[0:00] Thank you. It's been a blessing to be here and appreciate what the children's lesson was about obedience and about contentment.
[0:11] The Bible says godliness with contentment is great gain. So if we want to gain, not only are we content, but true godliness and true holiness.
[0:24] Obedience to the Word of God. We don't just obey anything. But the Word of God. Welcome to the visitors. Glad to have you here with us.
[0:36] Aaron, it's a blessing. You weren't here last Sunday, but glad you were. And it's my understanding that some people, friends from Michigan, are maybe listening in.
[0:50] So if that's the case, welcome Mike and Margie or whoever else is listening in. I welcome you to the service.
[1:02] I'd like to just share a message on the life of God in the believer. What is God's purpose for us as an individual?
[1:19] And what is God's purpose for us as a church? You can apply them both ways. I'm going to look at a local church.
[1:30] I'm going to look at a local church, like in the body of believers where we assemble. We know that the church of Jesus is worldwide.
[1:41] And it's probably bigger than we can imagine. There's probably more people in it than we can even imagine this morning that have been saved and born again, washed in the blood.
[1:53] And not everybody that says, Lord, Lord, is part of that kingdom. Jesus made that very clear. That it's more than just saying, Lord, Lord, or going to church or doing right things.
[2:07] That doesn't make us a part of the kingdom. So we want to look at some of these things this morning here. Jesus said in John 10, verse 10, he says, The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.
[2:29] It reminds me of the children's lesson about Eve. The thief came. He came to her, didn't he? He came with a purpose. He came to kill, steal, and destroy.
[2:40] But then Jesus said why he came. That's the good news. Why did Jesus come? That they might have life.
[2:52] And that they might have it more abundantly. You know, when Jesus gives us life, we can imagine what that is.
[3:03] We can receive that life. We can appreciate it and live in it. But what is more abundantly? How can it be more than life? Have you ever thought about that?
[3:16] But that we might have life, that we would have it more abundantly. I'm convinced this morning that the battle for the Christian is for what is life and what is death.
[3:31] That's our battle. It's not all the other things that we sometimes think and that preachers sometimes say, but it's for whether we have life, the life of God flowing through us, and death.
[3:51] That's why it says that Satan came to bring us death. He came to bring destruction. To kill. To kill that life. To steal it. To bring death.
[4:04] That is the war that is between all of hell, Satan and his demons, against the Almighty God. It's for that life. That life in the believer.
[4:17] That's why we're at war. It's to keep that life. It's to get that life in the first place, but then also to keep it.
[4:31] The only thing that the devil really hates, and I got this, I believe, from Bert Clendenin, but what he really hates is that life.
[4:47] That spiritual life. That comes only from the Father, from God. And we know that he is an enemy of God.
[4:58] And he is busy full time trying to bring us death. Instead. Both as an individual, and also as a body. As a church body.
[5:09] I believe that. This morning. That he will use an individual, or individuals, to bring death to each other as well. Or in the body.
[5:19] I trust that we can have an open heart before God.
[5:31] And if I say something that's wrong, or if you're confused, I trust that God will unconfuse you, and just speak what he wants to speak.
[5:42] Because I'm a man, I'm a human, and I don't want to say anything that's wrong. But if I do, allow God to speak his burden to you. That's my prayer this morning.
[5:55] God will teach us new things if we have that open heart. He will take us deeper. He will change us from glory to glory. We often have talked about that in our church.
[6:07] About how that God has brought life. And he doesn't want to just give you that life, and a pat on the back, and now you're good to go. But he wants to grow us up in him.
[6:18] He wants us to continue on in him, and go deeper. And there's a verse that says, he will change us from glory to glory. Is he changing you?
[6:30] Is he still changing us, and taking us deeper in this journey called the Christian life? You know, we're all on a journey. And we should be able to look back a year ago.
[6:43] Five years ago, ten years ago. And see whether or not has God been changing you. Has he brought me to a place that, no, we're not perfect.
[6:54] But we're not where we used to be. I'm not who I once was. Amen? God's done that for many of us. He wants to continue to do that.
