WEBVTT 00:00:06.001 --> 00:00:10.491 Brethren, the battle is in the mind, 00:00:10.491 --> 00:00:14.865 our thoughts have to be subject to Christ. 00:00:14.865 --> 00:00:18.347 Our thoughts have to be permeated by the Word of God.(P) 00:00:18.347 --> 00:00:21.077 Brethren, you know what Paul has been doing? 00:00:21.077 --> 00:00:22.797 Think with me! 00:00:22.797 --> 00:00:25.531 He's been holding up the Gentile! 00:00:25.531 --> 00:00:28.991 To your thinking, to your analysis, 00:00:28.991 --> 00:00:33.338 he put's it before your thoughts 00:00:33.338 --> 00:00:35.357 so that you can analyze this 00:00:35.357 --> 00:00:41.547 and you can look at it and you can say, "Okay, yes, the Gentile is futile." 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; 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:46.401 and you begin to look at, 00:00:46.401 --> 00:00:48.555 "Wow, we were like that! We were futile. 00:00:48.555 --> 00:00:51.223 Everything we gave our life to, it was utter futility!" 00:00:51.223 --> 00:00:53.134 And so we begin to think that way. 00:00:53.142 --> 00:00:55.945 Anytime there is this temptation to go back to the world, 00:00:55.945 --> 00:00:59.936 go back to the temptations of all this stuff that ensnares, 00:00:59.936 --> 00:01:03.616 we can think, we can think logically. 00:01:03.616 --> 00:01:06.505 We can wake up in the morning and think, 00:01:06.505 --> 00:01:08.405 "I don't want to waste my life. 00:01:08.409 --> 00:01:10.302 I need to put on the new man." 00:01:10.302 --> 00:01:14.463 You see brethren, we begin to think. 00:01:14.463 --> 00:01:16.416 This is where the battle is won.(P) 00:01:16.416 --> 00:01:19.547 I can guarantee if there are any of you that are claiming to be Christians, 00:01:19.547 --> 00:01:21.350 and you are floundering around in life, 00:01:21.350 --> 00:01:23.844 you are not thinking right. 00:01:23.844 --> 00:01:25.621 You haven't learned Christ right; 00:01:25.621 --> 00:01:27.767 you have not thought about Christ right; 00:01:27.767 --> 00:01:29.810 you have not learned Him right. 00:01:29.817 --> 00:01:31.967 Something is defective.(P) 00:01:31.967 --> 00:01:35.935 Brethren, when you are filling your mind with the Word of God all the time; 00:01:35.935 --> 00:01:39.296 Thy Word is truth, brethren, we will be sanctified by that truth. 00:01:39.296 --> 00:01:42.939 Because that truth permeates the mind, 00:01:42.939 --> 00:01:45.939 it effects the way we think. 00:01:45.939 --> 00:01:51.139 Look, that truth comes in, and it sets us free because it starts to grip us. 00:01:51.139 --> 00:01:52.656 And it constrains us, 00:01:52.656 --> 00:01:58.056 and it drives us in directions that are right, and that God approves of. 00:01:58.056 --> 00:01:59.322 Brethren, this is it. 00:01:59.322 --> 00:02:01.105 This is how you put the old off, 00:02:01.105 --> 00:02:04.005 you stop thinking like you used to think.(P) 00:02:04.029 --> 00:02:07.449 Actually, how is the old man driven? 00:02:07.449 --> 00:02:08.656 By corrupt desires; 00:02:08.656 --> 00:02:12.978 and rather than being driven by corrupt desires, you begin to be driven by truth. 00:02:12.978 --> 00:02:14.857 By a mind that really thinks. 00:02:14.857 --> 00:02:16.841 by a mind that sees things straight.(P) 00:02:16.841 --> 00:02:19.497 Brethren, when you begin to size up the fact; 00:02:19.497 --> 00:02:22.665 we talked about this before. 00:02:22.665 --> 00:02:27.433 Brethren, there's a way people live; 00:02:27.433 --> 00:02:30.209 when they begin to realize, "Wow, my life is short. 00:02:30.209 --> 00:02:32.976 I only get one shot at this and everything I do here matters. 00:02:32.976 --> 00:02:36.025 And I am going to stand before Christ one day and be judged for it." 00:02:36.025 --> 00:02:39.213 You start letting that truth control you day in and day out. 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! 00:02:43.462 --> 00:02:45.127 We tried not to think about death! 