handcuffs shackles I'm free I can leave I'm no longer enslaved to sin the second phrase look at the second half of the verse it's equally as a depth of meaning it's tied by God to the first phrase not only am i crucified the world crucified to me but the second part is I have been crucified to the world that's the inward eye on the inside looking out no longer at the very center of my being I'm hungry desperately for what this pleases God for sin that means the appetite of my heart has been changed sinister feed me as a believer now it makes me sick you understand the difference I used to live for the junk diet of lust and sin now I'm getting more and more allergic every day to all of that because of the sanctification that God is bringing about in my life you see we our whole appetite has changed we used to hunger for sin now we're allergic to it and it sickens us you meet people that say have a gluten intolerance I mean he'll read those labels and they'll check the last three questions and say is there been any on the counter you know I mean oh that we had such a dread for sin that's what the cross accomplished that we have an intolerance for sin we're allergic to it it's hunger is no longer there our appetite has been changed my new life in Christ feeds now on the pure food of God's Word the new life of Christ causes me to hunger and thirst remember jesus said in the the Beatitudes blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness that blessing is that means they're saved we have a new appetite a new hunger a new desire the cross of Christ means I'm no longer under a constant hunger for sin the hunger for sin has been broken as well as the chains that made me eat all of that both have been broken the essence of daily life boils down to the cross of Christ whether or not I will allow oh Christ to crucify the world to me and to crucify me to the world so that's what sanctification is a choice everyday saying Lord crucify me to the world and crucify the world to me in other words let the world lose its hold on me and let my hunger be mortified and suppressed by the power of the cross my my flesh the traitor that lives around me don't let the flesh dominate what I do let the spirit let the cross let you living in me it's no longer i but christ the back to chapter 2 verse 20 only the cross deals with both the hold of sin in our life what does it hold of sin it's sinful habits it's the setting sin it's sinful addictions it's sinful enslavement its persistent areas of defeat in my life and so on that's the hold of sin don't say I'm just you know that's just how I'm always gonna be known the hold has been broken you're on the plantation but you don't have to be you're just there by choice and being under that old master beaten and thrashing you don't have to be you can walk away any time the cross set us free secondly the hunger force in our flesh constantly maintains that's that's a sinful distractions the sinful trifling away our time and wasting time and and being involved in deadening behavior it's it's having constant allergic reactions to sin instead of eating the pure food you know people that they have these severe food allergies once they find out and they start eating what they're supposed to eat it's a radical change I mean they they're not sick all the time did you know many believers are sick all the time why there's they're saved but they're eating all the stuff they're allergic to and they're having severe reactions to it because they're a new creation in Christ and so all of a sudden we see that unsanctified living was the sickening condition of where we're going and Laodicea so let's go to chapter two a revelation I want to show you in Revelation chapter 3 the church at Laodicea the context now is what I just shared with you the context is on sanctified living was the condition that Laodicea fell into and that condition of unsanctified living was sickening Christ Oh a minute doesn't change his love loves completely but their conduct and behavior sickened him that's I I think that's a message that that the 21st century Church does not understand they think once my sins are forgiven I can just live however watch is going to forgive them all that's what love says sanctification says but all that disobedient living sickens Christ to the point of vomiting the 21st century Church is so Laodicean so unsanctified and the lord's appealing to them the church and latest sea at all but stopped glorying in the power of the cross they had all but stopped allowing the sanctifying effects of the cross to be present in their life what happens when we get out of the shadow of the cross when we don't live every day with the the the work of Christ falling across every pathway every activity every event every thought the cross of Christ overshadows at all what happens when we neglect that well likely odyssia they slowly drifted away from Christ's control over their lives you see the cross exerts a control over us Paul says because of the cross of Christ the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God I live believing that he died for me and because he died for me I am crucified to the world in the world is crucified to me you get away from that then Christ is not controlling our life they began to call vate and drift into and live out some very bad habits these habits are so