Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Look . . . I’m Walking! │ Msg 516 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Look . . . I’m Walking! │ Msg 516 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: One of my favorite metaphors in the Scriptures is the
0:04
Speaker 1: image of a person's.
0:05
Speaker 2: Walk with God.
0:08
Speaker 1: The Biblical story begins with God and Adam, who walked
0:12
Speaker 1: together in the coolness of the garden, and then Abraham
0:16
Speaker 1: a little later, chosen mysteriously and wondrously as the progenitor
0:21
Speaker 1: of God's favored people, having received the promise, packed his
0:26
Speaker 1: family and walked to a distant land. You may remember
0:31
Speaker 1: the words he went, not knowing where he was going.
0:36
Speaker 1: Abraham walked by faith, and then we were called. David,
0:41
Speaker 1: the great Shepherd, king and poet Laureate of the Hebrew Scriptures,
0:46
Speaker 1: declared in Psalm one nineteen, your word is a lamp
0:51
Speaker 1: to my feet and a light for my path. David
0:56
Speaker 1: had learned over the years the value of a step
0:59
Speaker 1: by walk with God, and as he grew to become
1:04
Speaker 1: a man after God's own heart, that walk became increasingly
1:08
Speaker 1: more consistent. Our savior, the one who left the portals
1:13
Speaker 1: of the eternal, taking on flesh, humbling himself to the
1:17
Speaker 1: point of becoming like us, also walked, And he walked
1:22
Speaker 1: along the shore of Galilee, imagined that, perhaps squinting into
1:28
Speaker 1: the morning sun, the maker of the heavens and the earth.
1:32
Speaker 1: Spotted Simon later to be called Peter, and also Andrew,
1:38
Speaker 1: his brother, working on their fishing nets. He called both
1:42
Speaker 1: of them, saying, follow me. That first call became a
1:48
Speaker 1: personal invitation for all of us to walk with Christ,
1:54
Speaker 1: to daily surrender our wills and learn obedience. Even as
1:59
Speaker 1: the Son learned obedience. I'm fully convinced God cares much
2:04
Speaker 1: more about how we walk than just about anything else
2:08
Speaker 1: in our Christian lives. It's that daily, simple, ongoing commitment,
2:16
Speaker 1: placing one foot in front of the other by faith
2:19
Speaker 1: that pleases him the most. In today's message, we're going
2:23
Speaker 1: to see what it looks like to walk with God,
2:28
Speaker 1: a foundation of lesson in our learning together the value
2:32
Speaker 1: of growing up in God's family. Various passages in the
2:36
Speaker 1: New Testament come to mind, but primarily I'll focus our
2:40
Speaker 1: time on one. It's Ephesians chapter five. Turn there with me,
2:46
Speaker 1: Will you please and join with me? As I read
2:49
Speaker 1: from the New Living Translation, the first nine verses of
2:54
Speaker 1: Ephesians chapter five, Verse one begins, imitate God. Therefore, in
3:01
Speaker 1: everything you do, because you are His dear children, live
3:05
Speaker 1: a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.
3:11
Speaker 1: He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us,
3:16
Speaker 1: a pleasing aroma to God.
3:21
Speaker 2: Let there be no sexual.
3:23
Speaker 1: Immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no
3:30
Speaker 1: place among God's people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes,
3:39
Speaker 1: these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness
3:43
Speaker 1: to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure,
3:48
Speaker 1: or greedy person will inherit the kingdom of Christ and
3:53
Speaker 1: of God, for a greedy person is an idolater worshiping
3:58
Speaker 1: the things of this world world. Verse six continues, don't
4:03
Speaker 1: be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins,
4:07
Speaker 1: for the anger of God will fall on all who
4:09
Speaker 1: disobey him. Don't participate in the things these people do.
4:15
Speaker 1: For once you were full of darkness, but now you
4:18
Speaker 1: have light from the Lord. So live as people of light,
4:24
Speaker 1: for this light within you produces only what is good
4:27
Speaker 1: and right and true.
4:32
Speaker 2: I don't think there's anything quite like having a baby now,
4:38
Speaker 2: I mean having a part in having a baby. I
4:45
Speaker 2: look back at times and I think of the most
4:48
Speaker 2: amazing places where I have seen the birth of babies announced.
4:55
Speaker 2: For example, I have seen it written on flags and
4:58
Speaker 2: banners that fly ab a hotel, our tall buildings. I've
5:03
Speaker 2: seen the announcement put on theater Marquis You ever seen
5:07
Speaker 2: that it's a boy and there's some name that you
5:11
Speaker 2: don't know, but it's so important that those who drive
5:14
Speaker 2: by are supposed to read it. I have been at
5:18
Speaker 2: a ballgame where we're watching the football game go on,
5:22
Speaker 2: and suddenly everybody's eyes are drawn up above and there's
5:25
Speaker 2: a biplane that's going by with a banner on the
5:28
Speaker 2: back and it said it's a girl, and then the
5:32
Speaker 2: name of the guy who was a ballplayer on the field.
5:35
Speaker 2: Is announcing? Really a nice touch? Huh? Isn't that a
5:38
Speaker 2: clever idea? I went to a kind of posh restaurant
5:41
Speaker 2: in the mid in the Midwest some time ago with
5:44
Speaker 2: a group of friends, and the waiter was unusually friendly.
5:51
Speaker 2: Of course, we had never seen each other, and when
5:53
Speaker 2: we sat down, he gave us all very nice menus,
5:56
Speaker 2: and we talked for a few minutes, and he stayed
5:59
Speaker 2: unusually close to watch us, kind of holding back a smile,
6:04
Speaker 2: and when we opened our menus, it read it's a
6:08
Speaker 2: boy nine pounds twelve ounces. After we talked to he
6:13
Speaker 2: was handing out cigars and making all these great comments.
