The Goal of Our Warfare with Sin

Introduction: The Church as a Divinely Regulated Institution and the Manifesto Series

0:04 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, August 9th, 1992, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, very many of you sitting here this morning are aware that in this very place, just a little more than 24 hours ago, a large gathering of men and women witnessed the uniting in marriage of Mr. Robert Paul Martin and Miss Colleen Reynolds. And on that occasion, Pastor Lamar Martin, brother of the groom, preached the Word of God to us.

0:45 And in that preaching, he set before us very clearly, and we believe with the blessing of the Spirit of God, the fact that marriage is a... It is divinely planned, divinely initiated, and therefore a divinely structured institution.

1:05 And he unashamedly heralded from this pulpit the fact that marriage is not an accident along some so-called evolutionary line of development, but indeed marriage was conceived in the mind of God, came into human history by the creative hand of God, and is regulated by the authoritative, changeless Word of God.

1:34 And much in the same way, you and I must understand that the Church of Jesus Christ, in her design, in her establishment, in her institution and perpetuation, is likewise an institution to be regulated by its author. And therefore, in this year in which we are remembering the fact that we have been in existence as a church for 25 years, we are attempting to come back to those basic biblical precepts, those perspectives from the Word of God which have shaped and regulated our life together. And how have we attempted to do this? I answer by bringing a series...

2:27 a series of sermons entitled, A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church. And what have I attempted to do in that series of sermons? Well, I have attempted, by way of making certain fundamental affirmations, to capture those biblical truths which have, as I have already indicated, been the very lifeblood of our congregational experience. Where are we in the process of that manifesto and its unfolding?

The Ninth Affirmation: Warfare with Remaining Sin

3:03 Well, we are presently parked on the ninth affirmation, which I have stated as follows. We are determined to maintain a balanced New Testament perspective in our teaching and expectations concerning conversion, the Christian life, and the Christian faith. And the mission of the church. For a number of weeks, we have been focusing our attention exclusively upon the first aspect of this ninth affirmation, namely, the New Testament witness concerning conversion, its necessity, and its essential elements. We have discovered from the Scriptures, among other things, that essential to true business, biblical conversion is the impartation of a lifetime disposition of repentance and faith with its appropriate manifestation and fruits. And in the opening up of this biblical concept, I have set before you this proposition. In this matter of conversion,

4:25 in this whole issue of being turned from darkness to light and the power of Satan unto God, Scripture teaches what I am about to assert, that there is a radical break with the dominion of sin, followed by a continuous and real warfare with remaining sin, and the indispensable accompaniments and fruits of conversion. Now that the dominion of sin is radically broken in conversion, is taught in passages perhaps none clearer than Romans 6.14, Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. Since dominion is broken, we are ushered into a real perpetual warfare with remaining sin, is taught perhaps no more clearly than it is in Galatians 5.17.

5:42 The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary the one to the other, so that ye may not do the things that you would. There is a real, and a constant warfare. And we have sought to state from the Scriptures this truth, so that we might understand the reality of our own experience, that we might hopefully unmask the play actors among us, and the self-deceived, and that we might confirm and direct and encourage the true children of God.

Review of Motives and Introduction of the Goal of Warfare

6:26 Now in dealing with sin, in dealing with subject, that when sin's dominion is broken, it issues in a real and constant warfare with remaining sin, having established the fact of the warfare, last Lord's Day we dealt with the motives which constrain us in that warfare. I stated in your hearing, and I hope demonstrated from the Scriptures, as to the convincing of your judgment, that the motives which constrain us in this warfare are predominantly, though not exclusively, evangelical, and they are constantly, exclusively legal. And what I meant by all that, you can find out by getting the tape, I have no intention of giving a mini-sermon, or repeating last week's message. Suffice it to say that the picture of the Bible, when it takes up the warrior in sin's dominion, has been broken, and in whom there is a real and constant warfare with remaining sin, it's the picture of a soldier whose heart's affections are lashed to the cross of Christ,

7:54 whose primaries are derived from the marvelous truth, the Son of God who loved and gave Himself for me. His face is primarily heavenward, looking for the smile and the approbation of the captain of the host of the Lord, even Jesus Christ who bought Him with His blood, and His great desire is to know the smile of His Savior. His greatest dread is to incur His crown. But now not only is there in the life of the Christian warrior this matter of the motives which constrain him to fight, but this morning I want us to concentrate on a second aspect of this ongoing warfare with remaining sin, and it is this. Having seen that the motives which constrain us are primarily evil, the evangelical motives, consider with me this morning the goal which has captivated us in this warfare with remaining sin. We move from the motives which constrain us to engage in the warfare