serious Jesus lists them in this passage starting in verse 15 and tells them these habits are sickening to him the bad habits form around an uncouth idlife every part of my life did is not crucified with Christ every part of my life that that I don't leave under that control crucifixion is an attachment of my life to Christ everything that is unattached to him is unsanctified and sickening to him and that's what what he tells them the bad habits the sick in Christ into this church he writes were spiritual neutrality spiritual self-sufficiency not needing Christ I I'm kind of self-sufficient spiritual insensitivity just not being in tune with the holy spirit spiritual wastefulness not living my life for eternal things just living them for the moment for things spiritual neglect not feeding my soul spiritual blindness not seeing myself in the mirror of the word did you know every day you look in the other mirror I mean you look in the other mirror the normal mirror just to make sure everything's okay you know that you don't have a tag still attached to something or that you know it doesn't isn't dirty or as a whole and you you know check the back and you look at everything check your hair if you have it you know what I mean you just you saves a lot of time you know what I mean but they were spiritually blind they relaxed they had cultivated habits that made them unacceptable to Christ and so Christ rebukes the areas that were unsanctified in their life so this morning that's what the Epistle of Christ to the latest scenes is about it's about what we saw last time the seven areas in their life that's sickened Christ now we're gonna look at the opposite of that and what I like to call is the seven habits of a sanctified believer starting in verse 15 we find Jesus showing what the habits of sanctification that he desires in our life what they look like and and he defines them by saying what they were not living up to that was a part of the foundation that they'd been taught what they were not responding to of his truth you see God doesn't just throw truth out and just let it sit there he wants us to respond to it don't merely be hearers of the word but what do errs see we all know that but what does that mean well first of all look at verse 15 because habit number one Jesus wants us to cultivate the the repenting for any spiritual neutrality in our life he wants us now what this means this isn't a once and for all thing you know I did that already know he wants us constantly examining our life and seeing if we've become neutral you know what neutral is it doesn't take sides now there's only two players in this game the devil the world the flesh is over here and God two players the scriptures put it this way the last verse of 1st John says this the whole world lies in the arms of the evil one so everything of Satan's and then there's God and what's his there's only two choices on the Shelf pleasing myself my flesh my lust and Satan's domain or pleasing God two choices no middle the middle is going Satan's way neutrality is just what he wants he doesn't want a Christian to be had you know over heels and the city just wants him neutral that means not resisting not overtly bringing every part systematically of my life under Christ control that's what neutrality is spiritual neutrality is when we stop aggressively resisting sin and the world we're not cold and refreshing like the springs of water that were enjoyed at colossi we're not hot and therapeutic like the thermal springs of Hierapolis living the Christian life is resisting the pressure what did Paul say in Romans 12 that I command you to not be squashed by the world how do you keep from getting squashed if the pressure is on you push back and resist spiritual neutrality is when we stop resisting we just go it's too hard it's too we just I'm going to heaven and we just get squashed by the world that's unacceptable that makes Jesus vomit doesn't please him he wants that to change he wants us to repent of that the world and everything in it that's not focused on glorifying God is pushing us away from God's glory and lorises resists that so how do we do that well let's turn back to 1st Corinthians chapter 6 by the way by the 90s when this letter was written we know from the counsel of Jamia that every one of the 27 letters of the New Testament fragments of them were all in the 90s circulated all throughout the Roman world the Canon was there and and so these people had first Corinthians the bottom line of that is these people in Laodicea had access to 1st 2nd Corinthians and to Galatians Ephesians Philippians and all that other stuff they had this now look what they knew for a generation 1st Corinthians 6:19 and 20 because spiritual neutrality says it doesn't matter that every part of my life comes under Christ's control you know I'm not gonna resist I'm gonna be neutral devil wants it Jesus wants it I'm not gonna fight just take whatever you want neutral that does that that's unacceptable look why 1st Corinthians 6:19 and 20 or do you not know that your body by the way what's your body it's what's sitting on the Pew right now okay oh the whole package you right there me right here that's our body don't you know your body not just your immaterial spirit that's been born again the whole package your body all of us sitting here this morning is temple