[7:05] That's the journey of the Christian life. God's purpose for the church is a place. He wants a place to live.
[7:16] God has always wanted a dwelling place with his people. He wants that the very life of himself can flow through the body, which he owns, by the way.
[7:32] He purchased the body. The Bible says he purchased the church with his own blood. That's what he paid. That's what paid the church was the blood of Christ.
[7:47] I believe that's in Acts 20. Or is it 28? Acts 20, I think. Where it says that God purchased the church with his own blood.
[7:58] He owns the church. Colossians, it says that he is the head of the church. All things are under him. But God always wanted to dwell with his people.
[8:11] He always wanted a place to dwell. You know, we think of the ark, the ark of the covenant. The presence of God. They carried this ark with them.
[8:23] He wanted to be there. He wanted to be dwelling with his people. And then later, in the temple, in the holiest of holies, you know, where God dwelled, the presence of God was real.
[8:37] It was powerful. It was there with his people. That was God's heart. Think with me this morning of the heart of David where David said, David said in Psalm, I believe in chapter 27, he said that he has one desire, one thing I have desired of the Lord that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
[9:16] David knew where the presence of God was and he wanted to be there always. How about us?
[9:28] How about me? How about you? Do you desire above all else to dwell in the presence of God? You know that's possible today?
[9:39] That's just as real today as it has ever been. That we can. This was before Jesus came.
[9:50] Today, if we are born again and we have that new nature that desires God more than anything else, or are there things in life that want to draw us away?
[10:04] Well, we know the answer to that. Yes, of course. We just covered that. Satan wants to draw us away. But there are things in this life that will draw us away if we're not careful.
[10:14] In Exodus 29, verse 45, it says, And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God.
[10:26] And they shall know that I am the Lord their God that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.
[10:39] This was from the old covenant. We know that. But today, we have the new covenant. Just reading those verses, just going back to the old and how God always desired to dwell with His people.
[10:54] That never changed. In fact, I think it was increased. Even in a deeper way in the new covenant. In Hebrews 8, it says, if you want to turn there, Hebrews 8, we'll start in verse 10.
[11:08] It says, For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
[11:30] Prophesying of the coming Christ, which has now been here. But it says that He will put His laws into our mind and write them into our heart.
[11:44] God wants to go deeper than just having a bunch of rules or that we look at His Word as just a rule book. Yes, they are His commandments and we follow them, but it's not just because it's a bunch of rules.
[12:01] He wants a relationship with us. And He wants these rules, His commandments of the Bible, to not be written on a tablet or a table of stone like He did with Moses, but here it says that in those days He will put His laws into their mind and write them in their hearts.
[12:24] And then I will be a God to them and they will be My people or a people to Him. Verse 11, And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying, Know the Lord.
[12:38] For all shall know Me from the least to the greatest. Do you know Him this morning? Do you and I know this God personally?
[12:49] You can't just come to church and sit there and think, well, I'm part of a church so I guess I'm one of them. It says here that For all shall know Me.
[13:04] That's like taking you apart, Daniel, and saying, Daniel, you shall know Him. Jeffrey. We can just go on down the line. For all shall know Me from the least to the greatest.
[13:18] For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Praise the Lord that we live in this time frame.
[13:33] Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. You know, we can remember our sins. We can remember our iniquities. Hopefully they grow dimmer as we keep going in life's journey, right?
[13:47] And they don't affect us. But it says that God, He promises that He won't remember. He will forget them. when we have been born again, born of His Spirit.
[14:02] You know, most churches today, in America at least, will tell you that it's okay to take the easy route and to walk on the broad way.
[14:15] After all, God loves everybody and He really doesn't expect us to have too much difficulty in this life. Does that sound familiar?
[14:26] Does that, is that what's going on in our world today and what's called the church? And you know, Jesus didn't say that. He said the opposite is true. He said narrow is the way.
[14:40] He used terms like few and many. Lord, help the preachers that speak heresies.
[14:55] Yes, we are in the day of grace. But many say that God doesn't really care about the details. That's not true. Many are not the church that are called the church.