6:16
Speaker 2: And after we talked to him, he said it was
6:18
Speaker 2: our eighth child. First boy. He didn't stop till he
6:26
Speaker 2: got the boy. Isn't that great?
6:29
Speaker 3: You know?
6:29
Speaker 2: The first thing God said to mankind, the first command
6:34
Speaker 2: he gave the first couple, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth.
6:43
Speaker 2: I smile when I quote that statement from Genesis one,
6:46
Speaker 2: because I remember the words my mother told me years ago.
6:53
Speaker 2: Let me tell you just for a few moments about
6:55
Speaker 2: my parents. They were married October the fifth, nineteen thirty
7:02
Speaker 2: They had their first child August fifth, nineteen thirty one,
7:07
Speaker 2: ten months to the day. Thirteen months later they had
7:14
Speaker 2: my sister. Just a little over two years later, they
7:20
Speaker 2: had me. Now, while my mother was carrying me with
7:25
Speaker 2: two others wrapped around her legs, they visited my paternal grandmother,
7:32
Speaker 2: quite a lady, pioneer, stock outspoken, strong willed, and she
7:39
Speaker 2: saw my dear mother carrying another child and two others,
7:45
Speaker 2: both still in diapers, running around her feet, and she
7:48
Speaker 2: pulled my dad aside. She said, earl, now listen to me.
7:55
Speaker 2: I know the Bible says be fruitful and multiply and
7:58
Speaker 2: fill the earth, but earl, I ever expected one woman
8:01
Speaker 2: to do it all. Maybe you felt like that as
8:08
Speaker 2: you were in the child bearing years, sort of like
8:12
Speaker 2: you were doing it all. I want to say something
8:15
Speaker 2: else about life, and that is, along with the joy
8:19
Speaker 2: of seeing them born, is the fun of watching them grow.
8:25
Speaker 2: I just said to Cynthia before this occasion, I just
8:29
Speaker 2: said to her, there's nothing like a family, is there?
8:34
Speaker 2: She said, no, there really isn't. There is no possession,
8:38
Speaker 2: there is no travel experience there is There is no
8:43
Speaker 2: new thing you can own. There is no award you
8:48
Speaker 2: can receive, no achievement you can earn that can come
8:53
Speaker 2: close to comparing to the joy of a family. Nothing
8:57
Speaker 2: like it. Now when I say that some of you
9:01
Speaker 2: haven't had a happy family life, and I want to
9:06
Speaker 2: sigh when I represent your part in this story. I
9:11
Speaker 2: wish that you had. I really do. And so my
9:16
Speaker 2: answer to you is, if you didn't have it before, now,
9:22
Speaker 2: then start it now. Now is your chance. The joy
9:30
Speaker 2: of growth and the pleasures connected with those little people,
9:37
Speaker 2: especially as they learn to walk, nothing like it, nothing
9:42
Speaker 2: at all. I want to talk about all of that,
9:48
Speaker 2: not the physical side of the babies and the infants,
9:52
Speaker 2: but the spiritual side for just a little bit of time.
9:55
Speaker 2: I want you to look in your Bible, if you
9:57
Speaker 2: have one with you, look at Galatians chapter five, Galatians five.
10:03
Speaker 2: First of all, I want us to understand what it
10:06
Speaker 2: means to walk. That is some of the terms that
10:10
Speaker 2: the Lord uses in his New Covenant. The New Testament
10:15
Speaker 2: regarding this matter of walking. Galatians five sixteen puts it
10:21
Speaker 2: this way, walk by the spirit, and you will not
10:27
Speaker 2: carry out the desires of the flesh. The one way
10:34
Speaker 2: of expressing this business of walking as an infant, walking
10:39
Speaker 2: as a youngster is walking by the spirit. From Galatians,
10:44
Speaker 2: turned a little further to Colossians chapter one. Colossians one,
10:53
Speaker 2: verse nine, paulis is praying for this reason. Also since
11:02
Speaker 2: the day we heard of it, we have not ceased
11:05
Speaker 2: to pray for you and to ask that you. Here's
11:08
Speaker 2: this prayer, to ask that you may be filled with
11:12
Speaker 2: the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
11:17
Speaker 2: so that you may walk. There it is again, but
11:23
Speaker 2: not walk in the spirit. This says, so that you
11:26
Speaker 2: may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to
11:30
Speaker 2: please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work,
11:38
Speaker 2: and increasing in the knowledge of God. Galatians five talks
11:43
Speaker 2: about walking by the spirit. Colossians one talks about well,
11:48
Speaker 2: verse ten, walking in a manner worthy of the Lord.
11:52
Speaker 2: Turn the page. Chapter two, verse six talks about walking again.
12:00
Speaker 2: As you therefore have received Christ, Jesus the Lord. That's birth,
12:09
Speaker 2: So walk in him. That's infancy, that's growth. Just as
12:17
Speaker 2: you received Christ. How was that by faith? Trusting in
12:23
Speaker 2: what Christ has done? So keep on walking, how trusting
12:31
Speaker 2: in what Christ can do? They go together. There is
12:35
Speaker 2: a similarity in the two one other. Before we land
12:39
Speaker 2: in Ephesians five, look at first Thessalonians chapter two. We've
12:46
Speaker 2: looked at Galatians. We've looked at Colossians. Look at first
12:48
Speaker 2: Thessalonians two, verse ten. You are witnesses, and so is God.