of the Holy Spirit in the enlarges owner who is in you whom you have from God so our entire body has become his temple hands eyes mind body we become a mobile temple that means wherever we are it's hallowed because this is the holy temple of God did you know we don't we shouldn't call this thing where we're sitting this morning a sanctuary now at this moment it's a sanctuary the rest of the week unless Dan's in here working on something more you know marks up here or John this building is not a sanctuary it's only a sanctuary when there's a Holy Spirit of God and dwelt believer it then it becomes a sanctuary in here the rest of time is just an auditorium we are the holy temple you and I are the sanctuary I've met people all the time to say oh you can't do that in the sanctuary they're talking about this building this auditorium I go oh you mean you could do that out in the parking lot yeah it's not the sanctuary I go sanctuary goes out in the parking lot with you you're the sanctuary you're look what it says in verse 19 you are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God and at that instant when that took place you are not your own it's no longer me saying I don't know yeah I can do that I can't do that it's me asking you know it's so sweet I'm on my what am I on my seventh teenager one's just a few months away from me I've had seven teenagers you know what all of them have driven my cars you know what they all do they say dad could I borrow the car let's say give me that car I mean if they tried boy they would know that they'll never see it but you know what I mean they they understand ownership and they come up and they say can I take it can I take it for this long can I take it to this place when do I have to be home do I have pay for gas or you're going to please you know they go that whole thing why because there's no doubt in their mind who owns that car look at verse 19 you are not your own I don't own this body anymore verse 24 you were bought at a price therefore but that's important therefore how many of you have therefore in your Bible hold your hand up okay most of you good good translation because that is an explanatory summation particle if you are into all that stuff an explanatory summation particle means it stands as a gateway to look back and see why something is necessary therefore is looking back at what I just read that we're not our own that the Holy Spirit lives within that we were bought at a price all that therefore was the next parts a glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are gods you know what Paul said our bodies are reserved for God's use glorifying God is saying god this is not mine it's yours what do you want to do with this where do you want this to go what do you want this to do how do you want this to look how do you want this to be presented to people when I allow people to know me what do you want them to know when I talk what do you want this to say when I think what do you want this to think because it's not mine you want spiritual neutrality is its whoever wants to run the show ken if it's just you know whatever's going on in the world yep that's me oh I'm a church I'll do that the Lord says that sickens me you're supposed to be the same under my ownership and control and is my sanctuary wherever you are whenever you talk you don't have church lingo you know and and the lingo of you know athletics or the lingo of sales or the lingo of management or the lingo of social life it's it's unified it's not compartmentalized spiritual neutrality is when we compartmentalize our life and we just let this one be the Lawrence this little right here this hour or maybe more you give them two hours or maybe you're in a Bible study give them three hours or have devotion toward a give them five but all the rest is mine no Lord says no you're not your own our bodies are reserved we're owned by God we're inhabited by the spirit we're no longer ours therefore because of the purchase of God because of the moving-in of the Holy Spirit because of his declaration that he has taken possession that's what verse 20 is about therefore look at verse 20 glorify now glorify is an imperative that means that we have a choice to respond to it or not God is saying this is what I want you to do are you going to or not and we can there's two ways of not responding one is flat-out saying no the other is say I'll think about it you give people you know you know they're the why don't you just say no they go I'll think about it and you know that's that's the polite way of saying no God says I want to yes I don't want to think about I want to yes therefore glorify God it's an imperative it means valuing God for who he is who is he he's the owner master the new master or as we heard recently giving God the credit for what belongs to him you know this whole idea of glorify in fact in the old testement I love that the best the Old Testament word glory means weight keV owes the Hebrew word glory means heaviness do you know what glory means it means I feel God weighing on every part of my life there's no part of my life that I don't feel his weight on his weight is on my the way I think the way I talked the way I Drive the way I earn money the way I spend money the way I do anything with this body I feel his weight he's there he's watching you know for most Christians