Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), C. A. Murray
Series Code: 10HC
Program Code: 10HC000005
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00:24 Welcome to 3ABN's Fall Camp Meeting
00:27 Homecoming 2010 featuring inspired messages 00:31 from your 3ABN family 00:34 along with uplifting Christian music 00:37 all to prepare your heart for the coming of the Lord. 00:45 Hello and welcome to 3ABN 2010 Fall Camp Meeting. 00:51 We're so glad that you're joining us from around the world 00:54 whether you're watching on the television or the Internet 00:57 or perhaps listening by the radio we just welcome you 01:00 and we know that you're going to be blessed today. 01:04 And I particularly want to thank all of my brothers and sisters 01:07 who are here. This is such a beautiful church, 01:11 isn't it? And I'm not talking about the building. 01:14 You know the church is the one who goes in and out the doors. 01:18 And you all are a beautiful church and we're glad that 01:21 each and every one of you are here. 01:23 Today we're going to have Pastor C. A. Murray 01:27 who is our production manager at 3ABN. 01:30 He also is the producer for our flagship program 01:35 The Today Program, and he is a powerful preacher of the Word. 01:40 Wouldn't you agree? He is going to be teaching today 01:44 on the will. Now don't think he's talking about how you 01:48 leave your legacy to someone else. 01:50 It's the will that is your own legacy. 01:54 And before he does that, though, we have with us 01:57 two very special friends of 3ABN. 02:00 We love them; they are precious, precious people. 02:03 And I'm speaking of Jimmy and Pam Rhodes. 02:06 And you know, I was asking Jimmy back stage: 02:08 How many instruments do you play? 02:12 He was a band director so he can play them all. 02:14 But he kind of majored in the brass and in keyboard. 02:19 And then we have our beautiful Pam. Thank you, Pam. 02:22 She's going to be singing a very upbeat song, 02:25 and it's a reason to be upbeat because the title 02:28 of the song is My Sins Are Gone. 02:42 You ask me why I'm happy 02:45 so I'll tell you why: because 02:49 my sins are gone. 02:56 I say... my sins are gone. 03:01 They're underneath the blood of the cross of Calvary, 03:05 as far away as darkness is from dawn. 03:10 In the sea of God's forgetfulness... 03:12 that's good enough for me! 03:14 Praise God, my sins are gone. 05:15 Amen. Praise God, my sins are gone! 05:21 You should all have in your hand - 05:24 and if not on your chair... you're sitting on them - 05:31 a little thing that we're going to talk about 05:34 called The Human Will. 05:37 This is not wills and trusts... that's another seminar. 05:40 This is the human will, 05:43 and we want to spend just a little time talking about that 05:48 for the next little bit. 05:50 Would like to refer you to a text - 05:55 a familiar one to most of us - found in 05:59 Philippians chapter 2 and verse 13. 06:03 Philippians 2:13. 06:06 The Bible says: "For it is God who works in you 06:10 both to will and to do 06:13 for His good pleasure. " 06:17 Shall we pray. Father God, 06:20 we do praise you and thank you for the privilege we have 06:25 of coming before You. 06:27 For the call that brought us out of darkness into light 06:31 and error into truth. 06:34 And we thank Thee that we serve a loving God 06:37 who is concerned about each and every aspect of our lives 06:42 and who wants more than anything 06:46 to be at one with us. 06:50 So we ask You now, Lord, to teach us 06:53 those things that You would have us to know 06:55 and then help us to do them... because it is in the doing 06:59 that we are made like Christ Jesus. 07:01 And we thank you in His name, Amen. 07:04 I have as of late begun to re-study 07:08 the lives of the pioneers 07:12 and, um, I found a number of interesting things. 07:15 I wanted really to know what kind of man, 07:20 Dr. Blanco, could be married to the prophetess of the church. 07:25 And that's... that's... I wanted to see what kind of guy 07:27 James White was. I have read so much about Ellen White... 07:31 Know of her strength, know of her love for the Lord. 07:34 I wanted to know who's the guy that could... 07:38 that could marry an Ellen G. White. 07:41 And... and so I began studying the lives of the pioneers. 07:44 I read about Joseph Bates. 07:46 Read about James White. 07:47 Read about E. J. Waggoner. 07:50 Several books on Ellen White. 07:52 And I found out a number of things that these men and women 07:57 were men and women of like passion just like we were. 08:00 They had the same trials that we have, 08:03 the same struggles that we have. 08:05 Um, James White was an incredibly strong person. 08:09 We talk about Ellen White's three years of schooling... 08:11 well James White only had about 18 months of formal education. 08:16 And yet before he was done he edited the Adventist Review - 08:21 Review and Herald then - and taught high school. 08:24 He was a brilliant man. 08:25 Very strong-willed individual. 