1 00:00:06,001 --> 00:00:10,491 Brethren, the battle is in the mind, 2 00:00:10,491 --> 00:00:14,865 our thoughts have to be subject to Christ. 3 00:00:14,865 --> 00:00:18,347 Our thoughts have to be permeated by the Word of God.(P) 4 00:00:18,347 --> 00:00:21,077 Brethren, you know what Paul has been doing? 5 00:00:21,077 --> 00:00:22,797 Think with me! 6 00:00:22,797 --> 00:00:25,531 He's been holding up the Gentile! 7 00:00:25,531 --> 00:00:28,991 To your thinking, to your analysis, 8 00:00:28,991 --> 00:00:33,338 he put's it before your thoughts 9 00:00:33,338 --> 00:00:35,357 so that you can analyze this 10 00:00:35,357 --> 00:00:41,547 and you can look at it and you can say, "Okay, yes, the Gentile is futile." 11 00:00:41,547 --> 00:00:44,960 And then you hear a message like was preached several weeks ago on the futility of the mind; 12 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:46,401 and you begin to look at, 13 00:00:46,401 --> 00:00:48,555 "Wow, we were like that! We were futile. 14 00:00:48,555 --> 00:00:51,223 Everything we gave our life to, it was utter futility!" 15 00:00:51,223 --> 00:00:53,134 And so we begin to think that way. 16 00:00:53,142 --> 00:00:55,945 Anytime there is this temptation to go back to the world, 17 00:00:55,945 --> 00:00:59,936 go back to the temptations of all this stuff that ensnares, 18 00:00:59,936 --> 00:01:03,616 we can think, we can think logically. 19 00:01:03,616 --> 00:01:06,505 We can wake up in the morning and think, 20 00:01:06,505 --> 00:01:08,405 "I don't want to waste my life. 21 00:01:08,409 --> 00:01:10,302 I need to put on the new man." 22 00:01:10,302 --> 00:01:14,463 You see brethren, we begin to think. 23 00:01:14,463 --> 00:01:16,416 This is where the battle is won.(P) 24 00:01:16,416 --> 00:01:19,547 I can guarantee if there are any of you that are claiming to be Christians, 25 00:01:19,547 --> 00:01:21,350 and you are floundering around in life, 26 00:01:21,350 --> 00:01:23,844 you are not thinking right. 27 00:01:23,844 --> 00:01:25,621 You haven't learned Christ right; 28 00:01:25,621 --> 00:01:27,767 you have not thought about Christ right; 29 00:01:27,767 --> 00:01:29,810 you have not learned Him right. 30 00:01:29,817 --> 00:01:31,967 Something is defective.(P) 31 00:01:31,967 --> 00:01:35,935 Brethren, when you are filling your mind with the Word of God all the time; 32 00:01:35,935 --> 00:01:39,296 Thy Word is truth, brethren, we will be sanctified by that truth. 33 00:01:39,296 --> 00:01:42,939 Because that truth permeates the mind, 34 00:01:42,939 --> 00:01:45,939 it effects the way we think. 35 00:01:45,939 --> 00:01:51,139 Look, that truth comes in, and it sets us free because it starts to grip us. 36 00:01:51,139 --> 00:01:52,656 And it constrains us, 37 00:01:52,656 --> 00:01:58,056 and it drives us in directions that are right, and that God approves of. 38 00:01:58,056 --> 00:01:59,322 Brethren, this is it. 39 00:01:59,322 --> 00:02:01,105 This is how you put the old off, 40 00:02:01,105 --> 00:02:04,005 you stop thinking like you used to think.(P) 41 00:02:04,029 --> 00:02:07,449 Actually, how is the old man driven? 42 00:02:07,449 --> 00:02:08,656 By corrupt desires; 43 00:02:08,656 --> 00:02:12,978 and rather than being driven by corrupt desires, you begin to be driven by truth. 44 00:02:12,978 --> 00:02:14,857 By a mind that really thinks. 