12:59
Speaker 2: How devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved towards you believers,
13:05
Speaker 2: just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging
13:09
Speaker 2: and imploring each one of you as a father would
13:14
Speaker 2: his own children. Now the verse so that you may
13:18
Speaker 2: walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls
13:23
Speaker 2: you into his own kingdom and glory. Let me tell you,
13:27
Speaker 2: all of you kids who are listening right now, let
13:30
Speaker 2: me tell you what brings pleasure to your parents more
13:34
Speaker 2: than anything else. That is your walking in a manner
13:40
Speaker 2: that is worthy of the name of your God. Another
13:45
Speaker 2: writer of a little letter in the New Testament says,
13:48
Speaker 2: I have no greater joy than to hear my children
13:52
Speaker 2: are walking in the truth. And isn't that so? Nothing
13:56
Speaker 2: thrills me like news from someone else concerning one of
14:01
Speaker 2: my kids and saying, I'll tell you that kid is
14:04
Speaker 2: walking in the truth, or I'll tell you something you've
14:07
Speaker 2: got a lot to be proud of. Your daughter is
14:10
Speaker 2: really honoring God. Nothing thrills me like that. And what's
14:15
Speaker 2: true of earthly parents is exceptionally and especially true of
14:20
Speaker 2: our heavenly parent. You can do nothing more significant on
14:25
Speaker 2: earth than walk in a manner worthy of your God.
14:32
Speaker 2: Now we've seen different ways it's expressed. Let's land on
14:36
Speaker 2: one section of scripture. Let's talk about how it's done.
14:40
Speaker 2: Ephesians five is the passage I want us to look at.
14:45
Speaker 2: I won't be long, this will be concentrated, so you'll
14:48
Speaker 2: have to give it your undivided attention. Now, I know
14:52
Speaker 2: when we turn to Ephesians five and I talk about
14:55
Speaker 2: explaining how to walk. I'm immediately without an analogy. Nobody
15:02
Speaker 2: as has ever learned how to walk by being instructed
15:04
Speaker 2: in it, isn't that interesting? In none of my four
15:09
Speaker 2: children did I sit down with them and say, honey,
15:14
Speaker 2: now this is how you are to walk. Take one
15:17
Speaker 2: foot and put it out. No, one foot and put
15:22
Speaker 2: it out in front of the other foot. Oh ill, no,
15:25
Speaker 2: you fell down. Now stand back up again. Take one foot,
15:29
Speaker 2: And isn't it interesting? We think we can instruct people
15:34
Speaker 2: and how to walk, but no one ever learned how
15:36
Speaker 2: to walk by being instructed. So immediately I am back
15:42
Speaker 2: to square one. All I can do is describe for
15:46
Speaker 2: you the benefits, but I have to leave it between
15:51
Speaker 2: you and your God to work out the mechanics. I
15:56
Speaker 2: know whereof I speak. My background takes me rather quickly
16:01
Speaker 2: to a place where everything in that church was explained
16:05
Speaker 2: in doctrinal terms. I mean it was squeaky clean two
16:11
Speaker 2: by four truths I call them. Where people are boom
16:17
Speaker 2: popped on the head with two by four truths and
16:20
Speaker 2: told and harassed and warned, instructed you're expected to walk
16:28
Speaker 2: in that context. My approach, therefore, is a little more winsome.
16:34
Speaker 2: I hope and a lot more tactful. First of all,
16:38
Speaker 2: there's nothing I want to do more than simply model it.
16:42
Speaker 2: If I'm not modeling it, I really have very little
16:44
Speaker 2: to infect someone with as far as the truth is concerned.
16:48
Speaker 2: But after modeling it, there are a few things I
16:52
Speaker 2: think we can see in scripture that will at least
16:55
Speaker 2: encourage a sooner walk or a better walk. But honestly,
17:04
Speaker 2: I am cast on God, and so are you. When
17:08
Speaker 2: it comes to your personal walk. You can hear this,
17:14
Speaker 2: you can even memorize what you hear, and your walk
17:18
Speaker 2: won't be any better just because you heard the truth.
17:23
Speaker 2: What must happen is that you start doing it on
17:29
Speaker 2: your own. With God. Now, I'm assuming you've been born
17:33
Speaker 2: into God's family. Therefore this truth verse one is applicable
17:40
Speaker 2: to you. The command is imitate your Father. He is
17:46
Speaker 2: our model. Therefore be mimics of God. The term mimic
17:54
Speaker 2: comes from the Greek word translated imitators our word memory.
18:02
Speaker 2: As beloved children see, we're back in a family context,
18:05
Speaker 2: and the reason we want to walk with God is
18:09
Speaker 2: because it mimics his lifestyle. When we walk against God,
18:14
Speaker 2: we don't mimic him, of course not. We give people
18:18
Speaker 2: a double message. Our mouths say one thing, but our
18:21
Speaker 2: walk says something quite quite different, and so it's throwing
18:27
Speaker 2: people a curve. Our whole walk is to be a
18:30
Speaker 2: walk in love. According to verse two, as we mimic
18:33
Speaker 2: our father, our walk is to be in love. And
18:36
Speaker 2: then the warnings as a good parent verse three. Watch
18:42
Speaker 2: out for things that will break your walk, immorality, impurity, greed.
18:49
Speaker 2: Don't let it even be named among you. Verse four.
18:54
Speaker 2: How about dirty jokes and filthy silly, coarse talk. Now
19:00
Speaker 2: that'll hurt your walk. Telling and laughing at stuff that's filthy.
19:06
Speaker 2: It gives a double message. People want to believe the truth,
19:10
Speaker 2: but you're modeling a lie. You don't mimic God when
19:15
Speaker 2: you do that, See how practical it is. And then
19:19
Speaker 2: he adds verse six. Don't be deceived. People will come
19:23
Speaker 2: and say this is the truth, but it's empty talk.
19:26
Speaker 2: Don't be deceived. As you grow out of infancy into childhood,
19:31
Speaker 2: let your discernment take place. Verse seven. Don't be partners
19:36
Speaker 2: with people who do That. Sounds like parent child counsel,
19:40
Speaker 2: doesn't it. It's what it is. It's exactly what it is.
