Embracing Transformation: The Power of Regeneration

"well let's pray father thank you so much for these precious Believers Lord I missed seeing their faces and fellowshipping with them while we were gone in Missouri and yet Lord I'm grateful for the church up there and Lord all that you have uh helped sustain Clint through uh in the last four years or five years in that church and Lord just thankful for the solid witness they continue to be for your blessing son the Lord Jesus Christ and pray you'd be with them today be with the Saints at Faith Fellowship encourage their hearts uh father we just pray you'd be with our missionaries and different people on the field and people facing tough situations and needing great amounts of wisdom and Lord I pray you'd be with us here father we look to you for your hand to come and help us right now even in this hour that we might be more conformed to the image of Christ and and that we might have a mind that thinks more clearly about what you say in your word and so Lord we commit ourselves to you and ask for your help in Christ's name, amen." [00:00:48]

"so I'd ask you this what's something you wish you knew uh when you started in the spiritual realm not barbecue uh not woodworking but when you were first converted right however long ago that was you go back in time back then what's something you wish you wish you would have known you wish it would have been taught to you at an earlier age as a spiritual infant what comes to your mind just shout it out what's something that you think of yeah understanding the sovereignty of God that can be hard right some new Christians they might reject the sovereignty which isn't right or some embrace it too much to the point where they become what's called hyper calvinistic so getting a right balanced view of God's Sovereign control over all things what else the truth knowing the truth and what's specific truth though any specific truths that you wish you would have known as a new Christian the gospel El yeah the gospel what else how much God loves you yeah how much God loves you you know you come out of easy believism where the love of God is abused and you naturally might get into sound Doctrine and you minimize God's affection and love for you as a Christian you do an overreaction what else what else is something secur yeah the security the Assurance the perseverance of the Saints uh now some PE you know that's helpful it's also helpful to know the warning passages that they are not Irrelevant for us as Christians now let me ask it in this way what would the Apostle Paul say if he wrote a book entitled I wish I knew this when I was first Saved or he wrote that to us what would be some of Paul's items or chapters that would be in that book what I wish I knew what I wish new Believers knew what would Paul say are his chapters tell me from the scriptures Romans 7 I didn't hear that no no depends on how you interpret Romans 7 let's a for the sake of time not lack of understanding but the sake of time let's avoid talking about Romans 7 at this moment oh what else say again yeah 1 Corinthians 13 yeah that you know you got a church there who is overemphasizing knowledge and lacking in love and Paul really emphasizes that so he's saying that to a church but what are some other examples where Paul even clearly states something that he wishes they would have known that they didn't know they lacked the knowledge his power yeah no knowing the power that is at work in the Christian what's another way to say that yeah that's that's a good verse right it's right there in the verse First Corinthians 6 he says to a church do you not know are you not aware about something about yourselves that you are the Temple of the Holy Spirit right so there's knowledge that they should have that they might have that they've forgotten and Paul is saying don't you know this aren't you aware of this right and so how maybe 20 times that language is used in your Bible um sometimes it's repetitive and referring to the same thing but it's it's that question don't you know are you not aware about this reality about yourselves so you could you know if Paul had a book you could have a chapter one could be uh Harmony and Liberty unveiling the essence of Romans 14 to Foster compassion towards those with unique dietary choices right I mean that's something new Christians tend to you wish you understood Romans 14 at an earlier date so you don't create division based on food and drink but what I want to think about right now is don't you know not just your God's Temple but what is bound up with the Christian and the church corporately being a temple of the Holy Spirit what's what's that also speak to what truth and we're going to look at that truth in Romans 6 so turn to Romans chapter 6 in the Berean uh Bible that Jeff uh directed me towards months back it's a public domain Bible so you can use it in books without breaking copyrights but uh it it has it says instead of or do you not know in 1 Corinthians 3 and 6 it says are you are you not aware and I think that's a really good way to think about it are you not aware and what I want to think about is are you not aware of who you are in Christ you are a new man a new woman with a new heart with new desires right do you know that truly and um and and that that truth is bound up in What doctrine What doctrine is it bound up in that you've got a new you're a new man