08:28 Very, very strong-willed individual 08:30 and had a penchant, interestingly enough, 08:34 for turning a buck. James White knew how to make money, 08:38 and he gave away tons of money 08:41 to the fledgling church. 08:44 But he could find money where no one else could find money. 08:46 There's an interesting story 08:48 where James White actually took Ellen White 08:51 on a cattle drive. He found... he found that you could buy 08:55 cattle in Abilene at one price, 08:58 herd them to Denver, and sell them for three times the money. 09:03 And he said: "Well the church could use that money. " 09:06 So he dragged Ellen White along on his cattle drive. 09:08 And she was fit to be tied. 09:11 You know that term? She just... 09:13 She said: "He's got me out here bouncing in this wagon 09:16 and bouncing up and down on these horses. " 09:18 And she wrote her son Willie and she said: 09:20 "I will never go on another one of these cockamamie 09:24 adventures with your father again. I'm not doing it. 09:28 I'm cooking for all these rough men. 09:29 You can't get a bath; you can't get a shower. 09:33 You're bouncing up and down in these dusty roads. " 09:36 She said: "This is the last time I go on one of these adventures 09:39 with your father. He can do it without me. 09:42 I should be out serving the Lord 09:44 and I'm bouncing up and down in the back of a wagon. 09:45 Not going to do it again. " 09:47 Uh, so they are people of like passions like we were 09:49 and they struggled to find the truth, 09:52 um, many many times in their lives. 09:55 You know Ellen White - bless her heart - had a penchant 09:57 for falling. Several times in her life 09:59 she fracture her ankle, broke her ankle, twisted her ankle. 10:03 Sometimes had to be carried. She would step out of a wagon 10:05 and hit a stone... down she would go. 10:07 She would miss her step and down she would go. 10:08 She would fall kind of a lot and she asked the Lord about that. 10:12 "Why am I on the ground so much? " 10:14 There was one time when the devil tried to kill them both 10:16 and flipped their buckboard over 10:18 and both of them went flying through the air. 10:20 And she says it was as though the angels put their hands 10:23 under us and we landed softly. 10:26 Praise God! 10:28 So I set that as a backdrop for what we are about to talk about 10:33 because God did not wrap 10:37 Adventist theology in a bow and give it to the church. 10:42 The church had to struggle - to dig deeply - 10:46 to find out truth. 10:48 And there were some times in that continuum of finding out 10:52 truth when they were wrong. 10:54 And they had to realize they were wrong, 10:57 correct their errors, and move on. 11:01 And I think that's a good message for us today. 11:03 Always be in the attitude of a learner. 11:07 You know, Adventists tend to hold their belief 11:10 very firmly. And you should! 11:11 You shouldn't be blow about by every wind of doctrine. 11:14 But by the same token the Bible says 11:17 always to "study to show yourself approved. " 11:21 Always be in the attitude of a learner... 11:24 of one who is ready to learn and accept new truth. 11:29 And so this is the background... the context for 11:33 what we want to talk about today 11:35 because our pioneers had adopted a theological stance 11:39 that really overemphasized... overemphasized 11:43 the position of obedience and law-keeping 11:47 as a way of righteousness. Now, 11:50 I say that they overemphasized the position. 11:54 We know and understand that Jesus says 11:58 "if you love Me... " do what? 12:00 "keep My commandments. " But He said: "If ye love Me... " 12:04 not just flat "keep My commandments. " 12:07 And sometimes in our past we have sort of 12:11 pushed the "If ye love Me" part aside 12:14 and just stumped on the "keep My commandments. " 12:17 And that was the position that many of our early 12:21 church fathers found themselves in. They were... 12:24 they were hammering on the law, the law, the law, the law 12:28 so much they forgot about the love part. 12:30 And love precedes law. 12:33 Amen? "If ye love Me, then keep. " 12:37 Because if you keep and don't love 12:39 well you've got a problem that we're going to talk about 12:41 uh, in just a little bit. 12:45 And so, ummm, they said "If you use your will, 12:51 if you just... " We had developed this theology 12:54 that said: "If you just work harder, 12:59 you can do it. " You know, if you're having 13:02 keeping the law, if you're having trouble serving the Lord, 13:04 just try harder. 13:06 Just... just try more and you'll be fine! 13:09 So we had moved into sort of a legalistic, work oriented 13:13 theology that said: "You've just go to try harder. 13:16 Just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and you'll be fine. " 13:19 And so beginning 1888... after... a little before 1888 13:23 and through the 90's just before Ellen White went off to 13:28 Avondale and Waggoner went off to London, 13:31 we began to swing the pendulum back to Christ... 13:35 to Christ as the center. 13:36 That righteousness is not just keeping... 