00:02:45.127 --> 00:02:46.753 We tried not to think about judgment! 00:02:46.753 --> 00:02:50.122 We tried not to think about the consequences of sin. 00:02:50.122 --> 00:02:52.252 We tried not to think about hell. 00:02:52.252 --> 00:02:54.093 We didn't want to think about it. 00:02:54.093 --> 00:02:57.162 Brethren, our minds have been enlightened now. 00:02:57.162 --> 00:03:00.220 We can take truth and we can think, 00:03:00.220 --> 00:03:05.202 "Wow, you know what, I never found that sin was ultimately gratifying when I was lost. 00:03:05.202 --> 00:03:09.962 I never found that it ultimately accomplished and gave me what it promised to give me. 00:03:09.962 --> 00:03:13.615 I never found that it really produced happiness in my life." 00:03:13.615 --> 00:03:14.575 What are you going to do now? 00:03:14.575 --> 00:03:15.912 Are you going to stop thinking that? 00:03:15.912 --> 00:03:18.707 Are you going to stop thinking about the futility? 00:03:18.707 --> 00:03:20.882 You see Paul is laying this out so that you can examine this, 00:03:20.882 --> 00:03:23.832 and you can say, "Yes, that's exactly how my life was! 00:03:23.832 --> 00:03:27.708 It was greedy with all its sensuality, and I was hard and I was calloused, 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!" 00:03:33.183 --> 00:03:34.933 And now you start thinking, 00:03:34.933 --> 00:03:36.068 "Well, wait a second. 00:03:36.068 --> 00:03:37.623 Jesus came into this world, 00:03:37.623 --> 00:03:40.964 and they called His name Jesus because He was going to save me from my sins." 00:03:40.964 --> 00:03:42.104 And you start thinking, 00:03:42.104 --> 00:03:45.436 He came into this world to deliver me from this present evil age. 00:03:45.436 --> 00:03:46.737 And you start thinking, 00:03:46.737 --> 00:03:51.409 there is an immeasurable greatness of power in me! 00:03:51.409 --> 00:03:52.659 And you start thinking, 00:03:52.659 --> 00:03:53.609 and you know what, 00:03:53.609 --> 00:03:57.625 if I don't have holiness in my life, I read somewhere in 2 Timothy, 00:03:57.625 --> 00:04:00.295 that I am not a fit vessel for the Master's use. 00:04:00.295 --> 00:04:02.273 And so if I really want my life to be profitable, 00:04:02.273 --> 00:04:03.755 there needs to be holiness here. 00:04:03.755 --> 00:04:06.418 I need to be striving. 00:04:06.418 --> 00:04:07.858 You begin thinking.(p) 00:04:07.858 --> 00:04:13.147 You know, the apostle John puts it this way: 00:04:13.147 --> 00:04:15.836 We don't know what we are going to be, 00:04:15.836 --> 00:04:17.075 but we know this, 00:04:17.075 --> 00:04:21.911 we know that when we see Him we are going to be as He is. 00:04:21.911 --> 00:04:25.826 And he says that everybody that has this hope purifies himself. 00:04:25.826 --> 00:04:28.945 Well now, what is the logic of that? 00:04:28.945 --> 00:04:30.373 Well, the logic is this. 00:04:30.373 --> 00:04:37.780 Look, if I believe that He saved me to present me holy and blameness before Him; 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, 00:04:42.990 --> 00:04:45.642 and to free me up to be zealous of good works; 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; 00:04:49.867 --> 00:04:54.306 if I believe that He is the very image of beauty; 00:04:54.306 --> 00:04:58.774 if I believe that the very pathway to usefulness in this life; 00:04:58.774 --> 00:05:00.843 and I am thinking this all the time. 00:05:00.843 --> 00:05:04.369 I am thinking! I am thinking! 00:05:04.369 --> 00:05:07.002 We have to think, think.(P) 00:05:07.002 --> 00:05:12.554 Brethren, think about what happens in the mind of someone who learns Christ, 00:05:12.554 --> 00:05:13.753 who hears Christ, 00:05:13.753 --> 00:05:16.045 who is taught of Christ, 00:05:17.355 --> 00:05:19.495 what happens? 00:05:19.495 --> 00:05:23.074 Well, he looks, he contemplates. 