God's weightless they don't even feel him in fact when they're Church they're resisting they don't want to feel too much because they know they're saving they just want to go on and have fun and get to heaven you know God says no I went away upon your life spiritual neutrality is when we stop glorifying God in the small things and then they become big things one last verse look at chapter 10 verse 31 then we're all done first Corinthians 10:31 says this therefore so now you have to read the rest of the you know the first 30 verses therefore whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God when we stop glorifying God in every part of life or neutral when we stop surrendering every part of life were neutral when we stop feeling God's weight on every part of our life we just let God weigh in on the church part or the small group part or the public part but he isn't weighing in on the rest of our life we've gone into this spiritual neutrality we're not resisting the world we're just going with the flow and when we do that revelation 2 says we sicken to the point of vomiting so this morning Jesus said the response he wants is repent of any spiritual neutrality what does repent mean it means to have a change in my mind that leads to change in my behavior it starts here and issues there it won't issue there if it doesn't start here so how do we repent we identify an area in my life and say Lord that area is not under your control that area is under your control Lord I've slowly let this slip out of control you're not the master of my diet my appetite you're not the master of my thoughts you're not the master of my fears you're not the master I'm still enslaved I've gone back into jail to that oldest setting sin while you hear his voice don't harden your heart he says repent of that so we're actually gonna practice that this morning okay I'd like you all to bow your heads and close your eyes I'm gonna pray as you sit there I wanna I want you to think with me is there any part of my life any part of my life that's not under Christ's control my appetites my thoughts my activities is there any part of my life that he would say is not under his control now with your eyes closed not looking around as a response that leads to repentance this morning will you say Lord there are parts of my life I want to repent of and right now I want you to release me from the hold of sin and I want you to change me to no longer hunger after that and whatever it is in your heart don't say it out loud tell him because he's the one that dispenses the power of the cross right where you're sitting what part of your life is not under his control and you want to repent and come back under his control okay with heads bowed nice goes how many of you say this morning I've repented of the hold or the hunger of sin and I'm trusting Christ to change me in that area just hold your hand up don't look around see who's holding her hand up just hold it up as your testimony many okay let's all stand up and I'm going to close in prayer and as you stand I want you to solidify in your mind those of you that raised your hands what you're talking about and I want you to work on that by finding what God says about whatever you raised your hand about and if you don't have a verse memorized on it you ought to start because this is the sword the Spirit effectively wielding a scripture that has to do with an area that needs to be under God's control in my life is it's what we put a tool into his hand to change us by letting his word in so don't just think that say Lord I want you to change me let's bow for word of Prayer Father in Heaven we bow before you we acknowledge that your glory the weight of who you are needs to be felt in every part of our life and if it's not we're floating were neutral we're not fighting on your side against sin in our own lives and this morning we repent of any areas that are not surrendered to you and we give them back to you take them control us we pray and father for anybody this morning perhaps they're here and their heart is deeply convicted of their sins and they're crying out to know how to know you personally I pray that you would draw them to yourself this morning where they sit where they stand wherever they go may they realize they can cry out to you and whoever calls on your name you have promised to save for those who need to pray with someone about something they repented of or anything in their life they need a brother a sister to put their hand upon them and pray for your blessing for them I pray that you would work through our elders and through the godly women who stand at the front and every service and minister I pray that we would not leave here the way we came that we would let your transforming power of the cross be at work in our lives we ask that in the precious name of Jesus and for your glory alone and all of God's people said amen god bless you as you go

Channel: DTBM

Views: 23,884

Rating: 4.8857141 out of 5

Keywords: peace, hope, love, joy, anxiety, depression, trinity, orthodoxy, dispensationalism, john samuel barnett, dtbm, the bible, jesus god, holy spirit, discover the book, eschatology end times prophecy, demons angels satan devil, expository preaching john macarthur

Id: YYimvWqCynM

Length: 48min 3sec (2883 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 04 2019