13:39 righteousness is being. Righteousness is surrendering 13:42 to Christ and letting Christ live His life out through you. 13:46 And that the correct use of the will 13:48 is to... to surrender to Jesus Christ. 13:51 And so for the pioneers it was obedience. 13:54 For the reformers it was faith. 13:56 They assumed that if you kept the law 13:59 you'd just be fine. But then they found out 14:01 that it was not just law keeping it was surrendering 14:04 to Jesus that made one more and mostly like Christ. 14:09 So, you've got your papers in your hand 14:11 and you can follow along with me and, ummm, 14:15 this information will also be up on the screen. 14:17 Let's define the human will as defined in the 14:20 fifth volume of the Testimonies page 513. 14:29 So your will... your mind... is part of serving God. 14:34 And the Bible says: "Come let us reason together. " 14:38 Pure religion has to do with the will. 14:53 And forgive my typing, my finger slipped there. 14:55 That's away but it should be sway. 14:57 All right? 15:12 The will then is the mindset. 15:15 The will is the attitude that you have 15:19 toward the commandments of God and towards God Himself. 15:23 Suppose you got up this morning 15:26 and you said to yourself and to anyone who would hear 15:30 "Today I will not sin. " 15:35 Or better yet... "I will not to sin. 15:40 I WILL not to sin. " 15:42 How far do you think that'll get you? 15:47 Get out of your bed. Today's the day: 15:50 today I'm not going to sin. 15:53 How long do you think that'll last? 16:02 The very statement is presumptuous 16:06 and... and can be looked at as sin. 16:10 Because you're saying you're going to do something 16:12 that God said you can't do. 16:15 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing? 16:19 Not I. Not you. 16:24 John says - John 15:5- "Without Me 16:27 ye can do nothing. " 16:30 So your promise not to sin is going to last how long? 16:37 About as long as it takes to say it. 16:40 Or you get in your car and get on the road 16:43 in New York City or Atlanta or any other major city 16:46 and your promise is gone. 16:49 Amen? Some of you it doesn't last that long. 16:52 You try to find your car keys and you can't find them... 16:57 Promise gone. 16:59 Today I'm not going to think a bad thought 17:01 or do a bad thing. Last's about that long. 17:06 So our will is not enough. 17:09 We need to link ourselves - link our wills - 17:14 with Jesus Christ through surrender. 17:17 Now I'm going to make a statement and I'm going to 17:19 come back to it several times in the course of our discussion. 17:22 It is my settled belief from my research 17:26 that using the will 17:30 to not do a thing is the incorrect use of the will. 17:37 That's my belief... and I'll come back to that. 17:40 To try to use your will to stop doing something 17:43 is a wrong use of the will 17:47 because on some days 17:51 your biological functions will be stronger than your will 17:56 and you will have the ability through the force of will 17:59 to stop. Other days 18:02 your biology will be stronger than your will 18:06 and you will not... you will fail. 18:08 Some days you can just say: "I'm not going to smoke; 18:11 not doing it. " And some days the habit is stronger than you. 18:15 Amen? So... lasting success 18:20 which we call victory is not by force of will. 18:26 It comes from something else. 18:28 We're going to get back to that in just a little bit. 18:30 Let's look at this: 19:28 How in the world did a person with a third-grade education 19:32 know this stuff? 19:36 This is not human wisdom. 19:38 Certainly not for the time in which she lived. 19:41 It comes from God. 19:43 So she's saying that there is this automatic reaction 19:48 between your mind and your body. 19:50 And if you thing something's going to happen, 19:54 it's going to happen. 19:55 And if you plan in your mind for something to happen, 19:59 it's going to happen. 20:01 So you can affect the surroundings... 20:05 your surroundings by the use of the will and the mind. 20:09 We're going to talk about something a little bit later 20:10 about speaking positive all the time. 20:12 That's why I'm such a fan of Shelley Quinn's books 20:16 that say you need to affirm yourself in the Lord. 20:18 You know, you need to... you need to practice 20:20 speaking positive. You need to practice speaking 20:25 help and healing and hope into your life. 20:27 And when somebody... when someone says 20:29 "How are doing? " 20:31 don't tell them every ache, pain, itch, glitch 20:34 that you've got. Amen! Huh? 20:38 You know, if you see a person and every time you see them 20:42 they're plucking that same string, 20:45 "How're you doing? " "Oh, Lord... oh, just awful. 20:51 The world is awful and the people are awful 20:53 and the church is awful and my life is awful. " 20:57 Ellen White says "talk positive. " 21:00 Sure you've got problems... but know what else you've got? 21:04 You've got Jesus. Amen? 21:07 Amen? Amen. So speak positively. 