45 00:02:14,857 --> 00:02:16,841 by a mind that sees things straight.(P) 46 00:02:16,841 --> 00:02:19,497 Brethren, when you begin to size up the fact; 47 00:02:19,497 --> 00:02:22,665 we talked about this before. 48 00:02:22,665 --> 00:02:27,433 Brethren, there's a way people live; 49 00:02:27,433 --> 00:02:30,209 when they begin to realize, "Wow, my life is short. 50 00:02:30,209 --> 00:02:32,976 I only get one shot at this and everything I do here matters. 51 00:02:32,976 --> 00:02:36,025 And I am going to stand before Christ one day and be judged for it." 52 00:02:36,025 --> 00:02:39,213 You start letting that truth control you day in and day out. 53 00:02:39,213 --> 00:02:43,462 One of the things was brethren, when we were lost, we tried NOT to think about that! 54 00:02:43,462 --> 00:02:45,127 We tried not to think about death! 55 00:02:45,127 --> 00:02:46,753 We tried not to think about judgment! 56 00:02:46,753 --> 00:02:50,122 We tried not to think about the consequences of sin. 57 00:02:50,122 --> 00:02:52,252 We tried not to think about hell. 58 00:02:52,252 --> 00:02:54,093 We didn't want to think about it. 59 00:02:54,093 --> 00:02:57,162 Brethren, our minds have been enlightened now. 60 00:02:57,162 --> 00:03:00,220 We can take truth and we can think, 61 00:03:00,220 --> 00:03:05,202 "Wow, you know what, I never found that sin was ultimately gratifying when I was lost. 62 00:03:05,202 --> 00:03:09,962 I never found that it ultimately accomplished and gave me what it promised to give me. 63 00:03:09,962 --> 00:03:13,615 I never found that it really produced happiness in my life." 64 00:03:13,615 --> 00:03:14,575 What are you going to do now? 65 00:03:14,575 --> 00:03:15,912 Are you going to stop thinking that? 66 00:03:15,912 --> 00:03:18,707 Are you going to stop thinking about the futility? 67 00:03:18,707 --> 00:03:20,882 You see Paul is laying this out so that you can examine this, 68 00:03:20,882 --> 00:03:23,832 and you can say, "Yes, that's exactly how my life was! 69 00:03:23,832 --> 00:03:27,708 It was greedy with all its sensuality, and I was hard and I was calloused, 70 00:03:27,708 --> 00:03:33,158 and I was alienated from the life of God, and yes, I see it's all true!" 71 00:03:33,183 --> 00:03:34,933 And now you start thinking, 72 00:03:34,933 --> 00:03:36,068 "Well, wait a second. 73 00:03:36,068 --> 00:03:37,623 Jesus came into this world, 74 00:03:37,623 --> 00:03:40,964 and they called His name Jesus because He was going to save me from my sins." 75 00:03:40,964 --> 00:03:42,104 And you start thinking, 76 00:03:42,104 --> 00:03:45,436 He came into this world to deliver me from this present evil age. 77 00:03:45,436 --> 00:03:46,737 And you start thinking, 78 00:03:46,737 --> 00:03:51,409 there is an immeasurable greatness of power in me! 79 00:03:51,409 --> 00:03:52,659 And you start thinking, 80 00:03:52,659 --> 00:03:53,609 and you know what, 81 00:03:53,609 --> 00:03:57,625 if I don't have holiness in my life, I read somewhere in 2 Timothy, 82 00:03:57,625 --> 00:04:00,295 that I am not a fit vessel for the Master's use. 83 00:04:00,295 --> 00:04:02,273 And so if I really want my life to be profitable, 84 00:04:02,273 --> 00:04:03,755 there needs to be holiness here. 85 00:04:03,755 --> 00:04:06,418 I need to be striving. 86 00:04:06,418 --> 00:04:07,858 You begin thinking.