with a new heart with new desires yeah the doctrine of regeneration you will not find the word regeneration in your Bibles that much where's the one place that it is rendered regeneration yeah Titus three by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit uh but you find the truth of our new creation of being recreated of being given new desires you find that all over the scriptures and you find that in Romans 6 now what what Truth uh that we kind of hit on and what I wish I knew as a new Christian what truth is in Romans 3:4 and 5 primarily well all of sinned is in Romans 3 the total depravity of man but what do you really get into in chapters four and five justification and and what I find and I could be wrong this might not be everyone's experiences but I find that a lot of new Christians they really get to understand justification early on that they're legally righteous before God through what Christ is done but they tend to have ignorance when it comes to the doctrine of regeneration right I don't know if you guys have seen that I think part of that is in American churches at large What doctrine is more commonly emphasized and taught is it regeneration or justification it's justification right so that tends to be common but if it's not common for you the the the verbiage that I've used to teach my kids what justification is in case someone here doesn't know what that is and and this you could you could find fault with how I Define this but this is just where I'm I'm at and expressing it to the kids but I mentioned three things to be justified is to be declared before God just as if you've never sinned just as if you've lived perfectly which means just as if you legally are Jesus Christ right and that's what to be justified is to be viewed with the righteousness of Christ before God in his courtroom that's the only way the holy God of the universe can let you into heaven you have to be as right is his son and the only way to be that righteous is to have the son's grade on your paper to have his righteousness given to you so that's we find that in Romans 45 uh Romans 5:19 even it's a glorious verse for as by one man's Disobedience the many were made Sinners so by the one man's obedience the many will be be made righteous and so that thank God for the Lord Jesus Christ that we can be legally righteous in God's court room praise the Lord for that reality and that is something you better know as a Christian that even when you've sinned uh it has not changed your legal standing before God right you're not now condemned after you've sinned because your righteousness isn't based on your works it's based on the work of Christ and so when you live in that reality you don't want to sin you don't want to abuse his grace and that's because the second truth that we find in Romans 6 regeneration so uh let's look Romans 6:17 is the main verse that I that I want to think about with us right now and we'll start in verse 15 what then are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace and and again Paul by no means you you can't can't do that and then he has one of those do you not know statements in verse 16 do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone is obedient slaves you are slaves of the one whom you obey either of sin which leads to death or of obedience so he actually puts uh a master that you can be a slave of is obedience and where does obedience lead to which leads to righteousness verse 17 but thanks be to God that you Romans who were once slaves of sin you have become obedient from the heart you see that language that is this is astonishing language that we just read right here you have become something obedient from the heart what's the opposite of obedient from the heart not not I would say it's not just being disobedient it's something more than just being disobedient yeah because you can have outward obedience where you're actually doing what you're doing what you should do but where does it come from it doesn't come from the heart it comes from where some external motivation it's robotic uh who who who is uh convict number one and not having obedience from the heart in the Bible what group of individuals the Pharisees I mean they were outwardly righteous they did all these things externally but it wasn't coming from the heart Paul's saying to these Romans your obedience it is coming from the heart right and he's thanking God for that reality because God has done something and and something I hadn't noticed in Romans 1 look at what Paul even says here in Roman just hold your place in Romans 6 but Romans 18 he's also also thanking God right here for all of the Romans and he says because your faith is proclaimed in all the world now you you tend to think what is their faith what we see as we read the letter it's not just saying he doesn't just mean your faith as in the doctrine that they embraced as a church but he's actually their conduct what's being lived out by their faith that is being proclaimed throughout the whole world he he thanks God in verse 17 of Romans 6 6:17 that they are obedient to the standard of teaching that was given to them and look what Paul says in the very next verse in verse chapter 1 verse 9 for God is my witness whom I serve with what with my spirit in the gospel of his son notice where where is Paul serving the lord is it some external obedience no no no no it's not Paul is serving within