00:05:23.074 --> 00:05:29.181 He thinks, he thinks about what he has learned and he says, 00:05:29.181 --> 00:05:32.683 "This is really important. 00:05:32.683 --> 00:05:35.306 This is the most important thing I have ever heard, this is everything! 00:05:35.306 --> 00:05:36.857 This is truth." 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. 00:05:41.357 --> 00:05:44.737 I have found something that is the truth. 00:05:44.737 --> 00:05:49.846 I have found something that is beyond every other thing to be found. 00:05:49.846 --> 00:05:52.432 I'll let everything else go rather than to let this go. 00:05:52.432 --> 00:05:56.416 I'll sacrifice everything as long as I can have this One I have learned about. 00:05:56.416 --> 00:06:00.376 The message of Christ, it begins to grip him, it holds him, it captures him. 00:06:00.376 --> 00:06:02.469 It permeates his thinking.(P) 00:06:02.469 --> 00:06:05.724 Brethren, when you wake up in the morning and you think about how precious Christ is, 00:06:05.724 --> 00:06:07.221 when you think about how beautiful He is, 00:06:07.221 --> 00:06:10.385 when you think about how, "I want to draw close to Him. 00:06:10.385 --> 00:06:12.355 I want Him to speak to me today. 00:06:12.355 --> 00:06:16.231 I want to know of His presence manifestly in my life, 00:06:16.231 --> 00:06:18.690 I want to feel it, I want to know the joy of it. 00:06:18.690 --> 00:06:20.894 I want to know the burning of it." 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, 00:06:26.364 --> 00:06:28.708 that can grieve the Spirit. 00:06:28.708 --> 00:06:32.014 You see you are thinking, "I don't want that to happen. 00:06:32.014 --> 00:06:34.271 I am going to seek to live pure." 00:06:34.271 --> 00:06:38.163 And all the time we are being driven from the inside. 00:06:38.163 --> 00:06:41.938 We are being driven by truth in the inner being. 00:06:41.938 --> 00:06:44.664 We are being driven by the way we think. 00:06:44.664 --> 00:06:47.966 Brethren, this is the heart of the matter. 00:06:47.966 --> 00:06:48.779 This is it. 00:06:48.779 --> 00:06:55.173 This is why the Scriptures are so absolutely critical to your life. 00:06:55.173 --> 00:06:57.989 Brethren, I'll tell you this too. 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, 00:07:03.581 --> 00:07:04.946 if this is true, 00:07:04.946 --> 00:07:06.951 you wake up and you realize, 00:07:06.951 --> 00:07:09.088 God saved me, I am a child of God. 00:07:09.088 --> 00:07:12.513 He begats me and puts His image in me. 00:07:12.513 --> 00:07:15.399 Can you even imagine what Peter said? 00:07:15.399 --> 00:07:19.123 We are possessors of the divine nature. 00:07:19.123 --> 00:07:22.039 That is one of the most staggering, 00:07:22.039 --> 00:07:25.092 that is staggering! 00:07:25.092 --> 00:07:30.728 We are possessor of the divine nature?!(P) 00:07:30.728 --> 00:07:34.129 Brethren, one of the things we need to permeate our thinking with; 00:07:34.129 --> 00:07:38.004 if indeed God Himself, 00:07:38.004 --> 00:07:42.824 if God-likeness, God's image burned into me, 00:07:42.824 --> 00:07:45.519 and flowing out in holiness and righteousness, 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:48.544 if that is really what the new man is about, 00:07:48.544 --> 00:07:51.640 then brethren, I need to be controlled by truth like that. 00:07:51.640 --> 00:07:52.888 I need to come to the Word of God 00:07:52.888 --> 00:07:55.888 and I need to see God in all of His righteousness, 00:07:55.888 --> 00:07:58.327 and I need to see God in all of His holiness. 00:07:58.327 --> 00:07:59.655 I need to see it. 00:07:59.655 --> 00:08:05.435 God is holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of His glory.(P) 00:08:05.435 --> 00:08:10.444 Brethren, that will not capture your soul if you are not in this Book. 00:08:10.444 --> 00:08:13.273 And I mean prayerfully, and that makes a difference. 00:08:13.273 --> 00:08:15.933 You are in the Word, and you are praying it in. 00:08:15.933 --> 00:08:20.007 God, show me, God teach me, show me Yourself. 