(p) 87 00:04:07,858 --> 00:04:13,147 You know, the apostle John puts it this way: 88 00:04:13,147 --> 00:04:15,836 We don't know what we are going to be, 89 00:04:15,836 --> 00:04:17,075 but we know this, 90 00:04:17,075 --> 00:04:21,911 we know that when we see Him we are going to be as He is. 91 00:04:21,911 --> 00:04:25,826 And he says that everybody that has this hope purifies himself. 92 00:04:25,826 --> 00:04:28,945 Well now, what is the logic of that? 93 00:04:28,945 --> 00:04:30,373 Well, the logic is this. 94 00:04:30,373 --> 00:04:37,780 Look, if I believe that He saved me to present me holy and blameness before Him; 95 00:04:37,780 --> 00:04:42,990 if I believe that He came into this world to break the power of sin in my life, 96 00:04:42,990 --> 00:04:45,642 and to free me up to be zealous of good works; 97 00:04:45,642 --> 00:04:49,867 if I believe that there is a day that I am going to have to stand before Him and give an account; 98 00:04:49,867 --> 00:04:54,306 if I believe that He is the very image of beauty; 99 00:04:54,306 --> 00:04:58,774 if I believe that the very pathway to usefulness in this life; 100 00:04:58,774 --> 00:05:00,843 and I am thinking this all the time. 101 00:05:00,843 --> 00:05:04,369 I am thinking! I am thinking! 102 00:05:04,369 --> 00:05:07,002 We have to think, think.(P) 103 00:05:07,002 --> 00:05:12,554 Brethren, think about what happens in the mind of someone who learns Christ, 104 00:05:12,554 --> 00:05:13,753 who hears Christ, 105 00:05:13,753 --> 00:05:16,045 who is taught of Christ, 106 00:05:17,355 --> 00:05:19,495 what happens? 107 00:05:19,495 --> 00:05:23,074 Well, he looks, he contemplates. 108 00:05:23,074 --> 00:05:29,181 He thinks, he thinks about what he has learned and he says, 109 00:05:29,181 --> 00:05:32,683 "This is really important. 110 00:05:32,683 --> 00:05:35,306 This is the most important thing I have ever heard, this is everything! 111 00:05:35,306 --> 00:05:36,857 This is truth." 112 00:05:36,857 --> 00:05:41,357 Not just, yes, there are other things in this world that are true, but this is THE truth. 113 00:05:41,357 --> 00:05:44,737 I have found something that is the truth. 114 00:05:44,737 --> 00:05:49,846 I have found something that is beyond every other thing to be found. 115 00:05:49,846 --> 00:05:52,432 I'll let everything else go rather than to let this go. 116 00:05:52,432 --> 00:05:56,416 I'll sacrifice everything as long as I can have this One I have learned about. 117 00:05:56,416 --> 00:06:00,376 The message of Christ, it begins to grip him, it holds him, it captures him. 118 00:06:00,376 --> 00:06:02,469 It permeates his thinking.(P) 119 00:06:02,469 --> 00:06:05,724 Brethren, when you wake up in the morning and you think about how precious Christ is, 120 00:06:05,724 --> 00:06:07,221 when you think about how beautiful He is, 121 00:06:07,221 --> 00:06:10,385 when you think about how, "I want to draw close to Him. 122 00:06:10,385 --> 00:06:12,355 I want Him to speak to me today. 123 00:06:12,355 --> 00:06:16,231 I want to know of His presence manifestly in my life, 124 00:06:16,231 --> 00:06:18,690 I want to feel it, I want to know the joy of it. 125 00:06:18,690 --> 00:06:20,894 I want to know the burning of it." 126 00:06:20,894 --> 00:06:26,364 But I realize this, there are things that I can do in my life that can hinder that, 127 00:06:26,364 --> 00:06:28,708 that can grieve the Spirit. 