19:45
Speaker 2: You were formerly darkness, and now you are light in
19:50
Speaker 2: the Lord. Therefore, verse eight, walk as children who reflect
19:55
Speaker 2: the light. Not good truth, not good counsel. Talk about
20:00
Speaker 2: something to take with you on a Monday morning. Talk
20:03
Speaker 2: about something to carry with you as a salesperson on
20:06
Speaker 2: the road or working in the marketplace in some part
20:12
Speaker 2: of this concrete jungle called our commercial world. Walk as
20:16
Speaker 2: children of a light. Now verse fifteen, be careful how
20:28
Speaker 2: you walk. Okay, let's get specific. There are some initial commands.
20:37
Speaker 2: Be careful how you walk is one of them. In
20:42
Speaker 2: daily life, if it doesn't matter how you walk. Everybody
20:45
Speaker 2: has his own gait, everybody has his own pace. I
20:49
Speaker 2: am told by certain sightless friends of mine that they
20:52
Speaker 2: can tell by the way a person walks towards them
20:56
Speaker 2: who it is. They happen to know that individual. They
20:58
Speaker 2: don't even have to talk, because everybody has a certain gait,
21:02
Speaker 2: everybody's heels hit a certain way, and they can tell
21:06
Speaker 2: just by studying the sound that the walk is different.
21:10
Speaker 2: We can walk different ways in the physical life, but
21:13
Speaker 2: in the Christian life, there is one way to walk,
21:16
Speaker 2: and we're to be careful how to do it look
21:18
Speaker 2: carefully Verse fifteen. Not as unwise, but as wise. Verse
21:23
Speaker 2: sixteen not wasting your time, but being careful with the
21:27
Speaker 2: use of your time. Furthermore, don't be foolish, but understand
21:32
Speaker 2: what the will of the Lord is. Make the will
21:34
Speaker 2: of the Lord your aim. Don't be foolish, but understand
21:41
Speaker 2: what his will is. And now we've come to the
21:45
Speaker 2: kernel of truth. What is called walking by the spirit
21:50
Speaker 2: in Galatians five, what is called walking by faith in
21:53
Speaker 2: Collisians too, or walking in a manner worthy of the
21:57
Speaker 2: name of God in First Thessalonians is called he being
22:00
Speaker 2: filled with the spirit. And it's baby truth, not in importance,
22:06
Speaker 2: but in foundational level. It is as significant as knowing
22:11
Speaker 2: how to eat, how to talk, and how to obey.
22:15
Speaker 2: But I meet Christians all the time who don't know
22:18
Speaker 2: how to walk. They're walking by the flesh. If something
22:24
Speaker 2: isn't working, they operate in the flesh to make it work.
22:27
Speaker 2: They force their way in are They're determined to get
22:31
Speaker 2: their way. And they've not learned to wait and to
22:35
Speaker 2: trust God to work out situations. They've not learned how
22:40
Speaker 2: to walk in the spirit. Now look closely. I want
22:44
Speaker 2: to spend the rest of our time on verse eighteen.
22:47
Speaker 2: I think if I were reading this for the very
22:49
Speaker 2: first time, I'd be a little shocked. Look at the analogy.
22:55
Speaker 2: Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation,
23:00
Speaker 2: but be filled with the spirit. Now, wait a minute,
23:06
Speaker 2: I mean, of all the analogies that could be used,
23:09
Speaker 2: why use that one. Well, there's every reason to use
23:12
Speaker 2: that one. Let me just take a few minutes and
23:18
Speaker 2: kind of think out loud. When I was in the
23:21
Speaker 2: Marine Corps, I met all kinds of fellows, and I
23:24
Speaker 2: saw most of them drunk. Some of them were kind
23:29
Speaker 2: of meek, wimpy, Casper milk toast types until they got drunk.
23:36
Speaker 2: And then it's amazing what happened. These little wimpy guys
23:41
Speaker 2: turned into monsters. These guys who never would let out
23:48
Speaker 2: a peep when it came to singing, now sang at
23:51
Speaker 2: the top of their voice. It was atrocious, but they
23:54
Speaker 2: sang at the top of their voice. These guys, who
23:58
Speaker 2: normally would be rather you're well protected or protective of
24:03
Speaker 2: their own safety, would take risks, and sometime the following morning,
24:10
Speaker 2: when they were sober, they were a little embarrassed about
24:14
Speaker 2: how wild they had acted the night before. Sometimes they
24:18
Speaker 2: didn't even remember how wild they had been. What happens
24:23
Speaker 2: when wine. Too much wine, too much alcohol comes into
24:28
Speaker 2: the body, you become a different person. You are in
24:34
Speaker 2: the wrong sense of the word transformed. It's called here dissipation.
24:42
Speaker 2: There's another word for it, riotous, out of control. It's
24:50
Speaker 2: a picture of rowdiness to the point of being completely
24:58
Speaker 2: out of control. Don't do that, says this writer. But
25:08
Speaker 2: be filled with the spirit. That's another kind of transformation.
25:15
Speaker 2: See this little word filled. Two ways the writer could
25:20
Speaker 2: have described this by using a certain word. One word
25:24
Speaker 2: is used for filling up a jar with a liquid
25:29
Speaker 2: all the way to the top. That's not the word
25:32
Speaker 2: used here. That's used with reference to the indwelling of
25:36
Speaker 2: the Holy Spirit. Not don't let me lose you here.
25:39
Speaker 2: But when you came into God's family, he filled you
25:43
Speaker 2: up with his spirit. He gave you his spirit to
25:49
Speaker 2: live within you forever, and he sealed his spirit so
25:54
Speaker 2: that he will never depart. You have his spirit and
25:59
Speaker 2: he dwells you. But that's not the word used here.
26:05
Speaker 2: We're never commanded to be in endwelt by the spirit.
26:08
Speaker 2: It happened to us when we were born into God's family.
26:13
Speaker 2: The other word that he could have used and did use,
26:16
Speaker 2: is a word for filling sails on a boat with wind,
26:21
Speaker 2: so that there is movement out of the boat's control.