[15:10] And I'm not knocking churches, especially not the church. There's only one true church. But if God were dead this morning, they'd keep right on having church and nobody would know the difference.
[15:30] We know that's not God can't die. But if He were, they would just keep on doing what they were doing and nobody would know the difference. This is not to be critical.
[15:41] This is simply stating facts. Because God does not exist where there is no life. Wherever God exists, there's always life.
[15:56] He is life. He's the very essence of life. His words are life. Jesus said, my words are life. So where God exists, there will always be life.
[16:08] where people have turned from God and they preach their own thing and they teach their own heresies, God's not there.
[16:22] He may be in individuals, yes, but what I'm saying is as a whole. The church needs to wake up and realize what God's purpose is for them and to stop looking to see what will make us happy and bring us pleasure and ask God what he wants.
[16:42] What do you want from my life? What do you want me to do? And true Christians, I believe, need to walk where Paul walked, or Saul rather, when he came to Christ, when he was on the road to Damascus.
[16:57] we know the story, but what a surrendered heart when he was knocked to the ground with that bright light and he said, who are you that I persecute?
[17:09] And Jesus said, I'm Jesus of Nazareth. And then he said, Lord, what do you want me to do? That's a question that should be in our hearts, maybe more full time.
[17:25] Lord, what do you want me to do? What do you want me from? Rather than this is what I want, I want this and I want that and I want this and I will do things my way, it's turning to him saying, Lord, what do you want me to do?
[17:42] How do we get this life? Let's turn to John chapter 3. Look at some scripture there, very familiar of course, John 3.
[17:55] But how do we get this life? There was a man of the Pharisees, one of the smartest men probably, and perhaps the most open man of the Pharisees at Jesus' time.
[18:09] And he came to Jesus by night. Anybody know his name? Without looking. They all do, right?
[18:22] Except maybe some of the younger ones. But Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, the same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.
[18:40] Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, how can a man be born again when he is old?
[18:53] Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
[19:07] That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee, you must be born again.
[19:20] He went on to say about Moses being lifted up in the wilderness, and so must the Son of Man be lifted up, speaking of his cross, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
[19:35] For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
[19:46] We keep hearing the phrase, life, eternal life, everlasting life. And we either have it or we don't. We either have it or we don't.
[20:00] I don't believe there's a halfway life and a halfway death. We're either dead or we're alive spiritually. It's a miracle that only God can work.
[20:14] Let's read on in verse 17. for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world. You know, he easily could have. He could have came to condemn us, but that's not why he came.
[20:31] Not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
[20:47] And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were evil.
[21:01] For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
[21:26] What is born of flesh is flesh. What is born of spirit is spirit. You know, we were like that old caterpillar that just crawled around on the ground.
[21:42] seeing everything from a ground level, just crawling around. But then when that life-changing thing happens, it begins to fly and soar through the air, sees everything from a different point of view.
[22:01] There's a lot of lessons in the butterfly. butterfly. We are to be no longer conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of our mind.
[22:16] And only God can work that miracle in a person. You can't anymore become born again by yourself than a caterpillar can become a butterfly by itself.
[22:28] God. It's God that makes it happen. And our trust in Him, our obedience to Him, our repentance to Him.
[22:40] Let's go to Romans chapter 8. I was thinking of just preaching out of that chapter alone, but kind of had to say these other things too. about the flesh and about the spirit.
[23:01] I love this verse. Romans 8 verse 1. Because a lot of us have been feeling condemned at one point or another, right?
[23:14] We have felt condemned. We were condemned, actually. When we didn't believe on the Son of God and that He died for us personally and we hadn't received Him as our Savior, we were condemned.
[23:27] We're not believing. We just read that. Romans 8 verse 1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, he goes on, to walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
[23:48] I think sometimes people like to prefer reading it this way. There is therefore no condemnation. Let me stop there.
[24:02] But it's those that are in Christ Jesus, He's already done that work, and we walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
[24:21] Now let's not just skip over that. Let's read that again. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
[24:32] Did you know this morning that we are under a law? If you're in Christ, according to that verse, I thought we were done with the law. for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
[24:50] I mean, I like that law. I don't know about you, but that's a good law. That's a wonderful law. It's the law of Christ, the law of His salvation, the law of freedom, of liberty.