21:11 We'll come back to that in just a little bit. 21:13 And as you... as you speak, so your life goes. 21:17 It's a proven fact. 21:20 We're on disease now. 21:58 Now, she's not talking about denying the truth. 22:02 If you've... if you've got the measles, 22:05 you've got to accept the fact that you've got the measles 22:08 and get help for the measles. 22:11 Amen. But while you've got the measles 22:14 you can speak positively and think positively 22:17 and act positively and live positively. Amen? Amen! 22:55 God wants you to be happy. 22:57 Doesn't He? You think God wants you to be sad? 23:00 Do you think God wants you to be miserable? 23:03 No He doesn't. He wants you to be happy. 23:06 He wants you to be well and happy. 23:19 You can do things to help yourself. 23:22 Exercise is medicine. 23:25 Exercise is medicine. 23:29 And you don't have to kill yourself. 23:31 You don't have to drive yourself crazy. 23:33 Don't park your car closest to the door of the mall. 23:41 You know, in New York I had a neighbor that lived next to me 23:44 who would get in his car, drive to the end of the block, 23:48 pick up his newspaper, 23:50 get in his car, and drive back home. 23:54 One block. In fact, not even a full block 23:56 because he lived in the middle of the block. 23:58 Drive to the end of the block... pick up his newspaper. 24:00 Heat up that car... burn that gas, 24:02 waste all that time to drive to pick up a newspaper 24:06 and turn around and drive back home. 24:08 So make a little game with yourself. 24:11 Park your car on the far side of the lot - 24:14 Amen? - and walk to the store. Praise the Lord! 24:20 In fact, it will save you a lot of aggravation. 24:22 I remember I bought a car some time ago 24:25 and I was... in that mindset I was going into Radio Shack. 24:29 And I jammed it into a little space 24:32 and a lady got out next to me and she banged it. 24:36 And I... I could feel the dent! 24:38 I knew the dent was there. 24:40 And my blood pressure is rising... you know... 24:44 'cause I know the dent is there. And sure enough, 24:46 there was a dent. 24:48 Nothing I could do, you know. 24:50 Had I parked far away, I probably wouldn't have had 24:52 that problem. Oh, let me tell you something a little cute. 24:54 I was in Panama last year visiting my wife's parents. 24:58 They were all in the... in the mall. 25:02 I didn't feel like walking through the mall so I'm 25:03 in the car. We had rented this little minibus because 25:06 my wife, the kids, grandkids... 25:08 all of us jammed into the little minibus. 25:10 And I'm waiting in the car, 25:11 and someone gets out of the car next door and they 25:14 bang the side of the car. 25:15 Not once... a bunch of times. Bang! Bang! 25:19 Bang! Bang! Bang! 25:21 Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! 25:23 And I'm sitting there. Each bang I'm saying 25:25 you know when you take a rent-a-car back, 25:26 they walk around the car and they check for every dent. 25:29 And every time I heard Bang! I hear ching, 25:32 cha-ching, cha-ching. See? And I'm sitting there like 25:37 and I said: "I can't take it any more. " 25:38 So I got out and I walked around the car. 25:40 There was a lady sitting in the car - she was half-asleep - 25:42 and her child was just banging the car door. 25:44 As I began to speak, my eye caught a bumper sticker 25:48 in Panama on the back of the car. 25:51 You know what the bumper sticker said? 25:52 3ABN. 25:55 What are you going to say? 26:00 What are you going to say 26:02 but "God bless you? " 26:06 But praise the Lord it knocked some dust off 26:09 but it didn't dent the car too bad. So God was good. 26:12 So when I saw the 3ABN I froze in my tracks. 26:15 Nothing I could say but wish them well. 26:17 And worse... she recognized me! 26:20 What are you going to say? 26:24 God bless you. 26:33 Let's go down to sin. 26:57 Satan can't force you. 27:01 He can back you in a corner. I remember there was a comedian 27:03 years ago. He said: "The devil made me do it. " 27:06 The devil doesn't make you do anything. 27:08 He can entice you. He can use peer pressure. 27:12 He can use trickery. In fact, 27:14 Satan can use 1,001 methodologies 27:18 that God cannot use. 27:21 All God has is love. 27:24 That's the only weapon He has. 27:26 And Satan can use so many other weapons but he cannot force you 27:30 to sin. You've got to make that decision 27:34 under pressure to sin. 27:48 And that's why preachers have to preach so hard. 27:49 If sin looked bad, smelled bad, and tasted bad, 27:54 we wouldn't have to preach so hard. 27:57 Amen? Amen. But the problem is it looks good, 28:00 smells good and tastes good. But beneath 28:05 the veneer... I was going to say it's like eating at a certain 28:08 fast food restaurant, but I'd better not mention that. 28:10 I may get into trouble. 28:12 But if you eat junk food all of the time, 28:17 junk in and junk out. 28:20 I had a preacher say once: "If you eat fat, greasy food 28:24 you become a fat, greasy dude. " 28:33 So Satan makes it look good. 28:35 Loads it with sugar, fat, and calories and we think it's good. 28:40 That's why we've got to preach so hard against it. 28:42 But the end thereof are the ways of? Death. 