his Spirit right that's what Ezekiel 36:27 says uh I will take out your Heart of Stone I will give you a heart of Flesh and I will cause you to walk and to obey my statues isn't that isn't that what the Bible teaches he says I'm going to put a new spirit within you and I don't have time in this message to Hash through different definitions of heart and spirit and mind um that that absolutely is a topic worth studying in depth um to rightly understand verse certain verses so let's look at Romans um 617 Romans 617 and if you notice right here he says he thanks God and he and he mentions what they were that you were once slaves of sin right and that is referring to a person not in the regenerate state but in what state unregenerate right they were not born again now they might have been going to church they might have been as religious as a Pharisee but they were slaves of sin they didn't have the ability to truly obey the Lord and what all also did they not have they didn't truly have the desire right you can have an external as as one brother mentioned it's like the it's like the dog you can train your dog to not eat the treat I remember when had our golden retriever she was a lot smarter than our border colleag or maybe it was bad parenting I don't know but you could you could put a treat on the ground and teach an to sit there and you could walk away and she would not get the treat but she's sitting there all a while what is she Desiring she wants to treat right I'm just keeping her from getting it is that obedience from the heart no it's not the heart really wants that treat so we were dead and our sins well what happened he thanks God uh that that we were this is a past tense reality and you know I really appreciate how much Paul is just overflowing with things and he's doing this even towards a church right we saw in chapter one I thank God and here he's thanking God again for what God has done in their lives I mean Paul is just overflowing with joy for these Christians and everything that God has done in their life and we should do the same thing when you hear about what's going on in other churches and other parts of the world I mean there's a place to just give thanks to God for what you hear um about obedience and them obeying the word of God that is such an encouragement it's something Supernatural right we cannot obey the Lord in our own power uh and then thirdly so he he thanks God he States what we were we were slaves of sin and then he mentions what we have become you have become oh obedient from the heart then he mentions to the standard of teaching to which you were committed now maybe I'll just mention brief thought about that last section just to make it clear the standard of teaching to which you were committed you know what's interesting when you look at the language right there the word the word betrayed is there the same word in the Greek for when uh Judas handed over Christ right and Paul is saying we've been handed over to a standard of teaching that's the word committed we've been handed over to this standard of teaching what is the standard of teaching it's interesting because Paul's just been saying you're not under law right and so what is Paul even referring to here I I believe he's referring to the doctrine of the Apostles right what Paul himself is teaching to these other churches you find this in in Timothy he refers to um what is that verse he refers to I don't have it memorized and where was it is somewhere right here in the notes but um but that's what I really think that means we'll look at that in a minute um but that's what was committed there's this teaching that Paul is bringing out in the Romans response is they want to obey the truths that are being taught it's their natural inclination to obey this teaching from the apostles Do You Hear What Paul's saying it's natural to them right because of this truth of regeneration he's not saying there isn't a struggle he's not saying there isn't the flesh but there's something that has changed in the heart of the Christian this is remarkable uh this isn't robotic obedience it is obedience from the heart doesn't mean that could a true Christian who's obeying the Lord from the heart fall into some season where it is a robotic obedience yes but the their father won't let them remain in that state right he's going to discipline us he's not going to let us continue on in that state um so we have become you remember part of why I'm I'm bringing this message is all of Paul's statements do you not know are you not aware so one thing you need to think about right here as you're sitting here and hearing this are you aware that this has happened in you Christian not do you feel like this is a reality in your life but are you aware that this has happened that God has so changed you to give you new desires right not to leave you where you were but to make you want to obey from the heart right what else does he say in Romans 6 do you not know that you're dead to sin right consider yourselves dead to sin uh these are incredible truths in Romans 6 that we need to believe regardless of what we subjectively feel when we wake up in the morning after a bad night's sleep all right Romans 6:16 he mentioned I mentioned this but he says you you can have a master of obedience uh that is the true Christian is bound by a desire to obey Disobedience does not satisfy the true Christian when he