— Bother Phil Enlow: Do we have stuff to be working on?
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Do we need daily salvation? Yeah. I pray that…and I hope you’ll pray too, that God will give us a consciousness of these simple things, because if we’re gonna fulfill this awesome picture, in the first part of chapter 4, man, we can’t just live out these other values, if you want to call them that. We can’t just live out human nature.
But oh, the power of the human tongue to help and to minister or to hurt and to tear down. May God help us to come to a place where what comes out of our mouth is for the benefit of somebody else, that has a compassionate spirit when you see somebody in weakness and need, instead of running them down and walking away.
Oh, we have the power to help and to bless. Isn’t that what Jesus did for you? Did He see your need and despise you, or did He come down to your rescue? Thank God! I want to be like Him, don’t you?
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“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (NIV). Thank God this isn’t a question of God just walking away from you because your need is so great, but I’ll tell you, God can be grieved.
I wonder how many times we just persistently give into human nature, and that’s the clothing we wear, and the Lord is just sad, because He knows what He has the power to do, and He calls us to look to Him, to lay hold of this new life. It’s created to be like God, and here we are, it’s buried somewhere in there, and all people see is this old human nature.
Then he…this scripture I was referring to a minute ago, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” Man, you look at the world today. It’s angry. If stuff happens to somebody, they can’t let it go, bitterness, rage. I’m justified in feeling the way I did, because they’re so wrong, and I want to straighten them out and make sure they get it.
And all God’s wanting to do is change us and set us free. Oh man, you’re gonna destroy your health. Your mouth is gonna verbalize all this stuff. It’s gonna sit there and eat on you. It’ll destroy your life if you hold that kind of stuff in. May God help us.
You know, I was thinking about the picture of that grandmother in, praise God, “Overcomer.” I know many of you have seen the movie. And she had held a spirit of bitterness toward the father of her granddaughter, who had been a, just a drug addict, wasted his life, a fool, walked away and left her holding the bag. Her daughter had died. And she was just full of bitterness, had no power to forgive him. As far as she was concerned…he was concerned…or she was concerned, he was as good as dead. She didn’t want anything to do with him. And God began to work on her heart, and help her to understand that she needed to forgive.
But do you remember when she cried out? She said, oh God, You’re gonna have to help me. Did you know that the Lord will help everyone who cries out to Him? We don’t have to live with this kind of stuff. It doesn’t have to stay down in here and be buried and sit there and eat on you.
And so much of the time, we just pretend it’s not there. There’s stuff buried in every single one of us that God wants to shine a light, like the song we sing, He’s gonna take me in that room I don’t want to go in.
But you know, it leads to freedom, if the Lord can heal that and give us the grace, the supernatural strength to let go of everything like this. You think of the Lord forgiving us. Oh my! May God deliver us from whatever is eating on us, whatever is sitting in there.
I’ll tell you, if your reaction to certain situations is just to boil over and to boil over, that kind of tells me something. That didn’t come from nowhere. You know, when Mount Vesuvius erupts, it’s because there’s stuff in there. It gets under the right kind of pressure, it comes out! So don’t pretend it’s their problem! It’s you!
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If there is boiling anger and rage that comes out of you, it’s because it’s in you! God wants His people to be honest about such things, and say, oh God, I need to be delivered, and I want to be a different person. I want to be the person You created me to be. But I need You to help me in the daily things that happen in my life, because that’s where this has to play out.
You can’t just come and sit in church and smile, and everything’s great and grand. If this doesn’t work in the arena of life, what good is it? See, that’s what Paul’s dealing with. He’s laid out this glorious picture, but now, it has to work out in real life.
And so, the opposite of all this bitterness and rage and anger is, “Be kind and compassionate to one another….” Again, the focus is on somebody else, and even when they’re in a place of great need, do we react by, what’s the matter with you? and anger, or do we have a compassion when we see somebody in need?
When Jesus went out among sinners, He didn’t go railing against the sinners, He reached out in mercy and love. He didn’t deny the sin. He didn’t soft pedal what was wrong, but He had a spirit of compassion. He saw need, instead of something that just needed to be rejected and condemned! Thank God! No hope for me if it had been any other way.
“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” How many of you remember the words of Jesus? If you won’t forgive, then neither will your heavenly Father forgive you. Whoa! That’s some serious stuff.
And I’ll guarantee there’s gonna be situations where you, like that grandma, you need God’s help. But He’s there, if we’re willing, if that’s what we want and we know, oh God, I need Your help! I need this…some of that life, right now, to come out! I need it to be in charge! Oh God, help me. He will.