26:26
Speaker 2: That's the word used here. I'm so glad that word
26:30
Speaker 2: is used. There's so many pictures you can draw from that.
26:34
Speaker 2: If you like to sail, or if you hang around
26:36
Speaker 2: people who do like to sail, they will tell you,
26:41
Speaker 2: and you know by experience that there's nothing like that
26:45
Speaker 2: perfect velocity of a wind to whip that boat through
26:49
Speaker 2: the water at just the right speed and there's no sound,
26:54
Speaker 2: just sh right through the water, and you look around,
26:59
Speaker 2: there's a actually awake behind that boat, even though there's
27:02
Speaker 2: no noise. True sailors hate motors. They just think it's
27:07
Speaker 2: cool that you can just handle that rudder and just
27:11
Speaker 2: slip right through the water with just the wind. Are
27:15
Speaker 2: As you're fuel because the sails are we call it
27:20
Speaker 2: filled with the wind, and the boat is moved out
27:24
Speaker 2: of its own power in the direction wherever you send it.
27:31
Speaker 2: That's the word used. Don't get drunk with wine, which
27:36
Speaker 2: leads to dissipation in all kinds of out of control lifestyle.
27:41
Speaker 2: But on the contrary, let the spirit of God fill
27:46
Speaker 2: your sails so that out of your own control, he
27:52
Speaker 2: carries you where he wants you to go and that
27:59
Speaker 2: is an exciting way to live. Now, the bugaboo in
28:04
Speaker 2: all of this is sin, isn't it. I mean, so
28:08
Speaker 2: far we're tracking, you're connecting, and you're ready to applaud
28:13
Speaker 2: and say that's what I want, That's what I've been
28:16
Speaker 2: looking for. Where's that boat? How can I connect with
28:21
Speaker 2: that wind? Because I want to move without a lot
28:24
Speaker 2: of noise and commotion, and I want to slip through
28:27
Speaker 2: this water of my life and get something accomplished for
28:31
Speaker 2: God's glory. I want his power to push me through.
28:35
Speaker 2: But chuck, look, I'm a sinner. I mean, I even
28:42
Speaker 2: though I'm in God's family, I still wrestle with my
28:45
Speaker 2: old nature. Well, if it's any encouragement, so do I.
28:51
Speaker 2: The best help I find is in Romans chapter six.
28:55
Speaker 2: So stick your finger right here. Go back to Romans six. Huh,
29:00
Speaker 2: don't let somebody else go back for you. See this
29:03
Speaker 2: is where we usually stop turning. Oh honey, you turned
29:06
Speaker 2: back to Romans six, and that's a lot of work
29:09
Speaker 2: to go back from visions to Romans. It isn't a
29:12
Speaker 2: lot of work. And if you don't go back, it
29:14
Speaker 2: won't make any difference to you. Two days from now,
29:17
Speaker 2: you look in your Bible for yourself. I'm want to
29:20
Speaker 2: give you three words, and I want you not to
29:23
Speaker 2: forget them. In a minute, we're going to repeat them together,
29:26
Speaker 2: because in the morning you're going to be saying, I'm
29:28
Speaker 2: on your own. It's a little project I head in
29:30
Speaker 2: mind that just puts wind in your sales. That's the
29:32
Speaker 2: reason I want to do this now. Chapter six of
29:35
Speaker 2: Romans talks about sin, and I won't bore you with
29:38
Speaker 2: a lot of details. Let me just put it this way.
29:41
Speaker 2: Now that you are in Christ, you have a new master.
29:46
Speaker 2: Before you were born into his family, the old master
29:50
Speaker 2: dominated your life. You couldn't stop old bad habits even
29:53
Speaker 2: if you tried, and how often you tried. You couldn't
29:57
Speaker 2: change your lifestyle. You couldn't stop cursing, you couldn't quit drinking,
30:01
Speaker 2: you couldn't stop running around. You couldn't live a lifestyle
30:05
Speaker 2: that honored God, no matter how hard you tried. You
30:08
Speaker 2: may not have been as bad as some, but you
30:10
Speaker 2: were bad in your own way because you couldn't dominate
30:13
Speaker 2: the sin within you. Suddenly, one day Christ really came
30:17
Speaker 2: into your life and you were born into his family.
30:20
Speaker 2: He gave you his spirit, which is tantamount to saying
30:23
Speaker 2: he gave you his power. Roman six talks about that.
30:27
Speaker 2: Look at verse six, knowing this that our old self
30:36
Speaker 2: was crucified with him, that our body of sin might
30:42
Speaker 2: be done away with, that we should no longer be
30:45
Speaker 2: slaves to sin, for he who has died is freed
30:51
Speaker 2: from sin. Knowing is the first word, believe it or not.
30:59
Speaker 2: Almost every morning of my life I go through a
31:03
Speaker 2: little ritual. I've gotten to the place where I don't
31:07
Speaker 2: have to do it out loud, but I go through
31:09
Speaker 2: it in my head. I know God that you're my master,
31:16
Speaker 2: not sin, knowing that I am no longer enslaved to
31:22
Speaker 2: this old master who once ruled me, been freed from that.
31:29
Speaker 2: Verse nine, Knowing says it again that Christ, having been
31:35
Speaker 2: raised from the dead, is never to die again. Death
31:39
Speaker 2: no longer is master over him. Not only am I
31:42
Speaker 2: not afraid of sin, I'm not afraid of death. In Christ,
31:47
Speaker 2: I have the mastery over both. Is that great news?
31:51
Speaker 2: Those things that plague people on the streets today have
31:54
Speaker 2: no reason to plague the Christian. Sin doesn't master me.
31:58
Speaker 2: Christ does. Sin doesn't have control over me. Christ can
32:05
Speaker 2: How do I make it happen. Next word, considering verse eleven,
32:12
Speaker 2: even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but
32:18
Speaker 2: alive to God in Christ Jesus. Now that's the secret link.