disobeys he doesn't leave satisfied but when he obeys he leaves satisfied you see that but it's the opposite when you're not a Christian you're sat truly satisfied when you disobey and when you obey you're left empty because it's robotic it's not from the heart now like I said Christians we're going to have Painful Falls but that's not the burning desire My burning desire here is not the sin the burning desire in my regenerated heart that God has given me is to please and honor the Lord because I was bought with a price therefore I want to glorify God in my body and that's just been my desire for 15 years now it wasn't something I stirred up it wasn't something I created it was something the spirit of God did in my heart and in my soul and you need to know that as a new Christian if you've been saved for 2 weeks if you've been saved for 1 month if you've been saved if you got saved in the 9:00 a.m. Spanish service that's true you right now uh and you don't need to wait to believe that as being a reality you're dead to sin sin has no dominion over you you can as Romans 66 says we know our old self is crucified with him you need to believe that my old man was crucified with him my old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin you see the the old self dying and being crucified is what leads you to no longer be slaved to sin because God has recreated you and made you a new person and Paul thanks God for their obedience that's giving this evidence you know when we were lost we might have had the desire to be delivered from our sinful desires I know I did oh I felt so miserable and ashamed when I would sin I felt horrible but it wasn't about Christ it was all about my reputation that's what greatly grieved me well now the Lord has delivered us and and I'm going to refer to this and give some quotes in a minute but part of why I'm even bringing this up is the book and I sent it to you men already in the men in the exemplary husbands chat but the book delivered by desire who all even read that book in the years past has anyone read that a few yeah you know the cover I remember when I first got it it came out in 2011 and the cover it has delivered from desire and what word is and the word from is crossed out and what word is put there by and right there the the cover really speaks to what's in the book and it really articulates something very well that the Bible is mentioning right here in 17 you see the Christian as Mike marrow and many others have said I actually go do what I want as a Christian I mean you got to realize that when I wake up I go do what I want to do because my heart is not deceitfully Wicked above all things Luke 8:15 says my heart is a good and an honest heart doesn't mean I don't have the flesh but the Christian does what they desire because they have new desires that have been given to them in the regenerative work of the spirit of God where their desires have totally changed and so they're delivered by desire it's not a b matter of I better not do that you don't want to do it and even if you're really tempted and you're really being deceived in the moment to sin if you're really regenerated that's not true of you don't believe that it's true of you that you should go and do those things the Lord Has Changed you Christian you need to know your old self was crucified with Christ you have a new master obedience uh it is now natural to obey right what's first John 53 say you want have that memorize first John 5:3 uh This what I think is this is the love of God that we keep his Commandments and his Commandments are not his Commandments are not what huh interesting it doesn't mean there might not be times you feel like it's a burden to obey it's tough to obey there's people going through things this week where they got to obey and it's going to be tough the way is hard that leads to life and few there be that find it but generally speaking the the burden for the Christian is when they sin it is not obeying OB obedience is this natural desire yes our fallen flesh it doesn't want us to obey it doesn't what did Jesus say right there in the garden the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak so do you realize that Christian you're not just forgiven legally of your sin and declared legally righteous in God's Court that is true thank God for that but you've also been transformed in your heart and in your nature and in your desires and you need to know that your old self was crucified with him you've been recreated by God you're now Supreme desire is to do your Master's will I mean are you aware of this that's Paul's question do you not know are you not aware of this you want to be aware of it and then live by faith and light of it being true as I said regardless of how you feel the devil does not want you embracing a truth about who you are in Christ and going out the door and living in light of that he will give you a million reasons to excuse it away and say that it is not true and to make you look at feelings and not by faith and then you're not going to live in reality of what's true of you and it's not going to affect your life now Tom shriner in his comment com on Romans he gives a helpful explanation of 617 he says you have become obedient from the heart people do not submit to sin against their will rather they freely and spontaneously choose to sin in other words unbelievers are slaves to sin and that they always