Follow Christ’s…I mean, “Follow God’s example, therefore….” Now, here’s an awesome verse. I thought about this verse last week. We were talking about God’s love, and this is one I never got to. But here’s a good place for it, because right in the middle of talking about all these terrible human qualities that we need to get rid of, how does God see us?
Listen to this, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children….” Okay, all you liars and thieves, all you bitter, angry people, God is saying you’re dearly loved children! I knew what I was getting into when I reached out to you in salvation. I’ve got what you need! But I want you to exercise faith, not just at the beginning, but today.
You’re gonna confront a need that comes from your human nature. It’s gonna come out today. But when it does, I want you, first of all, to be honest about it, and I want you to remember that I love you. It never changes that. And I want you to come to Me and realize that I have…that My life isn’t like that. You can put this other off. You can say no to it in the power of this other life. Put this on. It’s there.
Do you believe in it? It’s wonderful to believe that Jesus died for my sins, but do you believe in the life that He’s given you? See, that’s what the daily salvation is about. All right?
“…As dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immortality….” He’s getting real plain here.
Boy, that was a big part of heathen cultures. It’s a big part of our culture today. God gave you all kinds of natural desires in your body, but they’re not to be used the way people use them, for self. You don’t mess with this. You don’t go places on your computer when nobody’s around, that you wouldn’t want someone to looking over your shoulder.
May God help us to be honest, and say, God, I want to be pure. I want to be Yours. I want to be set free from whatever it is that pulls on me, whatever it is, Lord. God, give me the purity that I need. It’s just not in me to do this. Lord, I’m helpless in this area.
You may be. There may be areas where you’ve just yielded to the point where you’re helpless, but you’re not helpless…He’s not helpless. And if we cry out to Him from our hearts, I’ll tell you, God can lead us to a place of victory and purity.
Thank God that it’s in the context of being dearly loved children. Isn’t that amazing? You think about that. You think about some of the stuff that we Christians get into, if we’re honest! And yet, God calls us dearly loved children. What an amazing truth. All right?
“…There must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed…” See, you’re getting into these two different things. It’s either stuff that’s all about me and my body, or it’s out here and something I can possess. “…Because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”
Again, other ways that we use our tongues that just don’t really accomplish anything, do they, except to be negative? God, help me. There’s a lot of stuff I’d like to be really negative about in society today. Phew! But I pray for grace to realize the Lord’s on the throne. All right? Let me jump down. Okay, I’m over here.
All right, “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Now, in the first place, he’s talking about somebody where this is the characteristic of their life. Their life is given to these things. It’s not talking about a genuine Christian with a weakness that they want to overcome. This is talking about somebody whose life is defined by being one of these things.
Isn’t it interesting he calls greed idolatry? Now, I’ve been to India a number of times, and I’ve seen real idols. They were literally things that people bow down and worship as gods. But I’ll tell you, there are a lot of people right in Moore County who have gods that are just as real. Their fancy house, their whatever it is, their car, their possessions, their bank accounts, and they worship them. I mean, they have such a hold on their lives. I thank God for what He’s given us, but we need to be content with the things that we have and say, thank You, Lord.
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That’s not what we live for. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness…” (KJV). And the necessary things will be added. Thank God we’ve got somebody Who watches over the sparrows. He hasn’t forgotten about us either, has He? All right? You’ve got all these kinds of people. This defines their life. They don’t have any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.
“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.” (NIV).
Did you ever see a weblink that takes you some place where somebody’s doing something really ugly, and you want to kind of see what it’s about? Lord, help us. There’s some part of us that’s kind of feeding on some of that. May the Lord, help us to be sensitive to what He’s saying in our lives and honest about it.
Aren’t you glad that when He tells us all these things, it’s not in a spirit of condemnation, but it is in a spirit of, these are things I’ve sent Christ to deliver you from, and I’m here, and I love you? My love is not at risk here. Thank God. All right?
“But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Boy, is that not true?
“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
That’s kind of the section that I had in my mind. There’s more that follows it, but…don’t you see the Lord reaching out into our lives? Is everybody here free from every bit of this? You’ve just graduated? You’ve grown?
The reality is every one of us needs this. If you don’t need it so much in one area, you need it in another. If you don’t need this today, you probably will tomorrow. But God’s gonna be continually shining His light. That’s how change happens. He’s got to shine the light, and we need to be honest and humble and say, Lord, thank You for shining the light there. Thank You for giving me Yourself so that I don’t have to yield to that. I don’t have to say…I don’t have to say yes to it. But I can say to You. And Lord, I need You.