28:45 "There's a way that seemeth right unto a man... " 28:49 but when you scratch beneath the surface it's death. 28:53 And so he can't force you to do it. 28:54 He can shine the bright lights in your eyes. 28:57 He can do all of those kinds of things 28:59 but you've got to decide. Amen? 29:04 Amen. You've got to decide to do it. 29:06 I met a sister here from Las Vegas. 29:09 I used to hear what can come out of a city like Las Vegas? 29:13 You know a couple years ago in Las Vegas 29:15 a certain church baptized... oh, I think they had about 29:18 140 baptisms that year. 29:22 And I think somewhere between 50 and 60 of those people 29:26 came to the Lord through watching 3ABN 29:28 and just walked into the church ready for baptism. 29:33 Didn't need studies... didn't need anything. 29:35 Ready to go! So even in a place like Las Vegas - 29:39 any of these big cities, small towns, anywhere - 29:41 Jesus can lift up His standard against the enemy. 29:44 You've got to decide to turn your back on Jesus 29:48 and accept the call of Satan. 29:50 He cannot force you to do anything. 29:53 And Ellen White says in the book Desire of Ages, 29:55 she says: "the weakest Christian... " 29:58 Who's the weakest Christian in here? 30:06 "when he calls upon the name of Jesus 30:10 is more than a match for the hosts of Satan. " 30:14 Amen? 30:16 You've got an army behind you that's ready to fight for you. 30:21 Amen? 30:22 You don't have to waste time shadowboxing with the devil. 30:25 Get your big brother. 30:28 Tell Jesus: "You'd better leave me alone. " 30:32 Or rather, tell Satan. 30:34 Tell Satan "you'd better leave me alone 30:37 'cause I've got somebody behind me that'll beat you up. " 30:42 Fight my battles for me. Amen? 30:44 And so you've got to turn your will over to him 30:50 in order to sin. He cannot make you sin. 30:53 Not at all. 30:58 Um, let me go back to this. 31:10 He just gives you Sabbathitis. 31:18 I found there is a disease called Sabbathitis: 31:22 inflammation of the Sabbath. 31:25 You wake up Sabbath morning... you have aches and pains, 31:27 Matthew, you never had before in your life. 31:32 You went to bed fine Friday night. 31:34 Sabbath morning... stuff hurts. 31:37 Where'd that come from? 31:41 And so you decide maybe I'll go back to bed. 31:46 So you go back to bed with a headache 31:50 or a foot ache or a toe ache or a backache 31:52 or a fingernail ache. 31:56 And you know when that ache stops? 32:00 About 1 o'clock. 32:04 Yeah. When church is over and your blessing is gone, 32:08 you feel fine. 32:10 That's Sabbathitis. 32:11 He got you to stay home. 32:14 Now, had you come to church - 32:17 Amen! - fought through that pain, 32:21 God would have seen to it that you got your blessing 32:25 and the pain probably would have gone away anyway. 32:29 These little annoyances... it's just Sabbathitis. 32:32 It's Satan trying to keep you home - 32:34 huh? - and have you miss your blessing. 32:39 So he doesn't force you to stay away from church... 32:42 he just provides a little temptation, a little motivation. 32:45 And you miss a little this, you miss a little that 32:48 and you don't know it but imperceptibly 32:51 your strength and power are diminishing. 32:55 You know the Sabbath we were having that discussion about 32:58 who's going to be the greatest? 33:00 And a long comes a little demon-possessed boy 33:02 and they try to cast him out and they can't do it. 33:04 They did not know that they'd lost the presence 33:07 and power of the Holy Spirit. 33:09 You've got to stay in constant communication and contact 33:12 with the Lord. Amen? 33:14 So he doesn't force you to do anything, 33:17 but he is a master of temptation 33:21 and dissuasion. 33:23 You can accept or you can refuse. 33:28 And failure is so sad because all of the power 33:34 of heaven is available just to give you success. 33:38 Jesus died to give you success. 33:43 He lives to give you success. 33:47 He ministers before His Father to give you success 33:53 and victory. And we serve a God who can do anything 33:57 but fail. Amen? And Amen. 34:02 You need to drink daily at the fountain of what? 34:05 Truth. Daily... every single day. 34:08 Read, study, pray every day... 34:22 We can do things to strengthen our will 34:26 or do things to weaken our will. 34:29 Amen? Yeah, you can! 34:32 You can do things. You can eat things. 34:35 Take things into your body that strengthen or weaken your will. 34:38 Excessive sugar intake weakens your will. 34:42 It does! We've got to be very, very, very careful. 34:47 You know, another time she says the will is not the taste 34:49 or inclination. You can manipulate your taste 34:51 and inclination. I used to be a sugar-holic. 34:56 Loved sugar. Couldn't get enough doughnuts. 34:59 Couldn't get enough... I liked my drinks 35:01 really, really sweet. 35:04 I went out to eat in the valley a couple years ago 35:06 and I've educated my taste. 