[25:04] The law of liberty, Paul says in another place, hath made me free from the law of sin and death. But you are this morning either under one law or the other.
[25:18] We're either under the law of sin and death and what it does to us, or we're under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and what that does to us.
[25:31] We're either controlled by one or the other. We have no in-between. Verse 3, For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled, where?
[25:52] In us. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
[26:04] For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Verse 6, For to be carnally minded, that's another way of saying fleshly minded, carnally minded, is death.
[26:23] Here's the battle. Minded. It's in our minds. The battle is oftentimes mostly in our minds. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
[26:35] Now which one do we want? Just take away the carnally minded and the spiritually minded. Which one do you want? Death or life and peace?
[26:48] I know which one I want. One is the carnal mind, the other is the spiritual mind. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God.
[27:02] There we have it again. Neither indeed can be. so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
[27:13] Cannot. Many people try. Many people that are in the Christian realm as far as church try to please God but they're still in the flesh.
[27:29] But the Bible says they cannot. And then Paul says this here in this chapter. He says but you are not in the flesh but in the spirit.
[27:40] If so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his. That's a sobering thought.
[27:53] God. Now if any man any person any human being have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his.
[28:12] So you say well walking in the spirit having the spirit isn't that kind of optional? Not according to that verse. You don't belong to Christ if his spirit's not in you.
[28:24] That's what he's saying. You can be as religious as you want to be. But if the spirit of Christ is not in you you're none of his. Verse 10 And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin.
[28:40] But the spirit is life because of righteousness. Now here's another thought that is just this is such a powerful chapter. Verse 11 But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you.
[29:03] He will bring that life that same power that same resurrection life that raised Jesus out of the grave according to this supposed to dwell in us to give us power to give us that strength to give us that new life it is so different from the old isn't it isn't it so different yeah we're still here we're still you know you didn't change your looks Tim when you got saved but you still look like Tim but you're different you have a different life that's what he's talking about it is so vastly different the one is death the other is life verse 12 I made this comment
[30:03] I think it was maybe yesterday that I don't owe my flesh anything I think it was this morning we were talking we don't own owe our old flesh the old man a thing supposed to be dead right here it is even though this was here but therefore brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh there's the verse we don't owe our flesh a thing for if we live after the flesh we shall die but if we through the spirit do mortify or put to death the deeds of the body you shall live for as many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God now that's the positive we had a negative earlier where was it the one that says that if you don't have the spirit of Christ you are none of his you don't belong to him but let's let's claim this verse 14 for as many as are led by the spirit of God they are his children that's the ones and being that verse is in there
[31:21] I believe this morning it's for us it's not for it's for everybody of course but you know don't worry about the other people is what I'm trying to say it's for you it's for me let's claim it let's walk there for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba our father God has adopted us into his kingdom into his body into his church into his family his spiritual family and he has become our father and we call him our father in a loving way verse 16 the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God you know before we were born again we always you know especially if you were in a religion or you were you thought you were part of the church you wonder right like for years
[32:37] I was like am I born again am I really a child of God I do a lot of good things I try to be obedient in so many ways but am I really here it says that the spirit itself meaning the spirit of Christ that same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God once you have that you can't deny it you can't take it away nobody can take it away Paul talks about that as well nobody can take that away not the love of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and joined heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him are we willing to suffer with him or do we have this mindset that we deserve better if we are willing to suffer with him that we may also be also glorified together this life which is the hope of glory the enemy of our soul is at war with this life like I mentioned earlier he is out to kill steal and destroy he hates one thing life the life of God the presence of God and he will bring everything he can to destroy it and I believe that we need to as an individual you and I need to be more aware of this than to be on guard but also as a church