32:24
Speaker 2: I know in my head that Christ now is my master.
32:31
Speaker 2: It's essential for me, therefore, to make that a part
32:36
Speaker 2: of reality in my daily life. So I reckon it true.
32:43
Speaker 2: I consider it real. I remove it from the realm
32:49
Speaker 2: of just the mind, and I say, Lord God, I
32:54
Speaker 2: ask you to make it real today in my life.
33:00
Speaker 2: I lean on you. I trust you to do that.
33:03
Speaker 2: I have considered that wonderful truth now a reality. Verse twelve. Therefore,
33:14
Speaker 2: do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that
33:17
Speaker 2: you should obey its lusts, and do not go on
33:21
Speaker 2: presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments
33:24
Speaker 2: of unrighteousness. But keyword number three, presenting present yourselves to
33:33
Speaker 2: God as those alive from the dead, and your members
33:37
Speaker 2: as instruments of righteousness to God. What in the world
33:40
Speaker 2: does that mean? Sounds like a lot of words, but
33:43
Speaker 2: it isn't. I know that Christ is my master, and
33:48
Speaker 2: not sin, no longer to sin dominate me. I consider
33:53
Speaker 2: that to be real truth, something that I can live
33:57
Speaker 2: with and carry out. In my life. Therefore, when sin
34:02
Speaker 2: rears its head and waves hoping I'll wave back, I
34:07
Speaker 2: at that moment present myself to God, claiming his strength.
34:17
Speaker 2: If lust happens to be one of my battles. And
34:20
Speaker 2: I come to a new stand full of magazines, and
34:23
Speaker 2: I am trying to select one of the magazines that
34:26
Speaker 2: I want to buy, and I come across something that's pornographic.
34:30
Speaker 2: I see immediately the danger of putting that in my mind,
34:36
Speaker 2: and I present my mind as an instrument of righteousness
34:40
Speaker 2: to God, not as a weak instrument helpless at the
34:46
Speaker 2: mercy of this magazine. And I press on. I move
34:51
Speaker 2: on to that magazine I'm looking for. I don't get
34:55
Speaker 2: sidetracked in my daily life as I am involved with
34:59
Speaker 2: say and I have a battle with greed, and I
35:03
Speaker 2: find myself suddenly turning towards something that I know I
35:07
Speaker 2: could easily make into an idol of my life. I
35:10
Speaker 2: present myself to God not simply as a weak instrument
35:15
Speaker 2: to sin, but as an instrument of strength through God's power.
35:19
Speaker 2: My wind, my sail is full of his wind, and
35:22
Speaker 2: I move right on in his direction. It works every time,
35:28
Speaker 2: it does. You know, when I get hung up when
35:33
Speaker 2: I wave back, when I try to negotiate with that
35:38
Speaker 2: rattler in my sleeping bag, when I act like I
35:41
Speaker 2: can handle it, I fail to know, to consider and
35:47
Speaker 2: to present. You know what? We have spent too much
35:51
Speaker 2: of our life thinking about sin and how to deal
35:53
Speaker 2: with it, and not enough time thinking about God and
35:57
Speaker 2: claiming his strength. We teach bread. I knew Christians what
36:01
Speaker 2: first John one nine. That is one of the first
36:04
Speaker 2: verses I ever learned as a Christian. If we confess
36:07
Speaker 2: our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
36:09
Speaker 2: our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Great truth.
36:12
Speaker 2: I believe it. It's in the book. It's true. So
36:16
Speaker 2: I began my life sin conscious. I'm gonna sin. So
36:20
Speaker 2: when I sin, I want to present it to God.
36:23
Speaker 2: He's gonna forgive me. So my life was full of
36:26
Speaker 2: sin and confessing it and claiming his forgiveness and then
36:30
Speaker 2: moving on. And then I'd sin again, and then I'd
36:32
Speaker 2: confess it and he'd forgive me. I'd move on, and
36:35
Speaker 2: I'd sin again, and I confess it, and I mean,
36:38
Speaker 2: this thing is terrible. And I came across Roman six
36:41
Speaker 2: and I thought, where have you been? All my life.
36:44
Speaker 2: Roman six. I mean this says I don't have to sin.
36:51
Speaker 2: If I present my body as an instrument of weakness,
36:54
Speaker 2: I will, but I don't need to. I often illustrate
36:58
Speaker 2: it as so. On the road, if there is a
37:03
Speaker 2: sharp curve ahead, the state has a choice of what
37:08
Speaker 2: kind of sign to put there. One kind of sign
37:11
Speaker 2: could read keep going clinic at the bottom of the hill.
37:19
Speaker 2: That's first John one nine. Another sign could read danger
37:24
Speaker 2: curve ahead, slow down, speed limit twenty. That's Romans six.
37:31
Speaker 2: I mean, we've been going off the hill for years.
37:34
Speaker 2: We keep tumbling off. The great clinics, wonderful hospitals, good
37:38
Speaker 2: X ray machines. We really patch them up well. We
37:41
Speaker 2: staff the clinics with people that are full of sin,
37:44
Speaker 2: wonder know how to solve it. But how few are
37:47
Speaker 2: painting signs that say why do you have to speed
37:50
Speaker 2: around the hill? Slow down? You have a heavenly father
37:56
Speaker 2: who will give you the power to redirect your life.
38:00
Speaker 2: But you have to know, consider, and then present. Say
38:05
Speaker 2: it with me, No consider present, Do it again, No
38:11
Speaker 2: consider present. Tomorrow morning when you get started, say those
38:17
Speaker 2: three words today, Lord, I know you are my savior,
38:23
Speaker 2: you are my master. I consider that to be truth
38:28
Speaker 2: to take with me today. I reckon it as real.