But I can’t leave this without noting, again, the context that follows in chapter 6, because how many of you know this isn’t just a quiet little transaction between us and the Lord? How many of you have had battles this morning? Yeah. We have got a devil that is devoted to bringing down every human being he can, to cause them to rebel against God, to give vent to their fallen nature.
He’s gonna take everybody down with him. He knows he’s going down. But he hates God. He hates what’s right. And he hates you if you’re a Christian! And every one of us is going to have to learn, not just have this nice little sweet transaction between us and God…thank God for that, but, also to resist the devil and to be strong, not in our own strength, but in the power of His might!
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See, you’ve got to put the whole context together to see where Paul is going with that section we just read. It’s gonna be a battle. You know, I was reminded again this morning of something I hadn’t thought about in a while, and that’s Pilgrim’s Progress. You talk about salvation being a process.
Yeah, he got in the gate. Thank God he was in the Way. But he had a long journey ahead of him, didn’t he, before he reached the City? And he had all kinds of battles, and there was one pitched battle he had with self. At the bottom of a hill, he got down into a place where he was in a place of weakness, and all of a sudden, he had a bloody battle with self.
Anybody ever been there? Yeah, we need the Lord, don’t we? And this is a kingdom for which we’re gonna have to fight. But we don’t fight in our own strength, but we have to fight. And so, when we reach these places where we’re dealing with something where we need daily salvation, we need God’s deliverance in a particular area, the devil’s gonna jump in, and he’s gonna do everything in his power to stop you and me from doing what we know we ought to do.
And we’re gonna have to say, God, help me. Help me to put up that shield of faith to believe You and not the devil when his fiery darts come, to be willing to take out that sword of the Spirit like Jesus said, and said, Satan, “it is written.” Because it is!
And I’ll tell you, God’s Word will stand when this world is gone. That’s where we have a place to plant our feet and say, Devil, I don’t have to listen to you. But folks, we’re gonna have to be able to stand. We’re gonna need the armor that he’s talking about. There’s a reason, that after putting all…after all these exhortations about what it means to live for God, and the things of the flesh that we need to start saying no to and be aware of and grow in grace in, that he comes to this section about the warfare.
And we realize this is not simply a quiet deal between us and God, but there is a devil that’s gonna fight you with tooth and nail. But thank God, He’s given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
But are we willing to rise up and say, God, give me the grace and the strength to stand? You have…look what You did for me. You stood. The devil did everything he could to stop You from doing what You were doing, thought he had won, but You won. And You won for my benefit.
And all the power in heaven and earth is in Your hands, and it’s available to me right now in my place of need, in this little portion of my daily salvation. And I have the right because of what Jesus did, because of the blood that was shed, to stand up and say, no, Devil, you can’t have my life. It’s given to Him.
And this issue that has bedeviled me, this thing where I put on my old nature, and this is how I’ve presented myself to everybody, I’m gonna, by faith, take that off and put on that new one, and say, Lord, change me. Give me the power to express Your life and start living for other people instead of just self.
I’ll tell you, the more we do that on an individual basis, you’re gonna see God take individual lives and begin to mold them together. He’s gonna pour out gifts. We’re seeing all of these things in a measure, but God’s gonna fulfill the vision of what He gives us in chapter 4, and all of it before that.
Oh, we have an awesome God! We have an awesome God Who’s given us everything we need and promised the outcome. I want to cooperate with the process. I need daily salvation, don’t you? There are things, every day, where my nature wants to behave in the wrong way. I need saving from that, and He has made a way through all what He has done and what He’s given us in Christ.
May God get the glory from our lives. May He awaken us so that we’re not living lives of self-defeat and self-deception, when we think we’re one thing, and we’re just denying what we really are, instead of saying, Lord, shine Your light. I know You don’t shine it out of condemnation. You shine it out of love so that You can deliver me, so that I can be free. Thank You, Lord, for what You’ve done. Help me to lay hold of it, today, by faith and grow.
You know, I’ve often thought, and I know many of you have if you heard Brother Thomas years ago, talk about the need for growth, and the fact that it doesn’t all happen in one little experience. And so, his advice was simply this. Start where you’re at. Start with what you have and what you don’t have. Just start.
We can all do that, can’t we? That’s all the Lord’s looking for. Praise God! He’s not saying, what’s the matter with you? You should be up here. Get with the program.
Just start. Deal with the issues of today. Didn’t the Lord say today has enough trouble of its own? The Lord knows the process, and He’s able to help us, so praise God. Isn’t the Lord good?
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Amen.