desire to carry out the dictates of their Master this does not mean that those with addictions never wish to be freed it means that the desire for these things is ultimately great greater than the desire to be freed from them sinning is what they want to do only god there can release them from such subjection for new desires are necessary to escape the bondage of sin of course this is precisely what God has done he has liberated them from the tyranny of sin so that they have become obedient from the heart to the gospel he has planted new desires in them that's like Paul said I serve with my spirit right there's something internally happening this all goes back to Craig series on Galatians about walking by the spirit and walking by faith and the spirit is supplied by hearing in faith and you're reading the word of God you're believing the promises of God and all a sudden there's power of the spirit in your life and you go put to death the Deeds of the body by the spirit Romans 88:13 and in the midst of all of that this isn't a burden your ultimate burden is I want to obey the Lord because he's given me new desires and the Heart U many serve god with their bodies but Paul's saying I serve him with my spirit I serve him with what's going on inside of my heart okay what time do we got um well I mentioned this a minute ago what what he says at the end of 617 let me just reiterate it he says that you've become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed so we've been transferred we're not under law is a covenant system and we're transferred to this standard of teaching listen to the NIV many com have commented on how helpful the NIV is in this translation you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed Your Allegiance you hear that there's a pattern of teaching there's a truth that has claimed Your Allegiance as a Christian Your Allegiance has changed and the verse earlier I was referring to 2 Timothy 1:13 follow the pattern of sound words that you have heard from me in the faith so Paul is giving a pattern of sound words of sound doctrine of sound teaching that's what I'm saying is the standard of teaching which has been committed unto you and listen to what he says here in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus so you think what's what's the standard how could it be summarized that I'm now obedient from the heart to want to obey that is before me well look at Romans 13:10 is is a place we go on the same letter where where Paul mentions something right there that's again right along the lines of what Craig taught through in Galatians Romans 13:10 love does no wrong to a neighbor therefore love is the fulfilling of the law and have you ever found that you you get converted and there is a desire to now love other Christians to love your neighbor it wasn't there before you realize that's an Evidence of re the regenerate heart that's why John can come along and in first John say if anyone does uh if you do not love your brother or How does it go we know we've passed from Death to life because we love the Brethren so if if you don't love the Brethren Paul John is saying you don't even know you've really passed from Death to life well that makes sense why he would put is one clear Assurance you're a Christian is your love for the Brethren because Paul says it that's fulfilling the law right and so when you think of the Apostle Paul's teaching and his Doctrine he keeps emphasizing again and again loving is Christ is loved loving the Savior supremely and so not only have we been transferred and committed a new teaching a teaching has been committed to us that is this great emphasis on love we've now been given the new heart and the ability to go out and do that praise God for that reality you know does Paul have low expectations for us does he hello does he have low expectations for no he doesn't he's got really high expectations why does he have the right to have high expectations for you and me yeah it's because who's doing the work God and so when people come along and they lower a view of what conversion really is they're ultimately Lo a view of who of who is who God is right when these the non-l lordship Salvation guys in Dallas when the free Grace Evangelical society says the things they say when they teach this idea that Christians can continue to live in slavery to sin and they're true Christian they are minimizing and abusing and distorting and blaspheming who God truly is God said says he will give you a new heart God says he will cause you to walk and Obey a statute that doesn't remove the reality of this remaining flesh it doesn't remove the reality that we wage war against the passions of our flesh that wage war against our body it doesn't remove those reality but we can't minimize who God is and what he has done Brethren one of the greatest things you can know as a Christian is not just justification it's regeneration it's what God has done in your heart and given you new desires and you go live in light of that oh there is such freedom and you know Paul uh Romans 15:14 you got to love what Paul says here this is an incredible verse Romans 15:14 I myself am satisfied about you my brothers that you yourselves are full of goodness that's how Paul speaks to Christians Chris you're full of goodness Ryan you're full of goodness and that's what he says filled with all knowledge I mean all I don't know if I use