38:32
Speaker 2: And today, Lord, I present my moment by moment, walk
38:38
Speaker 2: to you. Bring to my attention as soon as I
38:42
Speaker 2: am faced with a choice to sin or to walk
38:45
Speaker 2: in righteousness, bring this truth to my attention, and enable
38:50
Speaker 2: me to present myself to you. And then as your
38:53
Speaker 2: day unfools, you know, it's little things. Backing out of
38:58
Speaker 2: the driveway. Car car, car, car, car, car, car, car, car.
39:03
Speaker 2: That's my problem. I don't have some huge, terrible battle.
39:07
Speaker 2: I've got this car car car car problem. And I say,
39:11
Speaker 2: what is it gonna stop? Inside? That's what goes on.
39:15
Speaker 2: And I tend to be a little impatient. It's the
39:18
Speaker 2: understatement of the day. And I have to say, Lord,
39:23
Speaker 2: there are a million cars down the road, and I
39:26
Speaker 2: ask you to control my spirit before I back into one.
39:32
Speaker 2: As I get out of the driveway, I present myself
39:37
Speaker 2: to you. I present my weakness. Now, enable me, Lord
39:42
Speaker 2: to cope with that. Got it back to Ephesians. By
39:47
Speaker 2: what happens when I do that? Oh, it's great news.
39:50
Speaker 2: Take a look when I am filled with his spirit,
39:55
Speaker 2: having known and considered and presented myself to him. Oh,
40:00
Speaker 2: look at the practical results. There are five of them
40:03
Speaker 2: right here. Nineteen. I begin to speak to other people,
40:08
Speaker 2: so relationships become deeper and more meaningful. I speak in
40:14
Speaker 2: psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and I sing with
40:19
Speaker 2: grace in my heart, and I find my life becomes
40:22
Speaker 2: melodious and rhythmic. A song replaces cursing. The joy of
40:29
Speaker 2: these hymns and these choruses of worship becomes a part
40:34
Speaker 2: of my life. That's verse nineteen, Verse twenty. There is
40:38
Speaker 2: a spirit of gratitude that accompanies it, always giving thanks
40:43
Speaker 2: for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
40:47
Speaker 2: So there is a there is a thankfulness that accompanies
40:50
Speaker 2: this spirit filled walk. Fourth, there is genuine humility be
40:55
Speaker 2: subject to one another. If there is the fear of God,
41:02
Speaker 2: in the fear of Christ, I'll tell you there are
41:07
Speaker 2: a few benefits better than that. When I walk by
41:10
Speaker 2: the spirit, I tell you I am easy to live with.
41:15
Speaker 2: When I don't, I am a bear. Now I'm going
41:20
Speaker 2: to confess to you, February was a tough month. I
41:24
Speaker 2: don't know why. Supposed to be a great month, Valentine's
41:27
Speaker 2: Day and all that jazz, but it was a tough month,
41:31
Speaker 2: and so I was hard to live with and I
41:33
Speaker 2: didn't walk in the spirit much of the time. And
41:36
Speaker 2: I'm ashamed of that, but it's true, and March turned
41:41
Speaker 2: the corner for me. Cynthia was having a tough time
41:46
Speaker 2: putting up with my style, and I said to her
41:52
Speaker 2: on the eve of March, it's not like I was
41:57
Speaker 2: going to say the IDEs of March. And on the
41:59
Speaker 2: eve of March, I said, honey, tell you what I commit.
42:06
Speaker 2: I promise you this commitment that I'll be easier to
42:11
Speaker 2: live with in March. March is going to be a
42:14
Speaker 2: positive month for me. And she said something like, well,
42:19
Speaker 2: I'm glad to hear that. Very graciously she took me
42:24
Speaker 2: at my word. And you know what, It's true. March
42:31
Speaker 2: is working. I'm taking it a day at a time,
42:36
Speaker 2: and I am discovering that by knowing and considering and
42:40
Speaker 2: presenting myself to my father on a daily basis, I
42:47
Speaker 2: tell you, it's enough to make me believe my own stuff.
42:51
Speaker 2: It is really really great. Furthermore, she's a happier woman
42:58
Speaker 2: and we got a better home. Same guy. But now
43:07
Speaker 2: I find myself filled with his power. The wind is
43:14
Speaker 2: in my sales. You see how you have to do
43:18
Speaker 2: it as a team spirit or with a team spirit.
43:21
Speaker 2: And this thing about life, this thing about living the
43:24
Speaker 2: Christian life, it is an automatic deal where now that
43:28
Speaker 2: you're born into His family, suddenly you're easy to live with.
43:31
Speaker 2: You're still a bear, you've still got the old nature,
43:34
Speaker 2: but now you've got hope for change. And you determined
43:39
Speaker 2: before God that you will walk in his power. You
43:42
Speaker 2: will walk in His spirit. And it's your move. You
43:46
Speaker 2: start walking. It's time to start right now. He can
43:55
Speaker 2: give you the power to do it. Now, let me
43:57
Speaker 2: tell you one of my favorite illustrations. I'm waiting all
44:00
Speaker 2: this time to give you one of my favorite illustrations.
44:03
Speaker 2: Let's say that you cannot play the piano. You see,
44:07
Speaker 2: that's not hard to do, Bud, I can do chopsticks.
44:11
Speaker 2: That's the best I can do, advanced chopsticks. I can
44:14
Speaker 2: play it backwards. That's all I can do in the piano.
44:19
Speaker 2: One evening, you decide to go hear this great piano
44:22
Speaker 2: duo Nielsen and Young, and you set second row right
44:26
Speaker 2: there by these two massive concert grand pianos. And you
44:30
Speaker 2: see these guys. They look all around, they're smile and
44:33
Speaker 2: they're playing magnificent music. And you say, oh, I could
44:37
Speaker 2: only play like that. And your friend introduces you to
44:41
Speaker 2: Avid Young and Steven Nielson and they're gracious to talk
44:44
Speaker 2: to you backstage during the intermission and they say to you,
44:48
Speaker 2: you know, we've never told anyone this, but we have
44:52
Speaker 2: the ability to give you our strength and our spirit
44:58
Speaker 2: and you can play like we do. He said, come on, no, no,
45:03
Speaker 2: we can do it. Well, I want that. Okay, don't
45:10
Speaker 2: tell anybody, and remember remember we have to get the glory.