00:08:20.007 --> 00:08:24.266 You begin to let that fear of God rush in and grab hold of you; 00:08:24.266 --> 00:08:26.815 and God in all of His glory, and you see His holiness.(P) 00:08:26.815 --> 00:08:30.476 Brethren, holiness, I'll tell you this. 00:08:30.476 --> 00:08:34.159 The theologians, try to explain it, 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:37.129 God being holy, 00:08:37.129 --> 00:08:42.468 there no doubt it contains a reality of purity, 00:08:42.468 --> 00:08:45.674 of being separate, 00:08:45.674 --> 00:08:50.037 but you know, everybody struggles with it. 00:08:50.037 --> 00:08:54.500 And I think the closest way you come to understanding what holiness means, 00:08:54.500 --> 00:08:58.365 is simply to look at God. 00:08:58.365 --> 00:09:02.897 It is to take His revealed Word and it is to find out, 00:09:02.897 --> 00:09:07.520 and I'll tell you the holiness of God shines probably as brightly as anywhere, 00:09:07.520 --> 00:09:10.131 right there at the Cross. 00:09:10.131 --> 00:09:11.452 I mean what in the world? 00:09:11.452 --> 00:09:18.404 It took God Himself to suffer under the indignation of God Himself. 00:09:18.404 --> 00:09:22.278 God suffering under God. 00:09:22.278 --> 00:09:26.597 The holiness of God in absolute utter hatred. 00:09:26.597 --> 00:09:29.077 He is of pure eyes, 00:09:29.077 --> 00:09:30.077 than to behold sin, 00:09:30.077 --> 00:09:31.451 and He cannot behold it, 00:09:31.451 --> 00:09:33.005 and it must be punished, 00:09:33.005 --> 00:09:38.403 and He will crush with His damning power where that is! 00:09:38.403 --> 00:09:40.491 And Christ becomes sin.(P) 00:09:40.491 --> 00:09:43.835 I'll tell you first and foremost the Cross is not about us. 00:09:43.835 --> 00:09:45.936 It is about God's holy name. 00:09:45.936 --> 00:09:49.487 It is about God vindicating His own self! 00:09:49.487 --> 00:09:53.209 Brethren, we begin to see that, and it jumps out at us, 00:09:53.209 --> 00:09:56.801 and we see. 00:09:56.801 --> 00:09:58.885 And how righteous He is; 00:09:58.885 --> 00:10:01.972 how absolutely perfect, 00:10:01.972 --> 00:10:05.353 how everything about God is upright, 00:10:05.353 --> 00:10:07.333 through and through. 00:10:07.333 --> 00:10:12.903 Everything He does is pristine perfection of righteousness.(P) 00:10:12.903 --> 00:10:17.334 And brethren, 00:10:17.334 --> 00:10:24.059 I wish I could just squeeze all of that out of here right now, 00:10:24.059 --> 00:10:25.994 but that is not the way it happens. 00:10:25.994 --> 00:10:32.079 It comes by a lifetime of being in this Word all the time, 00:10:32.079 --> 00:10:36.488 and studying, and meditating, and coming away, 00:10:36.488 --> 00:10:39.817 where brethren, if you come away from this Book, 00:10:39.817 --> 00:10:42.817 and you are not somehow swayed, 00:10:42.817 --> 00:10:43.990 impacted, 00:10:43.990 --> 00:10:45.390 influenced, 00:10:45.390 --> 00:10:47.143 or moved by the truth of it, 00:10:47.143 --> 00:10:49.846 you are not reading it right.(P) 00:10:51.236 --> 00:10:54.969 Brethren, if you are neglecting this book, there is simply no excuse. 00:10:54.969 --> 00:10:57.101 And I mean, pray it in brethren. 00:10:57.101 --> 00:10:59.973 It makes a big difference when you pray, 00:10:59.973 --> 00:11:01.183 when you seek God. 00:11:01.183 --> 00:11:04.674 Many times we have not because we ask not. 00:11:04.674 --> 00:11:07.136 One of the things, come to this Book and just plead. 00:11:07.136 --> 00:11:10.673 Remember, remember brethren, remember! 00:11:10.673 --> 00:11:14.149 What I emphasized to you about Paul's prayer, 00:11:14.149 --> 00:11:16.520 There back in chapter 1, 00:11:16.520 --> 00:11:21.141 praying that we might have a revelation of Him, 00:11:21.141 --> 00:11:22.872 we need a revelation of God, 00:11:22.872 --> 00:11:27.335 we need a revelation of His truth to our soul.