35:11 And you can do that... You can... you can train yourself 35:15 and... and educate yourself. And by little actions 35:20 of the will... I didn't think I could eat two meals a day 35:22 and stop eating at 2, 3 o'clock in the afternoon. 35:25 Went out to eat in the valley and that's what we did. 35:29 It ain't so bad. 35:32 Amen? Amen. Train yourself. 35:35 Educate yourself. Fight... win the little battles 35:38 and then move on to the big battles. 35:40 So now I don't like all those sweet things. 35:42 Just... just don't any more. 35:44 Ummm, ummm... and it's better for you 35:47 not to be pumping all that sugar through your body. 36:28 You see, the principle of God's government is freedom. 36:30 He's not going to force you to do anything. 37:03 Amen? Amen. Go with me if you will to Romans chapter 7 37:06 and verse 14. Let me find that really fast. 37:09 Romans 7:14. 37:19 Romans 7 and 14. 37:23 Look at this: "So we know that the law is spiritual 37:26 but I am carnal, sold unto sin. 37:29 For what I am doing I do not understand. 37:31 For what I will to do, that I do not practice 37:34 but what I hate... that I do. 37:36 If then I do that what I will not to do, 37:39 I agree with the law that it is good 37:43 but now it is no longer I who do it 37:45 but sin that dwells in me. 37:47 For I know that in me... that is, in my flesh... 37:51 nothing good dwells. 37:53 For to will is present with me 37:55 but how to perform what is good 37:58 I do not find. 38:00 For the good that I will to do I do not do 38:03 but the evil I will not to do 38:06 that I practice. 38:09 Now if I do what I will not to do 38:13 it is no longer I who do it 38:16 but sin that dwells in me. " 38:21 Paul gives us the basic premise, 38:24 the basic battle that we are fighting. 38:28 Those things I want to do that are good... 38:32 somehow can't find time to do them. 38:36 Those things that I know I should not do 38:39 that are evil and I should stay away from them 38:42 those are the things that I do. 38:45 The law is good; I am not. So how do I a sinner 38:49 serve a righteous God and become righteous? 38:52 As I said before, it is my belief 38:56 that the negative use of the will is incorrect. 39:01 If you are thinking or trying to get the victory 39:07 over lust, 39:11 you can sit and say: "Today 39:15 I will not think about this particular person. " 39:22 So you concentrate on not thinking about that person. 39:29 So in your concentrating about not thinking 39:32 about that person, you are in effect 39:36 thinking about that person, are you not? 39:40 You are thinking about not thinking about that person. 39:44 And to think about not thinking about a person 39:48 is thinking about the person. 39:50 You are always stuck at that person. 39:54 So you're trying to use your will to not think about a person 39:58 who you are thinking about not thinking about... 40:04 and in effect thinking about them. 40:06 So how do you really not think about them? 40:12 By thinking about something else. 40:16 Amen? Amen. So you take your mind off of not thinking about 40:21 them and put your mind on Jesus. 40:27 I'm not going to not think about her. 40:30 I am going to think about Jesus. 40:34 And as I concentrate on Jesus, 40:37 through the act of grace 40:41 Christ imparts in me a strength 40:44 to keep focused on Him. 40:48 Amen? You see, even those victories you get 40:53 without the aid of Christ don't count for anything. 40:58 That's legalism. 41:01 If I could get to heaven by sheer force of the will, 41:06 that makes Christ's death unnecessary. 41:12 Amen? If I could just work my way into righteousness, 41:16 if I could just pull myself up by my bootstraps 41:19 and cease and desist from sinning by my own force of will, 41:24 then what did Jesus die for? 41:27 Huh? 41:31 But that kind of righteousness is the righteousness of 41:35 the scribes and Pharisees. 41:37 I don't do this, I don't do that. 41:39 I don't do that; I don't do that; I don't do that. 41:42 I don't do that and I certainly don't do that. 41:45 You don't get credit with God for that. 41:48 You get credit with God 41:53 by loving Jesus and surrendering to Jesus 41:58 and allowing Jesus to work out His will through you. 42:04 So now when you get victory you not only stop 42:08 doing that thing, you lose the taste for that thing. 42:14 Amen? And the inclination towards that thing. 42:19 And the stain of that thing 42:24 is taken away from you and cast into the depths of the sea 42:29 so it no longer controls you at all. 42:33 It doesn't control your past; it doesn't control your present; 42:38 and it has no effect on your future. 42:41 That's why the Bible says "there is now therefore 42:44 NO condemnation 42:47 to those who are in Christ Jesus. " Amen? 42:52 That's true victory. 42:55 If I stop smoking today, 42:58 I'm fine from today on. 43:00 What about all those years I smoked in the past? 43:03 Who's going to get rid of that? 43:07 Brother Christ has got to take care of that. 43:08 So to stop doing the thing is not enough. 