9:21 to the goal which has captivated us in this warfare. As we wrestle, as we struggle, as we fight, as we contend with remaining sin, a reality I remind you that is present in every truly converted person, what is the goal that we have in view? Is it simply to incur a few wounds to prove that we are real Christians? Is it simply to brandish a sword to show that we know how to hold an instrument of battle?

The Goal: Total Destruction of All Active Remaining Sin

10:02 What is the goal that has captivated in his warfare with remaining sin? Well, I believe that the Bible states that in all truly converted people the goal in this warfare with remaining sin is and if you are taking notes, this is the part you ought to write down, the action of all active restraint sin. The goal of remaining sin is nothing but all active restraint some sins. And remember what I am trying to do. Give the teaching of the Bible, pull the mask off hypocrites, put the mirror of the Word before the self-deceived

11:26 to confirm and encourage and direct the true people of God. Where do I get the notion and have the audacity to say that the goal which has captivated every true Christian soldier is nothing less than the total destruction of all sin? ...on five texts of Scripture.

Biblical Basis for Total Destruction of Sin (2 Corinthians 7:1)

11:55 Four from the New Testament and then one from the Old. Turn please to 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 7, chapter 7 and verse 1. After issuing a summons to break with all to be called an unequal yoke with unrighteousness and unrighteous men and women, any attempt to bring about a concord between Christ and Belial, half of a temple be a temple of God and another temple of idols. The apostle then encourages compliance with that teaching by setting forth a marvelous promise from the Old Testament, really two or three promises from the Old Testament. And then he says in chapter 7 and verse 1 of 2 Corinthians, having therefore these promises, beloved, in the light of these of the heart of God, to us in terms of high privilege, the privilege of knowing God,

13:20 experientially as our Father, and we to be His sons and His daughters, having therefore these promises, beloved, and the church would embarrass and shame the church of Christ, as members in good standing of the first church of Christ at Corinth. That is not what he wrote. He wrote in much more radical language, having therefore these promises, beloved, the assumption being that in the heart of a man or woman possessed with goths, the things to which he is now about to call them will not appear either radical, excessive, or overly demanding. Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves

14:41 in the moral, as revealed, let us cleanse ourselves from all these defiled of fleshy appetites that are inordinate in their desire and expression because of remaining sin. Sin does not have its resident in the molecules and in the atoms of the body. That is a pagan notion. But the Bible in its realism says that much of sin, which has its residence in the soul, expression through our bodily passions and appetites, let us cleanse ourselves from all of the flesh.

15:55 The kind of sinful defilement that comes from any fleshy appetite indulges from manifestations of sexual impurity to the more refined manifestations of the overindulgence of food or of drink, whatever is a fleshy He says, let us cleanse ourselves from what is the goal. It is the destruction of all defilement of the flesh, but also not only of the flesh but of the spirit. Those sins that never find expression in your fingertips, never find expression in your tongue, never find expression in your eyeballs, never find expression in your feet, never find expression in your sexual organs, they all operate in the realm of the human spirit. That intangible, non-material which can boil with anger while our face smiles sweetly, saying,

17:21 how do you do? That part that can see demonic-like jealousy while all the while the lips and the eyes say, I'm so glad for the good gifts you have and the good things God has given. Defilement of the spirit, jealousy, anger, lust, pride, with the fawning look of humility on the face and in the posture of the body, whereas if the state of the spirit affected the body, it would be blown up to the size of the Goodyear blimp. Defilement of the spirit, of the inner life, selfish, selfless thought, where jealousy and anger and envy and pride and resentment, those sins of the spirit and in the light of God's gracious promises of gracious gospel privileges,

18:47 caution of all of his sins. The flesh, the spirit, perfecting, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. In other words, determined that he will deal with every fleshly defilement known to the eye of God. He will deal with every spirit defilement known to the eye of God and he doesn't care if no human eye ever sees the defilement of the flesh. If any human ear is ever aware of the defilement of his spirit and if that verse does not teach that that is the thing to which we are called and for which gospel motives are to arm us, you tell me what the verse teaches. And as I have been saying in these weeks,