[34:23] Satan wants to bring death you know if he had the nerve if the devil had the nerve to meet Jesus in a mountain and come right to him the very son of God to tempt him what makes you think he won't tempt you and I of course he will he's not scared of us he is scared of Jesus he's been defeated Jesus rose again and he won the victory so we have the victory through Jesus but just think about that the boldness of Satan unbelievable he's out to kill steal and destroy what will you and I do to preserve life if you've walked in the spirit how do you plan to keep walking in the spirit first we have to have him you can't walk in the spirit without the spirit but then we're called to continue the moment that we allow the flesh that old nature and I believe that nature is way more powerful at times than we give it credit for or that we think that's why it has to die but the moment that we allow that flesh that old nature to take over or to lead us that life begins to die it is truly evil that flesh that old nature and it's the tool that
[36:06] Satan will use to destroy us and to keep us from life just think about what he did with Eve he didn't want her to have this life this relationship with God so he came up with a scheme and she took it we've all done that haven't we I don't blame Eve too much we've all done that if we do not embrace the cross and put to death that old self that old man that old nature then the new life can't survive it can't continue if we can't say no to the old then we can't say yes to the new and this battle is in the mind for the most part what are some things that bring death to the body of Christ you know we can
[37:07] I'm going to go over a few things here but just a few things lack of love hatred I had for number one number two a bitter heart a divisive heart that tries to divide and scheme and whatever how about sin living in the old nature instead of the new what is sin today but you know it brings death to a body lasciviousness which means lawlessness doing things our own way number five worldliness forgetting that we are not that we are in this world but we're not of this world we are of a heavenly kingdom and we need to remember that that we we go by God's value system not the world's value system a renewed mind versus a worldly mindset we need that because it brings death when we begin to all think worldly and just you know however our neighbor thinks that's not a
[38:22] Christian and that's how we think too and we have no different value system than our people that aren't saved brings death to the body how about a religious or a Pharisee spirit picking at details and missing the heart of God on a matter reminds me of the verse it says the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life you know there's a ditch on either side there's the other side that says nothing matters and God doesn't care about the details we covered that but we need to seek God and say Lord if this matters to you then it needs to matter to me if it doesn't to you why is it so important to me those are things to ask ourselves and we can know these things by knowing knowing the Bible what are some things that promote and bring life to the church being born again last Sunday we were down there in
[39:29] Stevensville and I could tell when I was preaching there that there was some young men in the front row and they had just gotten saved and there was others there that are hopefully getting saved but I could tell the difference very clearly just by standing in front of them who had like life and who was maybe hoping hopefully they want life I don't know if they want or not but there was definitely a mixture of a bunch of young men and the ones that had just gotten born again had life you could see it on their face you could see it in their eyes they actually there's three brothers and one sister of the same family that just got born again and they're getting baptized in August I believe so I was excited for them for that group it you know what what I noticed the most about that is that it brought life into the body we need that we the church needs to see people come to Christ how about humility and brokenness about love for the brotherhood and serving one another being committed to each other being committed to love each other living out the fruits of the spirit these things all bring life to the body of Christ
[41:02] I'm going to cut just a little bit short here turn to Galatians 5 yet I mentioned fruit of the spirit so let's look at that verse 16 this I say then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh whenever you fulfill the lust of the flesh you can be sure that you weren't walking in the spirit it's not the spirit's fault it's not the spirit's failure it's not that he doesn't work it's because I wasn't walking in him think about that Paul talking to the Galatian church but that's the answer to not fulfill the lust of the flesh it's not some other program it's this is the program right here this is the counseling center right here in Galatians for sinners to walk in the spirit verse 17 for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things you would but if you be led of the spirit you are not under the law now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance being against each other emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envying murders drunkenness revelings and in case he didn't name them all he said and such like so you can put a whole bunch of more things in there of the witch
[43:10] I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God because such things bring death those are death verse 22 but the spirit I'm sorry but the fruit of the spirit the spirit that we're talking about is love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance and against such there is no law you want to be free from the law walk in the spirit have the fruits of the spirit and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit let us not be desirous of vain glory provoking one another envying one another sometimes there is way too much jealousy envy