43:12 You've got to get victory over it. 43:14 That means you've got to get victory over past sins, 43:17 and that's only done through the blood of Jesus. Amen? 43:21 So the victory... the victory is not in using your will 43:26 to stop, it's in using your will to surrender to Jesus Christ. 43:30 Is that clear? I'm kind of begging that point. 43:32 Begging that point because it's important 43:35 in our striving for righteousness. 43:39 Now, let's go into it a little further. 43:59 So do you have to wait for something to come in the mail? 44:02 Un-uh... The moment you surrender. 44:05 You see, He's waiting on you to say "I surrender. " 44:10 "Lord, I can't beat this thing; I can't fight this thing. " 44:15 "I need You to work in me to give me victory. " 44:19 You know how long it takes God to answer that prayer? 44:23 The moment it's formulated in your mind 44:25 before it comes out of your mouth, it's answered. 44:28 Amen? Immediately God's going to do that for you! 44:32 "You cannot control your impulses. " 44:35 And I did a little dictionary search on the word impulse 44:39 just to find out what Ellen White is talking about. 44:43 The dictionary describes an impulse as a sudden, strong 44:46 and unreflective urge or desire to act. 44:51 The key word there is unreflective. 44:53 An impulse is something you don't think about... 44:55 you just do. 44:58 Uh-huh... Driving along... 45:00 somebody cuts in front of you. 45:02 Impulse. 45:07 Impulse. 45:09 Or you go to work. You're having a bad day 45:11 and you're not in the mood and someone says: 45:14 "How you doing, ugly? " 45:17 And they're just playing. 45:19 You know... Yesterday that would have been funny. 45:22 Today it's not. 45:26 And the day that you don't need it, guess what? 45:29 That's the day you get it. 45:31 Yeah. Or you go to church and you're kind of in one of those 45:36 it can go either way and you greet somebody 45:40 and they don't quite give you the greeting 45:43 that you think you should get. 45:46 Impulse. 45:48 Um-hmm. 45:51 You can get so close to Jesus through surrender 45:56 that even those impulses are surrendered to Him. 46:01 You know, even those things that come up real fast. 46:03 Ellen White says sometimes you cannot control a thought 46:05 from gettin' there but you can control it from staying there. 46:11 Sometimes something happens and you get something real fast. 46:13 And you can get to the point where even those little impulses 46:17 are surrendered to Jesus. 46:18 Where He controls not only your mouth 46:21 but also your mind. 46:23 You don't even think about saying it 46:27 and you certainly don't say it. 46:29 Amen? Had a conference president - bless his heart - 46:33 bought a brand new car and came down one morning 46:37 and all four doors were gone. 46:41 All four doors. 46:43 Somebody needed some doors, and they took all four doors. 46:46 And he went upstairs... he happened to play the piano... 46:49 he went upstairs and just began to play Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me. 46:53 He just played. His wife came and said: 46:56 "Why are you playing the piano? 46:58 Shouldn't you be at work? " 46:59 He just pointed to the window. 47:02 So she went over there and looked and screamed: "AAAH! " 47:06 And he said: "It's all right. " 47:09 Just played Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me... 47:11 "Call the insurance company. " 47:13 You can get so close to Jesus 47:15 that even those things that would make you 47:18 pull your hair out... you can handle them 47:22 because Christ is in your life. 47:24 Wouldn't you like that kind of peace 47:26 where you can go to bed at night and sleep 47:28 and... and shut down the cares of the world 47:31 because... because... because your life is hid in Jesus 47:35 and nothing can offend you? 47:38 I'm determined there's no one in the world 47:43 who can push, pull, drag me 47:46 out of the Seventh-day Adventist church. 47:48 There's nothing you can say, nothing you can do, 47:52 that would make me leave the Seventh-day Adventist church. 47:56 It... it's settled for me. 47:59 Amen? It's settled! 48:01 There's no issue for me any more. 48:03 It's settled in my mind and I've got peace about that. 48:08 I've search all of the other religions, 48:11 and I have thoroughly searched my own. 48:13 And this is it, ladies and gentlemen. 48:15 Amen! That's settled. 48:17 And so I can come to church 48:19 and the whole church can turn their back and not say anything. 48:22 I wouldn't like it, but I'll be just fine. 48:27 Just fine. You know, all my years of pastoring 48:30 I had a member say once to me... 48:35 She said: "God has put me here to keep you in line. " 48:44 She said: "That's my job: 48:47 to keep all pastors in line 48:49 and I've got my eye on you. " 48:51 Said: "I'm going to keep you in line. " 48:53 You know what I told her? 48:55 "Praise God! 48:57 I'm going to keep you busy. " 49:05 It's settled for me! I'm staying. 49:08 Amen? Amen! I'm in! 49:10 Staying in because this is where God is. 49:15 OK. Let's go down. 49:16 "Talk faith... " I'm down two paragraphs. 