20:14 no one is in a fornication, but some of you are tolerating it by letting your eye google the gene ads on the television that are pornographic in nature. That's reality! Instruments to that defilement of the flesh and of the spirit. You're really not doing anything about the matter of your unregulated, intemperate spirit that causes you to blow your cork every time the whole world doesn't dance exactly to the tune and to the beat of the way you would orchestrate it. You really don't believe that your gluttony is a defilement of the flesh and driving every single biblical instrument to its destruction. You really don't believe that this is the thing

21:42 to which you're called. But I say it is. And if you go on with indifference to God's standard, I ask you on what biblical grounds do you have any claim that you're really in the battle? If you set your own battle standards, and your own battle plans, and your own battle objectives, you may be in somebody else's army other than the one you think you're in.

Biblical Basis for Total Destruction of Sin (Colossians 3:5)

22:09 Because if you've been conscripted by grace into the army of Christ, He calls you and He calls me to the totion of all sin, all defilement of flesh and of spirit. Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. This marvelous chapter in which we are again introduced with our gospel privileges.

22:46 We are raised with Christ. The very Christ to whom we are united will one day be manifested in glory and we will be manifested with Him. Our call to duty is couched in the affirmation of our privilege. What some of the not so old writers but writers of the Bible of recent days have said God's great indicatives underscore His imperatives.

23:11 That is what God says is true of us becomes the basis of what He says ought to be true of us. Verse 5 moves then from the indicative to the imperative. Put to death therefore in the light of who and what you are as one united to Christ raised from the dead seated with Christ in the presence of the Holy Spirit in the presence of the Holy Spirit in the presence of the Holy Spirit in the presence of the Holy Spirit in the presence of the Holy Spirit in the presence seated with Christ seated with Christ waiting to be manifested waiting to be manifested with Christ in glory in glory at His coming. Put to death therefore your members your members which are upon the earth which are upon the earth fornication fornication uncleanness uncleanness passion passion evil desire evil desire and covetousness and covetousness which is idolatry which is idolatry for which things sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience wherein ye also once walked now notice carefully do ye also put most of the grosser forms of them away do ye as you are converted so you can be recommended for membership in the church but do ye also of them most people who know enough of their Bibles to recognize the fruits of conversion will be convinced you got the real thing that is not what the text says

24:40 folks it says this but now do ye also put them all in this warfare we're not dealing with how that goal I mean how much in the question is what God makes us in the warfare all things that are put together anger one to another and mentions of the new man who has been put on God willing in the ministry of the word next week some of these aspects of truth will be expounded in your hearing but the point that I want to make and the passage

26:10 the part of the passage on which I want you to concentrate is this non-selective all to which we are called passage put vast majorities or forms not the ones that are easy not the ones that are in your home or your setting or in your culture are considered more vile and more gross no sinful anger when someone hinders you when someone violates you in a business deal but the anger when someone runs the stop sign and almost hits you put the anger away the anger that would make you stew and as my mother used to say to my father dad you don't need to cuss to cuss you know what minstrels are those are clever ways of cussing without cussing put it on speaking out of your mouth with your tongue and what is the bottom line Paul is saying

27:39 commit yourself to a goal which has as its conscious the total in this setting the sins that have to do with the unregulated human spirit and its manifestation with the lips and with the tongue witness number three first John chapter two and this is an amazing passage few of us who've been Christians for any length of time have found more verses more helpful to us than first John one nine I've often told people if you could wear out a verse or forfeit the right to claim a verse for overuse there's two verses I would have worn out and long since used up my claim over them one is in James one if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God and it shall be given him if ever was a place when God says claim that one one time too many sorry that's not for you I'm sure that'd be one of the verses that would have over it no longer for him and the second is first John one nine if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us

Biblical Basis for Total Destruction of Sin (1 John 2:1-3)