[44:16] I wish I was like him like we heard in the children's class I didn't realize at the time but a lot of that children's class kind of fits envying wanting to be like somebody else not being satisfied with how God made us you know the good news is the bad news is that the old man is so wicked and evil and I don't believe that I have learned fully how wicked and evil I don't think I have fully understood that but the good news is that that nature can be brought to the cross and that we can do it at any time we never have to wait we never have to wait on something else or try to get it almost crucified and then we come to the cross no we come to the cross just as we are just as I am that repentance is a gift and we can come to God with our need in Hebrews it says
[45:38] Hebrew writer said let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need you know that word boldly is not proudly it's not being arrogant about it it's just saying that we have full confidence we can have boldness in that we can be confident and we can trust fully trust have that assurance that if we come into his presence he will change us and that he will have mercy to obtain mercy it's the only place for mercy is to come to him and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more he wants to write his laws in our hearts and in our minds will I write them this new covenant this new life there's many people that claim freedom from law but they don't want the other law that we talked about the law of the spirit in Christ
[46:56] Jesus you know that other law has boundaries freedom without boundaries is bondage not freedom I'll leave you with that true freedom always has boundaries think about it it's pretty simple there's things I have to say no to right you take that away you can't even be a Christian you can't say no you might as well forget it because and probably we should say more yes if we say enough yeses to God we don't have to say no near as often that we don't say yes that's why we have to deal with all these no's God wants to lead us he wants us to walk forward with him and settle those convictions in our hearts God gave us his word so that we can know his mind and his will but he does want to go deeper and he wants to write them in our hearts establish them settle them deep in our hearts a lot of people they want to try to make that old nature behave itself and to be obedient but unless he's put on the cross and dies we can never really bear the fruits of the new life that old nature is not to be brought into subjection he's supposed to die he has to die death to the old you don't just try to make him behave that system doesn't work many times that old nature tries to demand from God that he is good enough
[49:04] I've done really good and then they demand from God that he's good enough God you need to accept me Jesus warned of people like that they're going to say Lord Lord haven't we done all these things he's going to say I never knew you my spirit didn't dwell in you you may look good on the outside but the inside is rotten and it needs to be replaced with a new heart that's soft and pliable and that God can use a teachable heart you know I'll share this as I look back at in case you think I was preaching this to you I was but I'm preaching this to myself I look back the last 28 years of being a Christian when I got saved there in Ohio I just wrote some things down this morning but way too many times I've allowed that old nature to rise up and live
[50:11] I know that my family knows that and it hindered the life that God was wanting to live through me but if we and this is my goal now but if we would just embrace the cross like Paul said Paul said in Corinthians that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that perish but to us that are saved it's the power of God preaching of the cross is not negative if it's the power of God we need to preach the cross we need to believe it we need to embrace it personally and that's my goal is to stay closer to the cross to keep that old nature crucified so that
[51:13] Christ can live in me so Christ can be manifested to those around me no matter where we are in life or what our circumstances are the cross is essential if you're going to be a Christian it's a must if we're going to make it home if we're going to walk in the light we're going to need to overcome the devil and this world and our own flesh and we will only do this by embracing the cross that's not the cross of trying to make life miserable or make it harder or make life more difficult it's not what we're talking about there's people that believe in the wrong cross if I can say it that way this cross is what changes me from the inside it's a cross that says no to selfish ideas and my own selfish nature and it receives the blood of Christ the life of Christ you know that cross does to us what the ground does to a kernel of wheat
[52:41] Jesus said if a kernel of wheat doesn't fall into the ground and die it can't bring forth fruit if we are embracing the cross we accept the cross the work of the cross then we bring forth fruit just like that kernel of wheat isn't that what God is looking for us he's looking for fruit for his spirit the new man in Christ is so beautiful it is as beautiful as the old is ugly more so such a beautiful person that comes out of the new man he loves the things of God and he's just waiting for more teaching from his word because he only wants to please his savior more how can I please my heavenly father more he asked
[53:42] Lord what would you have me to do do you need to allow the cross to do work in you in your life are you living this life that God wants for you is he being glorified in your home your place your heart your church is God getting glory from where you go to church is God being glorified in Greece Turkey wherever all you've been Aaron I believe he has but it's the same everywhere God wants to be glorified and he wants to have that life flowing through his people and we have the option of hindering that or we can embrace it let's pray