128 00:06:28,708 --> 00:06:32,014 You see you are thinking, "I don't want that to happen. 129 00:06:32,014 --> 00:06:34,271 I am going to seek to live pure." 130 00:06:34,271 --> 00:06:38,163 And all the time we are being driven from the inside. 131 00:06:38,163 --> 00:06:41,938 We are being driven by truth in the inner being. 132 00:06:41,938 --> 00:06:44,664 We are being driven by the way we think. 133 00:06:44,664 --> 00:06:47,966 Brethren, this is the heart of the matter. 134 00:06:47,966 --> 00:06:48,779 This is it. 135 00:06:48,779 --> 00:06:55,173 This is why the Scriptures are so absolutely critical to your life. 136 00:06:55,173 --> 00:06:57,989 Brethren, I'll tell you this too. 137 00:06:57,989 --> 00:07:03,581 If it is the image of God after the likeness of God that we have been created, 138 00:07:03,581 --> 00:07:04,946 if this is true, 139 00:07:04,946 --> 00:07:06,951 you wake up and you realize, 140 00:07:06,951 --> 00:07:09,088 God saved me, I am a child of God. 141 00:07:09,088 --> 00:07:12,513 He begats me and puts His image in me. 142 00:07:12,513 --> 00:07:15,399 Can you even imagine what Peter said? 143 00:07:15,399 --> 00:07:19,123 We are possessors of the divine nature. 144 00:07:19,123 --> 00:07:22,039 That is one of the most staggering, 145 00:07:22,039 --> 00:07:25,092 that is staggering! 146 00:07:25,092 --> 00:07:30,728 We are possessor of the divine nature?!(P) 147 00:07:30,728 --> 00:07:34,129 Brethren, one of the things we need to permeate our thinking with; 148 00:07:34,129 --> 00:07:38,004 if indeed God Himself, 149 00:07:38,004 --> 00:07:42,824 if God-likeness, God's image burned into me, 150 00:07:42,824 --> 00:07:45,519 and flowing out in holiness and righteousness, 151 00:07:45,519 --> 00:07:48,544 if that is really what the new man is about, 152 00:07:48,544 --> 00:07:51,640 then brethren, I need to be controlled by truth like that. 153 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:52,888 I need to come to the Word of God 154 00:07:52,888 --> 00:07:55,888 and I need to see God in all of His righteousness, 155 00:07:55,888 --> 00:07:58,327 and I need to see God in all of His holiness. 156 00:07:58,327 --> 00:07:59,655 I need to see it. 157 00:07:59,655 --> 00:08:05,435 God is holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of His glory.(P) 158 00:08:05,435 --> 00:08:10,444 Brethren, that will not capture your soul if you are not in this Book. 159 00:08:10,444 --> 00:08:13,273 And I mean prayerfully, and that makes a difference. 160 00:08:13,273 --> 00:08:15,933 You are in the Word, and you are praying it in. 161 00:08:15,933 --> 00:08:20,007 God, show me, God teach me, show me Yourself. 162 00:08:20,007 --> 00:08:24,266 You begin to let that fear of God rush in and grab hold of you; 163 00:08:24,266 --> 00:08:26,815 and God in all of His glory, and you see His holiness.(P) 164 00:08:26,815 --> 00:08:30,476 Brethren, holiness, I'll tell you this. 165 00:08:30,476 --> 00:08:34,159 The theologians, try to explain it, 166 00:08:34,159 --> 00:08:37,129 God being holy, 167 00:08:37,129 --> 00:08:42,468 there no doubt it contains a reality of purity, 168 00:08:42,468 --> 00:08:45,674 of being separate, 169 00:08:45,674 --> 00:08:50,037 but you know, everybody struggles with it. 170 00:08:50,037 --> 00:08:54,500 And I think the closest way you come to understanding what holiness means, 171 00:08:54,500 --> 00:08:58,365 is simply to look at God. 172 00:08:58,365 --> 00:09:02,897 It is to take His revealed Word and it is to find out, 173 00:09:02,897 --> 00:09:07,520 and I'll tell you the holiness of God shines probably as brightly as anywhere, 174 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,131 right there at the Cross. 