29:08 from all unrighteousness and there are times dear people when I have had to strengthen my own faith that I had not worn out my welcome to God in this verse I've literally had to open my Bible put my finger on it and say God this is what you said now I know God's not blind and doesn't need to be reminded but my faith needed the physical activity of actually putting my finger on the verse and saying God this is still a part of your word and I see no limitation when I've had to come and confess for a sin that I've confessed times I've not numbered and said oh God it seems too good to be true but this is your word and I hold you in faith to your word and while my sin has dishonored you my unbelief to believe in your readiness to forgive would be double dishonor I refuse to add sin to sin therefore oh Lord I do confess my sin I confess the elements of my confession that need to be washed in the blood and I know I should feel for my sin oh God forgive my hard heart that is suffused with my confession but oh Lord you've said if we confess and you haven't surrounded with a thousand conditions if we confess you are faithful

30:37 you are righteous to forgive and to cleanse from all unrighteousness now why did God write such a wonderful promise do we go out and say oh well we'll always forgive He's promised no just the opposite look at chapter 2 verse 1 remember when John wrote there were no chapter divisions my little children these things write I unto you that ye you see John understood the logic of grace as a truly converted man the logic of grace is this the more I understand the freeness of God's grace and forgiveness the more I want to be careful not to abuse it the more I understand the freeness of His heart the more I understand the thought of grieving His heart and so He said these wonderful things I've told you about the revelation of God in Christ you're not pinning your hopes on phantoms we've seen we've touched we've heard we've handled and He has come forth and has provided a way of righteous forgiveness so that God is still light and dark defiled polluted sinners can walk in light with a holy God in the context of cleansing blood I write

32:06 these things that sin will appear odious and displeasing God will be a frightening thought and where that's true the heart of a true believer made a war He says O Lord the goal of sin is the commitment in chapter 3 and verse 3 he begins by saying in verse 1 behold look in amazement the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God and we are that is our present status for this cause the world knows us not because it knew Him not it doesn't know the Father it doesn't know His offspring beloved now are we the children of God and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be but we know manifested we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is He's saying look we are already His children this is our status our status

33:35 will not be any better a billion years from now our condition is going to be a lot better but our status as sons will be exactly the same we are what that will mean in our actual condition has not yet been manifested you walk down the street and nobody goes look at Him you are wearing some kind of bizarre outfit suit 20 years out of style and got a funky haircut or something else but for the most part we don't have people given to that in this congregation you ladies you go to the supermarket and there there's no halo around your push cart in fact if you've got one of your kids sitting in it there's times you think there's horns in your push cart I'm sure nobody parts way and says look at the glow I don't have a clue who we are does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when He shall appear and the world will take note we'll be resplendent with all the glory of the glorified Christ we'll have bodies like unto His own glorious body radiant with spirits purged from all sin what marvelous prospects await us now what effect does that have on us well John says here it is verse 3

35:04 and take this seriously begin to purify themselves even as He is pure one out of hundreds of super duper dedicated Christians that isn't what my Bible says you look at your Bible what's it say every one that hath this hope every single one that hath this hope this hope pure set on the total destruction of every single sin as well as its positive counterpart that we're not touching on this morning the cultivation of every Christ like grace and there's only two kinds of people in the world according to the next verse look at the next verse every one who doeth sin doeth also lawlessness there's only two kinds of people those who with the glow of their future glory in their eyes are set in sin and those that are practicing sin and John with his constant black and white no middle ground antithesis

36:33 sets another one before us which category are you in this morning sitting right where you are is your heart set on the destruction of every single sin in your life is it here at three o'clock this afternoon and there would be the voice of the archangel in the trump of God the burden of proof is on you to show that here and now you are set upon the destruction of every sin in your life that hath this hope himself not some standard that will make him acceptable to the religious community but his standard is to be pure as he is pure I didn't say his attainment I said it's his goal and his standard now is that a description of you if not friend you better start getting out of your never never land of self-deception you have no

38:01 biblical grounds according to this passage to be naming the name of Christ you see it's been years and there's no discernible progress in dealing with your sins and you know it and you've been dealt with lovingly patiently you've been instructed in Sunday school you've been preached at preached to preached through preached around you've had regimens of pastoral counseling you've had your regular pastoral visits and there's no discernible progress in conformity to Jesus Christ you're putting to death your particular sins it's time you face the frightening reality you're probably lost and it's about time you faced it you're not fighting anything the only thing you're fighting is a little skirmish here or there to keep a respectable profession that's all but of the kind of fighting that Spurgeon spoke about one of the saints in the last four or five years he said that after all that he's done for us knows no one

39:29 else but himself and his country and his people and his people and his people and his people and his people and his people and his people and his the shutting of the gate, but not an hour before. Some of you are like seabirds, just flapping your pretty white wings of profession. You've got no creaking masts. You've got no corn sails to change the imagery. They're not from real bullets in your helmet. You come here every Sunday strutting in your parade blues like a marine, and your polished ornamental sword, but you've got no real sword with real nicks and real blood on it, because you're not in any real warfare. My friend, what more can we say to you than face up to

40:45 reality and have dealings with God? Because if you're converted, sin's dominion has been broken, and it's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone.