all right there I mean do they really have all knowledge Paul and you're able to sit around and mourn how Wicked you are is that what he says my Bible's kind of blurry right there what's it say oh you're able to instruct one another you see that's what the Lord does doesn't matter what you feel doesn't matter what failures you've had this week you need to believe thus saith the Lord and you need to go live in in in light of of that truth so this is something to thank God for Brethren and I was reminded of the power of desires uh in our recent trip to Missouri so just another way to illustrate this change um so while we're in Missouri on my mother-in-law's Farm there were two dogs there red who is my dog he's a border collie and Missy who is my brother-in-law's dog and she is a golden retriever now if you guys know anything about Border Collies and golden retrievers do they have the same they're are they both dogs yes they got four legs and a tail and they look like a dog they are dog um do they have the same desires I mean they got do they have similar desires would they both eat bacon the moment you put bacon absolutely okay a golden what's the last word for a golden the Golden what so what do golden retrievers do they love to retrieve what what do border collies love to do herd right so there's two dogs just like there's two humans but they've got naturally they have different desires given by God red is a herder and Missy is a retriever and so one of the main things we did Terry recently bought a new uh Gator four-wheeler type of thing the old one was always broken she got a new one so that was one of the big things the kids look forward to speeding around on this Gator uh on the farm well what what do you think red does I mean right when you get on that Gator red is up there yapping away as you're backing up he gets to your back tire he's yapping at the back tire then when you try to go forward he's hopping in front of the four-wheeler yapping at the front tire he's hurting us saying not to go that way where's Missy in all of this she's not doing the same thing she's got a different desire they're both dogs yes but they have different Natures or different desires given to them by the Lord now one day we're going we're the whole game was you got to fake red out and then put the pedal to the metal and leave them in the dust and it could be difficult and we kept getting them day after day and he'd just get worn out and he could never catch up to us well one day the last day we're there uh I thought we faked him out and he slipped and I don't know what went under the wheel but then he's laying there he wasn't dead thankfully he started started wiggling around his collar was like 3T down the road I'm thinking I don't did his head go under the wheel he started limping but you know what he did within 30 minutes after getting ran over by a four-wheeler what was he doing he was hurting again he was yapping again why it's in his nature look I mean there you know what happened when you were lost you went and sinned and you got ran over by sin on the head and you laid down for a little while and you you kind of limped a little while and where were you the next week you're going all out after your sin right that's I mean that's the unregenerate heart it's a slave to sin and to add to the illustration you know what Missy would do sometimes and Red's trying to catch up she was like the good Christian friend she' kind of cut him off like don't do this red and she' literally be biting at his neck getting him to stop and he did he did that work for a little while it worked for a little while but red would always he' just get past her like get out of my way Brethren I mean I was just reminded of that with those two dogs uh they've got totally uh they're both dogs but they've got different Natures different desires and the truth is you turn the four-wheeler off we're not in the four-wheeler they both acted like the same dogs they both sat down and drank the same water they both walk around but the moment of test was when the four-wheeler was running that yanked out Red's nature and the same thing for you and I you can be here today and there's no four-wheeler going there's nothing that's drawing your desire the real test is when we're out there in the world when we're living in the midst of the world are we a righteous lot in the midst of Sodom and Gomorrah you can be because God has changed your desires he's made us new this is a miracle to take a person who is a slave of sin and make him obedient not robotically but from the heart thanks be to God darl Winger he he writes this the Christians God given ail ility to see and appreciate Christ sets him free from his former love for the world and its Pleasures seeing Christ with the eyes of Faith he loves him above all things and his new affection motivates him to obey Christ consistently yes in one sense it is what defines them as Christians they follow Jesus rather than obeying their fleshly lust because they find the satisfaction of knowing him to be better than the satis atisfaction they formerly gained from sinning even though they might not articulate it clearly right you might not understand it they know it by experience love for Jesus is the natural product of regeneration and it always displaces the desire for sin is a man's strongest affection but your love for Christ is the desire that will affect your