45:18
Speaker 2: You can't take the credit or you're back to chopsticks. Okay, Okay,
45:26
Speaker 2: that you've got that. You walk out time for the
45:31
Speaker 2: second part of the performance. Av It introduces you to
45:36
Speaker 2: take his place at the keyboard and you sit down.
45:38
Speaker 2: Steven gives you that charming smile. You're playing, and I'll
45:43
Speaker 2: tell you it's magnificent. You can't believe how good you are.
45:47
Speaker 2: I mean, it is magnificent. Steven is just taken back,
45:51
Speaker 2: and Avid is standing aside saying that's great. Keep it up.
45:56
Speaker 2: And when you finish, the people just standing there feet
46:00
Speaker 2: him their plot and they ask for an encore. Well, sure,
46:07
Speaker 2: you begin to play, and while you're playing you think
46:10
Speaker 2: I am really great back of chopsticks. Isn't that a
46:22
Speaker 2: good illustration? I just thought of that. I'm back to
46:26
Speaker 2: chopsticks when I say that. He said, we have made
46:32
Speaker 2: the Christian life something super complicated. We have made this
46:36
Speaker 2: walk mysterious, mystical and deep and profound, and something for
46:41
Speaker 2: professors of theology and guys that are eighty and over
46:45
Speaker 2: that are too old to do anything else but walk
46:47
Speaker 2: with God. This Christian life is for you viril young adult,
46:57
Speaker 2: single parent, married couple, teenager. It isn't for some stuffy
47:06
Speaker 2: guy stuck away in a seminary classroom. It's for you.
47:10
Speaker 2: It's for people like me. But all you have to
47:15
Speaker 2: do is let the wind fill your sail, and you
47:21
Speaker 2: go God's way for God's glory. When sin trips you up,
47:27
Speaker 2: you do claim his forgiveness. You count on him. You're
47:31
Speaker 2: as grieved as he is over it, and you agree
47:33
Speaker 2: that it's sin, and you come to terms with it,
47:37
Speaker 2: and you're back in that boat and the wind is
47:39
Speaker 2: again in your sails and you're moving right on. And
47:42
Speaker 2: do you notice something, The longer you live with God,
47:45
Speaker 2: the easier the walk, have you noticed it, the more
47:48
Speaker 2: natural it comes I'm finding that true. Oh, there are
47:52
Speaker 2: tough months, as I said, but it begins to flow,
47:56
Speaker 2: begins to move. I want that for you, I want
48:03
Speaker 2: it for me. I'm tired of chopsticks. Aren't you good?
48:13
Speaker 2: Want us to bow together, our heavenly Father.
48:18
Speaker 1: We are so thankful that you have not left us
48:21
Speaker 1: to make it on our own to fend for ourselves
48:25
Speaker 1: in this perilous, sin strangled world in which we live.
48:30
Speaker 1: But we have your wondrous grace to guide us, to
48:35
Speaker 1: protect us, to provide us with everything we need to
48:40
Speaker 1: overcome in order to be victorious in our journey. All
48:45
Speaker 1: of that because of Christ. And because of Him we
48:49
Speaker 1: no longer are destined to limp toward Heaven, stooped under
48:54
Speaker 1: the load of guilt, carrying only our meager resources in
49:00
Speaker 1: our bag of empty religion. Instead, you have granted to
49:05
Speaker 1: us the great enabling of your spirit, that we might
49:09
Speaker 1: be filled and strengthened and encouraged to soar with wings
49:14
Speaker 1: like eagles, to run and not grow tired, to walk,
49:19
Speaker 1: and yet not faint.
49:21
Speaker 2: And therefore, our.
49:22
Speaker 1: Pray Father, that you will especially be near to those
49:25
Speaker 1: today who are hindered by sin's relentless grip who simply
49:31
Speaker 1: cannot take another step towards growth because of that, perhaps
49:37
Speaker 1: bound by the insidious pull of pornography, the dulling effects
49:42
Speaker 1: of alcohol or some drug, the stinging shame of inadequacy,
49:49
Speaker 1: having gone all the way into adulthood, not once receiving
49:54
Speaker 1: the affirming words of a parent like you did for
49:59
Speaker 1: the lame meager in Jerusalem. Lord, set all of these free,
50:06
Speaker 1: Set all of us free, Father, from the shackles of
50:09
Speaker 1: such stubborn and painful pasts. Break our addictions, calm our spirits,
50:18
Speaker 1: give us a renewed sense of security in the midst
50:21
Speaker 1: of an insecure past. Teach us first to walk not
50:27
Speaker 1: in our own strength, but in the power of your spirit,
50:30
Speaker 1: and then show us how to leap and to dance
50:34
Speaker 1: in the freedom and joy of Christ because of his grace. Finally, Lord,
50:39
Speaker 1: thank you for never giving up on us, even when
50:43
Speaker 1: we have so easily and willingly given up on ourselves
50:47
Speaker 1: and on others. We're so profoundly grateful for Christ, for
50:53
Speaker 1: his all sufficient sacrifice, the sacrifice of his body and
50:58
Speaker 1: his blood for us on that cruel cross, for his
51:04
Speaker 1: life that is now ours by faith. We are so
51:09
Speaker 1: very thankful. We offer you our praise and all of
51:15
Speaker 1: the glory today Father, in the matchless name of Jesus,
51:20
Speaker 1: our Lord and Savior. Amen.
51:25
Speaker 3: The preceding message look I'm Walking was copyrighted in nineteen
51:30
Speaker 3: eighty five, and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty
51:33
Speaker 3: sixteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.