40:55 It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone.

The Danger of Selective or Partial Restraint of Sins (Matthew 23:25-26)

40:55 It's landed you in the realm of sin, who have a real and a constant warfare with remaining sin. And while gospel motives are paramount in that warfare, though not exclusive, the goal that has captivated us is the goal of the total destruction of all. There are other passages we could look at, but in the interest of time, I want us to spend just a few moments. On the last part of my assertion, I said, and never the selective or partial restraint of some sins. The goal of the Christian warrior is never restraint of some sins. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, I want you to see it in Scripture. Turn to Matthew 23. Seeking

41:59 to demonstrate from the Word of God that this is not some modern-day adaptation of a Puritan standard of conversion that goes beyond the Bible and Irish. I resent it if anyone should think that. And I resent it because it shows an arrogance before the face of God, not because it's rejecting what I say. Proverbs, I'm sorry, Matthew chapter 23. This is what I mean when I say the goal which captivates us is the total destruction of all sin and never the selective or partial restraint of some sins. This is what I mean when I say to the world, when I say that I the most vivid description I know in the Bible of what a partial and selective restraint of some sins means. Matthew 23 and verse 25. Woe to the Pharisees' hypocrites! For ye

43:11 cleansed. They were concerned about sin and being clean. For the 입 yıl silent disobedient Excellentart. It means they were very selective in what they were going to cleanse. For ye cleansed cleanse yeans the egg of the cup distortion and excess thou blind pharisee cleanse for that may become clean also you see the picture you're having special guests and mama takes down her special

44:14 dishes and plates that she uses only for special guests and the meal has been served and you know that after the meal those dishes are cleaned they're put back into the hutch the showcase hutch with the nice glass and the light shining down and you know exactly where those plates the serving dishes and the cups go they go up on the second to the last and the last shelf in that hutch and they're up at such an angle that only one of those dudes who played on the dream team could ever from their knowledge vantage point, look down into them. Everyone who sees them, who's of ordinary height, can only see the outside of the cup and of the platter. So the dishes are cleared. Mom and Dad want to visit with the special guest, and you're old enough and responsible enough to be able to wash those dishes, and they don't let you put them in the dishwasher because they have some real gold edging, and they know that that can get, by the heat and by the strong detergent, worn away. So these are

45:30 done in just tepid water with a very soft cloth, and Mama's taught you just how to do it. And so Mom and Daddy are in visiting with the relatives, and you're cleaning that very special set of dishes. And what do you do? Well, you take the platter that had the beans, and on the inside there's some butter and a little bit of flour. You take the platter that had the beans, and you roll it in the dishes. And you're cleaning that very special set of dishes. And what do you and a few little bits of pieces of beans left. But you say, well, when it's up in the shelf, nobody's going to see the inside.

46:00 So you very selectively take the very soft cloth and the very mild detergent, and you very carefully cleanse the outside of that serving dish of the beans. And then you dry it, and oh, it just sparkles. And then you very carefully carry it in, put it up on the top shelf where Mama always puts it, and you stand back, and there it is. It glistens. It looks beautiful.

46:22 And then you do the same with another dish. And then you take the cups that were used for coffee after dinner and do the same thing. And Mother comes by, and she says, Honey, you did a beautiful job. Why, the cups and the platters and the serving dishes sparkle.

46:45 Nothing is said. Weeks pass. Several months pass. But then special guests come.

46:53 And now it's time for Mama to serve special meals. A special meal to special guests.

47:00 And the guests are there, meals just about prepared, and because they have little children who are running around, and she doesn't want to tempt the children to reach up and destroy some of her special heirloom fine ware, she waits to set the table just before the meal.

47:21 Now the moment of truth has come. And when Mama reaches up to get the serving dish for the beans and brings it down, she gasps, and she says, Inwardly, the little bits of bean have all dried up, and they smell, and they're caked on the side, and Mama almost barfs in the bowl.