behavior the most as Jesus said if you love me you will keep my commandments so do you know this Christian you know Romans 66 do you can can can you say to yourself this morning I know that my old self is crucified with him can you say that can you say 6117 can you thank you Lord that I who is Once A Slave of sin have become obedient from the heart Thank You Lord you did that it's not I didn't I didn't work it up isn't that the beauty that the true Christian you just I mean you look back and it's like this is a miracle it is a miracle it should feel like a miracle when you you might fall in the mud but you can't live there anymore it is a miracle you're not a pig anymore you're a sheep it's opposed to your nature right I mean you throw you I still have yet to do this I want to get a video if anyone has a pig and a sheep we can go video it sometime but I want to throw the you throw the pig in the mud he's going to stay there you throw the sheep in there the Sheep isn't going to stay there their nature is opposed to that they're going to get out and you and I maybe you fell in the mud this week but Christian look look you got out of the mud that's an Evidence of the spirit of God's work in your life and you might fall in the mud next week don't fall into condemnation you're no longer under law you're under grace you're free and no you're not free to continue in sin but if you really look you don't want to continue in sin you're delivered by desire God's given you a new wter in your heart I mean this is incredible these realities well it's all I have now um I do have a gift for all of you right I I'm not a that christmy of a person now there is a caveat with the gift it's not a physical gift um but while I was in Missouri I did I finished making an audio book of this book delivered by desire that Daryl Wingard wrote and um I was Ed of how biblically sound and impactful this book is and so I would encourage you you can get the pdf online for free org and but if you go to our the new audiobook site we started months ago called scroll reader.com the first thing up there is going to be delivered by desire and you can go listen it's about two and a half hours to that book delivered by desire Brethren it is so full of Truth said in such a balanced way there's about three chapters where where it's two guys in a park talking to each other and he's giving counsel and I remember when that book first came out in 2011 and I got a copy of it I remember reading chapter one and it dawned on me huh I don't counsel like this guy does I lay too much condemnation upon Christians who are struggling with lust and so I really appreciate the book it's not just to know these truths as a Christian but to actually help you be a better counselor I mean what do you do when someone comes to you and they're struggling with lust and they say they've looked at stuff on the internet do you have the wisdom and knowledge in how to approach that situation in a right biblical way where you won't look back and say you know what wow I really drug them through the mud I could have mentioned these truths to them and more greatly uh helped them and been a benefit to them and so Brethren I'd encourage you whether you read the PDF or get the book uh I think they give the book away for free on their site where you hear the audio book delivered by desire it's it is a thorough look at these truths that I've been trying to bring forth from Romans 6 this morning so do you thank God for what he's done it's a miracle let's pray father Lord we do thank you we thank you so much for what you've done lord it's just a miracle to be here today 15 years into the race Lord there's a lot of people out there running a marathon this morning and Lord theirs is for rock and roll but Lord ours is for Holiness and obedience and love for Christ and Lord we're thankful that you work in us both to will that is the word desire you work in us to desire the right things and to work for your good pleasure Lord we thank you for that and yet Lord we realize Paul says I labored harder than the rest and and we've got to we got to work Lord we got to work believing what is true about us so Lord I pray you'd help these dear precious Christians and myself to Lord just have a renew red conviction to believe these truths that our old man was crucified Lord help us to put off the old man uh Lord help us to to to be who we are Lord you said we're obedient from the heart father I pray Lord I know there there Lord I know all the Temptations in this world Lord that I've faced in 15 years Lord just miserable The Temptations but we thank you there is always a way of escape and father I don't know what people have had different failures this week in their Christian life but Lord I pray that these truths would not be condemning for them but they would be truths they would Embrace and finally have a greater victory in their life because they believe what your word says and Lord if there are those here who don't know you if this is not true of them if they look and they they can humbly say they're a slave of sin Lord I pray would you do this work in their heart would you cause him to look to your son and live and Lord you promis life Lord not Lord life we can go live for you glorify you and so we're so thankful Lord we love you we just thank you for your goodness to us in Christ's name amen." 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