49:19 Let's go back up. 49:21 Go back one paragraph. I'm in the section that says 49:23 I'm given to Christ on the second page. 49:30 There's a great little text: Hebrews chapter 13 verses 5-6. 49:33 Says among other things, one: 49:36 He'll never leave you nor forsake you. 49:39 That's good news! 49:40 Then it says... then it says... it says: 49:45 So we can boldly say... "We can boldly say: 49:50 God is my helper, 49:53 what can man do to me? " 49:56 Amen? That's a bold statement. 49:59 I can... I can say it: "GOD is my helper 50:02 and man cannot hurt me. " 50:04 Amen? Had a person say to me once - 50:06 only happened once in my life, I've said this before - 50:09 She said: "Pastor Murray, I don't like you. " 50:16 She said: "You haven't done anything for me. 50:18 You haven't said anything to me. 50:22 I just don't like you... I don't like you. " 50:26 In fact, what she said was: "Oooh, I don't like you! " 50:32 True story. Said: "I just... " 50:34 like something was crawling on her. 50:36 "I just... I don't like you. " 50:40 Well what do you say? 50:42 God bless you. 50:43 There's nothing you can do. 50:45 You can't cry. 50:47 You can't let persons rent space inside your brain. 50:49 You just... you just... you just give it to Jesus. 50:52 Amen? You know, the Bible says: "When a man's ways please 50:56 God he causes even his enemies to be at peace with him. " 51:01 So just keep following Jesus. 51:04 You can't please the world. 51:08 You've got to spend your time pleasing God. 51:12 So "talk faith, " she says. Say "I will believe. " 51:16 Claim the promises of God. 51:30 "It will take at times every particle of will power 51:35 which you possess: but it is God that is working 51:40 for you, and you will come forth from the molding process 51:45 a vessel unto honor. " 51:48 "Talk faith; keep on God's side of the line... " 52:02 "Your life will be noble. 52:04 Your works will be wrought in God. 52:06 There will be a power... " 52:09 Don't we need power in these last days? 52:20 Stop making excuses for failure 52:24 and don't do things that lead to failure. 52:29 There's something I want to get to before we go. 52:33 I want to go over to Can Control Circumstances. 52:37 I need to get to that. 52:39 I see my time is slipping away but I want to get to this. 53:03 She's talking to a particular individual. 53:11 I want to say this to you: 53:13 If character were easy to get, 53:16 they would sell it at Wal-Mart. 53:20 Are you listening to me? 53:22 It's tough to get 53:25 but it is possible to get. 53:30 Don't be so quick to jump out of the frying pan. 53:38 Sometimes God's got you in there 53:43 because that's where you need to be. 53:48 Amen. I don't like working with them 53:52 so why am I next to them? 53:56 Because God wants you there. 53:59 Because just because you've got a problem with them 54:04 doesn't mean God's got a problem with them. 54:09 And they may be in your life 54:12 to work something out in you. 54:16 Amen. 54:18 So don't be so quick to jump 54:22 because God may be working something out. 54:27 Amen. 54:29 In you and in them. 54:33 So you need to pray and self-assess. 54:37 You know they say when you go to church there are two kinds 54:39 of people who bring two implements to church. 54:42 Some bring a rake and others bring a shovel. 54:47 The shovel folk are in church - 54:49 and every time you say "The church needs to get right 54:52 and people need to straighten up" 54:53 they'll say: "Amen, Pastor" 54:55 and they're shoveling it onto the person next to them. 54:57 "That's right, Pastor. That's right, you are right. 55:01 Preach it! " And they're shoveling it all around 55:03 and you need to bring a rake. 55:05 What do you do with a rake? 55:07 You bring it to yourself. 55:10 You bring it close to home. 55:12 So sometimes God puts us in circumstances 55:16 that are designed to develop our character 55:19 and to test our wills in Jesus Christ. 55:50 God has called us to put our wills 55:54 on the side of Jesus. 55:57 To not place ourselves on the enemy's ground. 56:01 To make no provision for the flesh 56:05 and when called upon to surrender our wills 56:09 to the power of Jesus Christ. 56:11 Ladies and gentlemen, we can have 56:13 victorious Christian living. 56:16 That is God's legacy for us. 56:19 That is His desire for us, 56:21 and we don't have to be defeated. 56:24 We don't have to be knocked down. 56:27 We don't have to be destroyed by the enemy. 56:30 We can be victorious in Jesus Christ 56:34 if we will. 56:37 Not by fighting sin. 56:40 Not by using our will to try to serve God 56:43 and keep the commandments 56:45 but by surrendering our wills to Jesus 56:49 and allowing Him to work out His life in us 56:54 and through us so that we can have complete victory 56:58 in this world and eternal joy in the world to come. 57:03 How many want that in their own lives? 57:04 How many really want to serve Jesus? 57:07 The secret is surrender. 57:10 Amen? Always has been... 57:13 is now, always will be. 57:16 The secret is still surrender. |
Revised 2014-12-17