47:46 And she goes to take down the cups, the coffee cups, and there's grungy, dried-up coffee with bits of grungy, dried-up cream and a bit of sugar hardened on the bottom. I hope I'm not destroying your meal. I hope I'm not destroying your meal for this afternoon. But I'm not adding anything to what Jesus said.

48:10 Ye cleanse!

48:22 He said you are selective in your cleansing process. You leave the inside uncleansed. That's what Jesus is talking about. And what I'm saying is this, that the goal that has captivated every true Christian in his warfare with remainings is a goal that means to destroy destroy destroy and be seen and be inward that only the dream team can see.

48:59 The tall ones, the tall one who looks down from heaven whose eyes behold the evil and the good. And the mark of a true warrior is his concern to scowl about the inside of the cup as he is the outside because his great concern is not the acceptability of his profession before men but the reality of his walk before God. And that's precisely what's wrong with the religion of some of you in this place. I fear. I fear. I fear.

49:51 I fear.

49:54 With judgment.

50:19 Sin.

50:26 Ashamed before the whole world. Vindicate me in the day of judgment and vice versa. If I can gain the approbation of the whole world. I shine.

50:46 And my but have gone up in the day of judgment. What will it do to have the whole world? But ah, he was a shining, cleansed one when God says he's a filthy one who was never cleansed inwardly. That's the problem with some of you.

51:10 You've not come to that place. You've not come to that place where this has become the goal race of I mean by selective and partial restraints of some sins. Owen saw it in his day. He wrote about it.

Owen on Mortification and Concluding Exhortation

51:44 He said to mortify a sin is not to kill it. To root it out and destroy it. That it should have no more hold or residence in our hearts. It is true is what this is not.

52:06 What is to be accomplished in this life. There is no man that truly sets himself to mortify any sin. But he aims at, intends, and desires utter destruction. That it should have neither root nor fruit in his heart.

52:31 That it should never move or stir anymore to eternity. It's non-being is the thing he aims at. Thus, the old of the human heart, John Owen. Well, we've only considered this morning the goal which captivates us in the warfare.

53:00 And as I close this morning, I'll be asking you a couple of simple questions. Have I been describing you? Have I been describing from the word of God you? Not your wife.

53:16 Not your husband. Not your daughter. Not your son. Have I been describing you?

53:26 Can you be described as a man or a woman who armed primarily though not exclusively and impelled predominantly by gospel motives? The mighty Matterhorn of the cross. The mighty McKinley of Christ enthroned. The mighty Mount Hood of the indwelling of the spirit, the imagery of last week.

53:53 Who impelled and driven by gospel motives is a real warrior with remaining sin. One whose goal is the destruction of all of your sins. Is that a description of you? If not, why not? What sin cost Christ less than the spilling of his blood? What sin cost him less than abandonment by his Father? What sin cost him less than the pangs of forsakenness that rung from his heart the cry of dereliction? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

54:56 If not, why not? Have you succumbed to the world's notions? Well, there are sins and sins. Or maybe you're an incipient Roman Catholic.

55:08 You've got your venial sins. You've got your mortal sins. But tell me, what in your Bible has ever led you to believe you can name the name of Christ and have any other gold in this battle with remaining sin than its total destruction? Show me your verses. Show me your verses. Bring them forward now. Bring them forward in a way that you're convinced will stick in a day of judgment. All the equivocation and all the rationalization and all the hiding behind your hormones and your bad background and your dysfunctional family and this, that, and all this other nonsense.

55:59 Go ahead and tell God all about it and say, God, you really shouldn't have wrote this part of your word here. Every man that had this hope purifies himself if he had a good family background. But God, I had a rotten family background. I had no model of manhood in my dad.