175 00:09:10,131 --> 00:09:11,452 I mean what in the world? 176 00:09:11,452 --> 00:09:18,404 It took God Himself to suffer under the indignation of God Himself. 177 00:09:18,404 --> 00:09:22,278 God suffering under God. 178 00:09:22,278 --> 00:09:26,597 The holiness of God in absolute utter hatred. 179 00:09:26,597 --> 00:09:29,077 He is of pure eyes, 180 00:09:29,077 --> 00:09:30,077 than to behold sin, 181 00:09:30,077 --> 00:09:31,451 and He cannot behold it, 182 00:09:31,451 --> 00:09:33,005 and it must be punished, 183 00:09:33,005 --> 00:09:38,403 and He will crush with His damning power where that is! 184 00:09:38,403 --> 00:09:40,491 And Christ becomes sin.(P) 185 00:09:40,491 --> 00:09:43,835 I'll tell you first and foremost the Cross is not about us. 186 00:09:43,835 --> 00:09:45,936 It is about God's holy name. 187 00:09:45,936 --> 00:09:49,487 It is about God vindicating His own self! 188 00:09:49,487 --> 00:09:53,209 Brethren, we begin to see that, and it jumps out at us, 189 00:09:53,209 --> 00:09:56,801 and we see. 190 00:09:56,801 --> 00:09:58,885 And how righteous He is; 191 00:09:58,885 --> 00:10:01,972 how absolutely perfect, 192 00:10:01,972 --> 00:10:05,353 how everything about God is upright, 193 00:10:05,353 --> 00:10:07,333 through and through. 194 00:10:07,333 --> 00:10:12,903 Everything He does is pristine perfection of righteousness.(P) 195 00:10:12,903 --> 00:10:17,334 And brethren, 196 00:10:17,334 --> 00:10:24,059 I wish I could just squeeze all of that out of here right now, 197 00:10:24,059 --> 00:10:25,994 but that is not the way it happens. 198 00:10:25,994 --> 00:10:32,079 It comes by a lifetime of being in this Word all the time, 199 00:10:32,079 --> 00:10:36,488 and studying, and meditating, and coming away, 200 00:10:36,488 --> 00:10:39,817 where brethren, if you come away from this Book, 201 00:10:39,817 --> 00:10:42,817 and you are not somehow swayed, 202 00:10:42,817 --> 00:10:43,990 impacted, 203 00:10:43,990 --> 00:10:45,390 influenced, 204 00:10:45,390 --> 00:10:47,143 or moved by the truth of it, 205 00:10:47,143 --> 00:10:49,846 you are not reading it right.(P) 206 00:10:51,236 --> 00:10:54,969 Brethren, if you are neglecting this book, there is simply no excuse. 207 00:10:54,969 --> 00:10:57,101 And I mean, pray it in brethren. 208 00:10:57,101 --> 00:10:59,973 It makes a big difference when you pray, 209 00:10:59,973 --> 00:11:01,183 when you seek God. 210 00:11:01,183 --> 00:11:04,674 Many times we have not because we ask not. 211 00:11:04,674 --> 00:11:07,136 One of the things, come to this Book and just plead. 212 00:11:07,136 --> 00:11:10,673 Remember, remember brethren, remember! 213 00:11:10,673 --> 00:11:14,149 What I emphasized to you about Paul's prayer, 214 00:11:14,149 --> 00:11:16,520 There back in chapter 1, 215 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:21,141 praying that we might have a revelation of Him, 216 00:11:21,141 --> 00:11:22,872 we need a revelation of God, 217 00:11:22,872 --> 00:11:27,335 we need a revelation of His truth to our soul.