56:17 I had no model of a manhood in my mother. My home was full of fire. God, you just didn't know me when you wrote that. If you think you'll get away with that nonsense, you deserve to be sent to hell. And if you won't get away with that nonsense in the day of judgment, you better stop it now and begin to be what you say you are. If you are united to Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, stirred by gospel motives, armed with the strength of Christ as we shall see in our next message, having looked from the word of God and seeing what it is in this warfare that is our motive, what is our goal. We're going to concentrate in one whole message on what is our strength. And when armed with gospel motives, and aiming at the destruction of sin, indwelt by the Holy Spirit,

57:14 surrounded by the impact of the intercession of the Son of God and the eternal purpose of the Father. Indeed, John can say, he who is born of God overcomes the world. Not some man is born of himself a wicked one, touches him not. That's what my Bible says. And it's time we started being honest with the word of God and stop denigrating the power of Christ's salvation. You don't need some new wrinkle to be uncovered in the latest book from Chuck Swindoll. And you don't need some new insight in a counseling session with any one of your elders, including this one. You either need to get converted, or if converted, you need to get rid of this pack of lies and self-justification and say, oh God, begin to make operative in me all the dynamics of your grace you've deposited that I will be to the praise of the glory of your grace and get on with it. Generate

58:26 Christians, live your living without one tenth the helps and the light we have. And I refuse to believe we've got such problems in the 20th century that that's the reason. Nonsense. I refuse to believe it.

58:41 We still have tons of common grace in our nation that existing nations right now don't have. And when this book was written in the first century it came to a society far more rotten than ours. And I don't find any excuses. I don't find put all this into place when after two or three centuries there's been a general elevating of the power and influence of the gospel upon society and common grace and that I don't find it because it's not here.

59:13 And how in the world is this hopelessly confused generation ever going to turn to the church and say the church is the answer? When they see the church morassed in the same messes and then borrowing the same answers that the world is found to be empty, dressed up with pseudo-Christian terminology. What a sham and a shame. May God help us dear people. May God help us. One of the saints sent a little incident and I close with this this morning. To underscore how real the battle is but how wonderful the triumph is in a true Christian. They were visiting a relative. I mean really

59:59 real old. Makes some of us look like kids. This relative is 95 years old. But this relative is in the battle.

60:09 And this is what she said to her nephew. Whatever sin comes into your life and comes between you and the Lord, get rid of it no matter what it takes. He goes on to say, I knew this was not mere rhetoric for she'd made a little confession to me earlier. Recently there had been a lady she knew that had been rude and irritating toward her. She said, I snapped kind of sharply at her in an unkind tone of voice. She went on to say that later she felt grieved about her unchristian speech. After making it right with the other lady she prayed the Lord would help her in the future to guard against becoming impatient with others and speaking unkindly. 95 years old and still fighting against indwelling sin and pressing on toward holiness.

61:01 No excuses. No pleading. No extenuating circumstances such as old age. Well it was a little sin or you know crankiness comes with being old. No holiness and obedience was just as vital and pressing as she draws near the end of her walk on the narrow way as it was when she first passed through the straight gate. For her the battle still goes on and even in the last few years of life she knows no bugle will sound retreat. No orders from the captain of her soul will say stand down from her watch against temptation and the risings of indwelling sin. It is a fight to the finish and she as any true follower of Christ would not have it any other.

61:55 You want to get to heaven like that 95 year old woman? You want an easier way? You'll have to make it. That's the only one God has made. God grant that we'll walk it until with her we wake up, look upon the face of Jesus to sin no more. Let's pray. Our Father we thank you for your holy word. We thank you for its sure and certain call to a life of holiness.

62:37 But we thank you that you are not like Pharaoh demanding that we make bricks while you give us no straw. But Lord you have given us more than enough in Christ to do and to be what you've called us to do and to be. Forgive our wretched unbelief. Forgive our Christ dishonoring justification of such a low standard of personal holiness. Forgive us Lord for all of our equivocations, all of our rationalizations, our imbibing of the world's notion of blame shifting. Blaming our genes, blaming our environment, blaming our heritage, blaming society. Oh God may we as a congregation be done with this wicked nonsense. And may we be a people who say regardless of what we have been in our past, regardless of what influences have been brought to bear upon us, we do believe your grace is sufficient for us and that your strength is made perfect in weakness. Come

63:41 by the Holy Ghost and oh God for those who have been for too long clever cleansers of the outside of the cup and the platter. Oh may they see themselves today and run to you for inward cleansing. And to the extent any of us who know you have indulged these things, God forgive us, have mercy on us, call us afresh to arms, fit us with the gospel motives, set the goal before our eye and give us in the strength of Christ the ability to do what we ought to do and to be what we ought to be. Hear then our cry and seal your word to our prophet. We plead in Jesus name. Amen.